We Weren't Born to Follow
| "We Weren't Born to Follow" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:We Werent Born To Follow.jpg | ||||
| Single by Bon Jovi | ||||
| from the album The Circle | ||||
| Released | August 17, 2009 | |||
| Format | CD single, digital download | |||
| Recorded | Sanctuary Studios, NJ Henson Recording Studios, CA |
|||
| Genre | Hard rock, post-grunge | |||
| Length | 4:03 (Album version) 4:09 (Single edit) |
|||
| Label | Island | |||
| Writer(s) | Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora | |||
| Producer(s) | John Shanks | |||
| Bon Jovi singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"We Weren't Born to Follow" is the first single released from Bon Jovi's eleventh studio album, The Circle.[1] The single premiered on radio on August 17, 2009.[1][2] Jon Bon Jovi explained to the Daily Mail that this song is "about working people picking themselves up by their bootstraps in hard times." [3] The single was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.[4]
Since then, the song has reached the peak position on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 68.[5]
Contents
Music video
The music video 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 with skyscrapers visible behind them. Interspersed with these scenes are archive clips and pictures of important events and various frauds and hucksters in history. These echo the themes of the song. The video includes:[6]
- Bringing down the Berlin Wall in 1989
- Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de France
- The Dalai Lama
- A collection of the Wright brothers plane, a space shuttle and Spaceship One of Virgin Galactic
- Virgin Records owner Richard Branson
- The Great Wall of China
- The protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and the famous Tank Man picture
- Images of US President Barack Obama
- Princess Diana in Africa
- Patrick Thibodeau, a renowned basketball player of Cumberland, Maine, who suffers from Down's Syndrome, playing on the Greely High School basketball.
- Martin Luther King delivering the "I Have a Dream" speech
- Protests about climate change
- The late guitarist Les Paul
- The successful emergency water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 and pilot Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III
- Scenes of the separation stage of a Saturn V rocket along with various astronauts in EVA
- Gloria Steinem and feminist demonstrations.
- Robert Kennedy
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- 2009–2010 Iranian election protests
For the week ending November 21, the music video for "We Weren't Born to Follow" reached #1 on the VH1 Top 20 in the USA.
Releases
| U.S CD Single (Island: B0013426-32) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "We Weren't Born to Follow" (Single edit) | Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora | 4:09 |
|
Total length:
|
4:09 | ||
| Japanese CD Single (Island: UICL-5026) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "We Weren't Born to Follow" (Single edit) | Bon Jovi, Sambora | 4:09 |
| 2. | "We Weren't Born to Follow" (Instrumental) | Bon Jovi, Sambora | 4:09 |
|
Total length:
|
8:18 | ||
| European CD Single (Island: 0602527239415) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "We Weren't Born to Follow" (Single edit) | Bon Jovi, Sambora | 4:09 |
| 2. | "Blaze of Glory" (Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, NYC on July 14, 2008.) | Bon Jovi | 5:48 |
|
Total length:
|
9:57 | ||
| European CD-Maxi Single (Island: 0602527239408) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "We Weren't Born to Follow" (Single edit) | Bon Jovi, Sambora | 4:09 |
| 2. | "Blaze of Glory" (Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, NYC on July 14, 2008.) | Bon Jovi | 5:48 |
| 3. | "In These Arms" (Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, NYC on July 15, 2008.) | Bon Jovi, Sambora, David Bryan | 6:08 |
| 4. | "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, NYC on July 15, 2008.) | Bon Jovi, Sambora, Desmond Child | 6:22 |
|
Total length:
|
22:28 | ||
Recording process
When Richie Sambora recorded the solo for this song, he played a very melodic, Beatles-esque break. But as soon as the song debuted at radio, many fans expressed dismay at the lack of a guitar solo. In response to this criticism, Sambora recorded a new guitar solo to appear in both the music video and album versions of the song.[citation needed]
Charts
"We Weren’t Born to Follow" is Bon Jovi's fastest moving single at HOT AC radio in its 25 year history.[citation needed]
On the Billboard Hot 100, the song debuted at number 90, making it the band's 27th Hot 100 entry. It has since re-entered at #68.
| Chart (2009–10) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA Singles Chart)[7] | 62 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 4 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 29 |
| Czech Airplay Chart | 46 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 73 |
| European Hot 100 | 22 |
| German Singles Chart | 6 |
| Hungary (Rádiós Top 40)[8] | 3 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 41 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 5 |
| Japan Hot 100 | 3 |
| Japanese Oricon Chart | 36 |
| Polish Singles Chart[9] | 38 |
| Spanish Airplay Chart[10] | 9 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 30 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 14 |
| UK Singles Chart | 25 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 68 |
| US Billboard Adult Pop Songs | 10 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 16 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| Hungarian Airplay Chart[15] | 105 |
| Chart (2010) | Position |
| Hungarian Airplay Chart[16] | 24 |
In other media
"We Weren't Born to Follow" was used as a promotional song for the Major League Baseball 2009 playoffs on TBS. For the last two years, Bon Jovi promoted Major League Baseball with the song "I Love This Town" from the album Lost Highway. On November 1, Bon Jovi performed "We Weren't Born to Follow" on the results show of rock week, on the sixth series of the The X Factor (UK). The song was significantly cut for broadcasting, with the second half of the second verse being cut in half and Sambora's guitar solo being removed in its entirety. Bon Jovi performed on Radio 1's Live Lounge on November 3 as part of Fearne Cotton's mid-morning show, they performed "We Weren't Born to Follow" and the slow version of "Livin' on a Prayer". The song was performed during the Fest der Freiheit on November 9 in Berlin, a memorial for the Fall of the Berlin Wall. In Japan, the song was used in a commercial for the Wii video game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. "We Weren't Born to Follow" is also being used as the theme song for PWFs 6th annual WWEFANMANIA which can be found on the WWEFan website.[17] On November 9, 2010 the song appears in the pack of Greatest Hits in the video game Rock Band 3.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ We Weren't Born To Follow Songfacts
- ↑ Bon Jovi Nominated for Grammy Award! Bon Jovi News
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ AMERICA'S MUSIC CHARTS - 1 0 . 0 5 . 1 0 - powered by MEDIABASE
- ↑ Niet compatibele browser | Facebook
- ↑ Bon Jovi Music News & Info | Billboard.com
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ WWEFan
External links
- "We Weren't Born to Follow" on the Official Bon Jovi website
- http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/837479/1/
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
