Livin' on a Prayer

The original recording of "Livin' on a Prayer" nearly ended up discarded, because Jon Bon Jovi disliked it and wanted nothing to do with the track. Richie Sambora disagreed, convinced the frontman that the song had promise, and the pair reworked it with a new bassline, different drum fills, and a talk box on the main guitar riff. Hugh McDonald recorded the bassline uncredited, and the finished version appeared on Bon Jovi's third album, Slippery When Wet, released in late 1986.

The song spent two weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart from January 31 to February 14, 1987, then four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number four in the United Kingdom. Written with songwriter Desmond Child, its lyrics follow Tommy and Gina, a working-class couple coping with a dockworker's strike and diner work. The characters drew on real events, including the 1977 Dockworkers' Strike, and on people Child knew; his then-girlfriend Maria Vidal had worked as a waitress at a diner whose staff nicknamed her Gina because of a resemblance to the actress Gina Lollobrigida.

Bon Jovi later cut an alternative version, "Prayer 94", for the 1994 greatest-hits album Cross Road. The album version fades out at the end, though the original studio ending, closing on a talk box solo, surfaced in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.