We Weren't Born To Follow
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"We Weren't Born to Follow" is the first single released in August 2009 from
Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...
's eleventh studio album, '' The Circle''. The single premiered on radio on August 17, 2009. The single was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011 (in its final year, it was awarded for recordings issued in 2010). The award had several minor name changes: *From 1966 to 1967, the award ...
. Since then, the song has reached the peak position on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 68.


Music video

The music video, directed by Craig Barry and edited by Brett Langefels for the song was released on October 14, 2009. It features the band performing on the roof of the Clinton Recording Studios in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
with skyscrapers visible behind them. Interspersed with these scenes are archive clips and pictures of important events and people in history. Designed and composited by Matthew Lucas-Valci, these scenes echo the themes of the song. The video includes images of: *Bringing down the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
in 1989 *
Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...
winning the
Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...
*
The Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
*A collection of the Wright brothers plane, a space shuttle and Spaceship One of
Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...
*
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
owner
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...
*The Great Wall of China *The protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and the famous Tank Man picture *Images of
US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
*
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...
in Africa *Patrick Thibodeau, a renowned basketball player of
Cumberland, Maine Cumberland is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,473 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Portland metropolitan area, Maine. ...
, who has Down's Syndrome, playing on the Greely High School boys' basketball team. *
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
delivering his August 1963 "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...
" speech *Protests about
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
*The late
guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...
*The successful emergency
water landing In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the water su ...
of US Airways Flight 1549 and pilot Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III *Scenes of the separation stage of a
Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...
rocket along with various astronauts in EVA *
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
and feminist demonstrations. * Robert F. Kennedy *
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop o ...
* 2009–2010 Iranian election protests For the week ending November 21, the music video for "We Weren't Born to Follow" reached number 1 on the VH1 Top 20 in the USA.


In popular culture

In 2009, TBS used the song in its commercials for that year's
Major League Baseball playoffs The Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason is the annual playoff elimination tournament held to determine the champion of MLB in the United States and Canada. Since 2022, the postseason for each league— American and National—consists of t ...
. Jon Bon Jovi gave a copy of the song to his friend Bill Belichick, head coach of the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
, before its public release. The Patriots had initially planned to play it after touchdowns at
Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States. The stadium is southwest of Downtown Boston and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and admi ...
, but ultimately chose to use " This Is Our House" instead.


Track listing


Personnel

;Bon Jovi *
Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...
- lead vocals *
Richie Sambora Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwriting unit for the ...
- guitars, backing vocals * Hugh McDonald - bass guitar, backing vocals * Tico Torres - drums, percussion *
David Bryan David Bryan Rashbaum (born February 7, 1962) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the keyboard player for the rock band Bon Jovi, in which he also co-wrote songs and performed backing vocals. In 2018, he was inducted into the ...
- keyboards, backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Charlie Judge - additional keyboards and strings ;Technical personnel *
John Shanks John Matthew Shanks (born December 18, 1964) is an American songwriter, record producer and guitarist. He has been a longtime session and touring member of the rock band Bon Jovi. Early life and education Shanks was born in New York City and m ...
– producer * Jon Bon Jovi - co-producer * Richie Sambora - co-producer * Jeff Rothschild -
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
* Mike Rew - additional engineer * Obie O'Brien - additional engineer * Alex Gibson - additional engineer * Lars Fox -
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
editor * Bob Clearmountain - mixing engineer * Brandon Duncan - mixing assistant *
George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
- mastering


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Release history


References


External links


"We Weren't Born to Follow" on the Official Bon Jovi website
*http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/837479/1/ {{DEFAULTSORT:We Weren't Born To Follow Bon Jovi songs 2009 singles Songs written by Richie Sambora Songs written by Jon Bon Jovi 2009 songs Song recordings produced by John Shanks Island Records singles Post-grunge songs