Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine - Meaning of the song
This song compares a love affair to a drug addiction and contains many tongue-in-cheek medical analogies ("There ain't no paramedic gonna save this heart attack"). It was the third #1 that Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wrote with Desmond Child. The trio also penned "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Livin' On A Prayer." In the '70s, Child was a modestly successful performer with a group called Desmond Child & Rouge. In 1979, he teamed up with Paul Stanley and came up with the hit I Was Made For Lovin' You for Kiss, which put him on the radar as a Rock band hitmaker. His next gig was with Bon Jovi, and it was a lasting relationship, which Child putting his touch on the hooks and choruses to some of the band's most memorable songs. Bon Jovi was a particularly focused band that for the most part stayed away from drugs and other temptations because their work was so important to them.
"Those people were always focused on their careers. That was their high."
For the song's music video, Bon Jovi wanted to do a live video but for it to be done differently, so 250 fans were given hand held cameras and film and told to shoot the band in concert the way they saw them. The video was groundbreaking at the time for using such a fan-inclusive approach to making a music promo, and captured live shots not often captured by regular video crews.
Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine - Lyrics
Your love is like bad medicine Bad medicine is what I need Shake it up, just like bad medicine There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease (Bad medicine) I ain't got a fever got a permanent disease And it'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy I got lots of money but it isn't what I need Gonna take more than a shot to get this poison out of me And I got all the symptoms count 'em 1, 2, 3 First you need That's what you get for falling in love Then you bleed You get a little and it’s never enough And then you're on your knees That's what you get for falling in love Now this boy's addicted 'cause your kiss is the drug Your love is like bad medicine Bad medicine is what I need Shake it up, just like bad medicine There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease Bad, bad medicine I don't need no needle to be giving me a thrill And I don't need no anesthesia or a nurse to bring a pill I got a dirty down addiction that doesn't leave a track I got a jones for your affection like a monkey on my back There ain't no paramedic gonna save this heart attack When you need That's what you get for falling in love Then you bleed You get a little and it's never enough And then you're on your knees That's what you get for falling in love Now this boy's addicted 'cause your kiss is the drug Your love is like bad medicine Bad medicine is what I need Shake it up, just like bad medicine So let's play doctor, baby, cure my disease Bad, bad medicine Is what I want Bad, bad medicine Is what I need I need a respirator 'cause I'm running out of breath For you're an all night generator wrapped in stockings and a dress When you find your medicine you take what you can get 'Cause if there's something better baby well they haven't found it yet Your love is like bad medicine Bad medicine is what I need Shake it up, just like bad medicine There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease Your love—bad medicine Bad medicine is what I need Shake it up, just like bad medicine Your love's the potion that can cure my disease Bad, bad medicine Is what I want Bad, bad medicine Who's bad, who's bad I gotta do, I gotta (Bad, bad medicine) I gotta do, I gotta I gotta, I gotta I gotta do it again Wait a minute Wait a minute Hold on I'm not done One more time with feeling Come on One for that Help me out now Your love is like bad medicine Bad medicine is what I need Shake it up, just like bad medicine You got the potion that can cure my disease Your love—bad medicine Your kiss is what I need Your love—bad medicine
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