We Weren't Born to Follow

"We Weren't Born to Follow"
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
"Whole Lot of Leavin'" (2008) "We Weren't Born to Follow" (2009) "Superman Tonight" (2010)

"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]

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 City with skyscrapers visible behind them. Interspersed with these scenes are archive clips and pictures of important events and people 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 boys' basketball team.
• 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.

Charts

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
Australian 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 Top 40	10
US Billboard Adult Contemporary	16

^{[11][12][13][14]}

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. "Bon Jovi Releases New Single Ahead of Schedule". Rockstar Weekly. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
2. "Bon Jovi Get "Back to Rock & Roll" On November Album". The Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
3. We Weren't Born To Follow Songfacts
4. Bon Jovi Nominated for Grammy Award! † Bon Jovi News
5. "We Weren't Born To Follow - Bon Jovi". Billboard.
6. Video on YouTube
7. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
8. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Rádiós Top 40 játszási lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
9. "Polish Singles Chart |".
10. "Promusicae (Week: January 1, 2010)" (PDF). Retrieved July 13, 2010.
11. "Chart Beat Wednesday: Alice In Chains, Jason Aldean, Katy Perry". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
12. AMERICA'S MUSIC CHARTS - 1 0 . 0 5 . 1 0 - powered by MEDIABASE
13. Niet compatibele browser | Facebook
14. Bon Jovi Music News & Info | Billboard.com
15. "Éves összesített listák - MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 (súlyozott)". Mahasz. Mahasz.
16. "MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 2010" (in Hungarian). Mahasz. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
17. 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