Bon Jovi Lyrics Lead to Marital Strife
Today after lunch, Mark and I discussed the lyrics to “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. I have never been able to understand the second verse, but Mark said it goes something like, “Tommy’s got his six-string in hock. Now he’s holdin' in, when he used to make it talk so tough.” Here is the dialogue that followed:
Me: I can’t believe that’s the worst hardship they could think of to illustrate Tommy and Gina’s rough life. His six-string is in hock? So?
Mark (after long, confused pause): Do you understand what “in hock” means?
Me (insulted): Of course I know what “in hock” means. I just don’t understand why that is the most powerful lyric they could have come up with to show us how hard Tommy’s life is.
Mark: He had to sell his guitar to a pawn shop!!!!
Me: Again, I really do know what it means to “hock” something.
Mark: You wouldn’t understand a man like Tommy.
Me: I can’t believe that’s the worst hardship they could think of to illustrate Tommy and Gina’s rough life. His six-string is in hock? So?
Mark (after long, confused pause): Do you understand what “in hock” means?
Me (insulted): Of course I know what “in hock” means. I just don’t understand why that is the most powerful lyric they could have come up with to show us how hard Tommy’s life is.
Mark: He had to sell his guitar to a pawn shop!!!!
Me: Again, I really do know what it means to “hock” something.
Mark: You wouldn’t understand a man like Tommy.
posted by Sarah Goss at 4:05 PM
9 Comments:
Maybe Mark's right that you wouldn't understand Tommy, and uh, maybe that's actually okay... cuz in checking out the lyrics, I've decided Gina's kind of got the short end of the stick. SHE's the one working in the diner. SHE's the one who wants to run away, whereas Tommy's not working (okay, it's the union's fault not his) and the best he can do is sell his guitar.
Sarah and Deb,
Good points. However,
Sarah, you elided a key element of my wit. The last thing I said -- in response to your "I know what 'in hock' means" -- was something like, "Not to someone like Tommy." I here deftly play on the meaning of "means," signifying simultaneously both the rather prosaic sense of "to signify" denotatively/literally (e. g., "in hock" means to be sold to a pawn shop) and the more emotionally centered definition ("what does freedom mean to me?", for example). To paraphrase crudely, for Tommy "a guitar in hock" means not only a guitar sold to a pawn show but also a soul held captive by economic misfortune. I'm sure Jon Bon Jovi and Ritchie Sambora would agree.
Deb, I very much appreciate and admire your critique of the gender politics of the song. Where, indeed, is Gina's artistic/expressive instrument to begin with? She doesn't even have anything to hock in the first place. Nevertheless, I must question your blaming of the union for Tommy's lack of employment. The song says that the "union is on strike," and yes this implies that the union has deprived him of his livelihood. However, both you AND Bon Jovi would do well to consider whether or not the union had GOOD REASON to go on strike, would you not? Let's suppose Tommy worked at Wal-Mart, and his union went on strike. Given our knowledge of the retailer's less than stellar repuation for employee and community treatment, as well as its well-known union busting tactics, we might be more inclined to blame management here, wouldn't we? Should we not give Tommy's union the benefit of the doubt?
In this light, Bon Jovi's song begins to appear rather suspicious in its implication that collective political socioeconomic action not only fails to save Tommy and Gina but even PRODUCES their hardship. Instead, we are asked to believe that their potential salvation lies in love, guitars, and prayers... My God, when we can't rely on these New Jersey based rockers to provide us with a more substantive political vision, on whom can we rely?
I called to schedule a haircut today.
PhD's arguing about Bon Jovi. Nice.
Wow. You guys are so analytical and smart. I hadn't gotten past, "Tommy's guitar is his penis."
Okay, this really cracks me up--my dear friend Meghan thought this verse to the Bon Jovi song went, " 'Tommy's got his six-string high-aaa,/Now he's on the men/Where he used to make him talk so tough...' I thought vaguely that it was related to his union issues."
*I* thought the chorus went, "We've got each other, and that's a lie for love. We'll give it a shot." Mark says the words are, "We've got each other, and that's a lot. For love, we'll give it a shot." I guess that makes more sense. But I like how innately cynical I was about love.
Ohhh, ohhh, see, now, Sarah, I totally wouldn't have let you post that comment if I had realized what an act I'd have to follow. I mean, I didn't really BELIEVE the verse said that. It just sounded kind of like that. And I thought maybe he was saying something about not just "the men," but The Man, as referenced in the first verse.
Hmmm... intriguing. Now, if Tommy's guitar is his penis, and he's got it in hock, and if we equate both his instrument and his--uh--instrument with creativity, self-expression, freedom, the Dionysian ideal, and so on, then it seems unreasonable to "live on a prayer" without it. What good is livin' on love when you ain't gettin' no lovin'? Without a guitar and a libido (and indeed, who will argue but that they are one and the same?), he may as well bend over, put his apron on and go back to Wal-Mart.
Tangentially related story: I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 with high-school freshmen, and we came to the part where Montag's bedroom is described as cold, silent, a mausoleum, etc. etc. And I was trying to say, ever so delicately, that perhaps this reflected the state of his relations with his wife... and one girl finally saved me the trouble and announced, "Yeah, we get it. He's not getting any."
ok
Good points.
But Tommy doesn't work on Wal-Mart.
He "used to work on the docks".
Keith, you are right, of course. But I think Wal-Mart was just a hypothetical example in that comment to illustrate that unions may have very good reasons for going on strike. Mark was saying, "Perhaps Tommy's union had similarly good reasons."
Post a Comment
<< Home