Sitting here wasted and wounded
With this old piano
Trying hard to capture
The moment this morning I don't know
'Cause a bottle of vodka
Still lodged in my head
And some blonde gave me nightmares
Think that she's still in my bed
As I dream about movies
They won't make of me when I'm dead
With an ironclad fist
I wake up and French kiss the morning
While some marching band keeps
Its own beat in my head
While we're talking
About all of the things that I long to believe
About love the truth and what you mean to me
And the truth is, baby you're all that I need
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh, I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses
Well I'm so far away
Step that I takes on my way home
A king's ransom in dimes I give each night
To see through this payphone
Still I run out of time
Or it's hard to get through
'Til' the bird on the wire flies me back to you
I'll just close my eyes and whisper
Baby blind love is true
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh, I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses
Well, this hotel bar's hangover whiskey's gone dry
The barkeeper's wig's crooked
And she's giving me the eye
I might have said yeah
But I laughed so hard I think I died, ooh yeah
Now as you close your eyes
Know I'll be thinking about you
While my mistress she calls me
To stand in her spotlight again
Tonight I won't be alone
But you know that don't mean I'm not lonely
I've got nothing to prove
For it's you that I'd die to defend
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh, I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down
Bed of roses
With this old piano
Trying hard to capture
The moment this morning I don't know
'Cause a bottle of vodka
Still lodged in my head
And some blonde gave me nightmares
Think that she's still in my bed
As I dream about movies
They won't make of me when I'm dead
With an ironclad fist
I wake up and French kiss the morning
While some marching band keeps
Its own beat in my head
While we're talking
About all of the things that I long to believe
About love the truth and what you mean to me
And the truth is, baby you're all that I need
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh, I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses
Well I'm so far away
Step that I takes on my way home
A king's ransom in dimes I give each night
To see through this payphone
Still I run out of time
Or it's hard to get through
'Til' the bird on the wire flies me back to you
I'll just close my eyes and whisper
Baby blind love is true
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh, I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses
Well, this hotel bar's hangover whiskey's gone dry
The barkeeper's wig's crooked
And she's giving me the eye
I might have said yeah
But I laughed so hard I think I died, ooh yeah
Now as you close your eyes
Know I'll be thinking about you
While my mistress she calls me
To stand in her spotlight again
Tonight I won't be alone
But you know that don't mean I'm not lonely
I've got nothing to prove
For it's you that I'd die to defend
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh, I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down
I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down
Bed of roses
Lyrics submitted by Boonechic_21
Bed of Roses Lyrics as written by Jon Bon Jovi
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Many references to him being without the girl he loves and wants (I think they've split, as opposed to a long distance) and he's gone off either travelling or just wandering. He gets drunk, he can have girls if he wants but he's still lonely without the one he wants. The King's ransom in dimes line is quite stunning.
And because he cant be with her, every night he hurts (bed of roses -> bed of nails)
This son became one of my favourites back in 93 and me and my friend "decoded it" for fun.
I belive Jon is singing about himself.
1. verse is him somwhere out there in the world, on tour lost track of days and dates. He's got a hangover because of drinking to much and he's got a strange blond in his bed...probobly a groupie...he's not even sure if she's left yet. And he's realizing that his behaviour is not worthy of any movie. In other words hi feels like shit!
2.verse This is so great. "With an ironclad fist I wake up and french kiss the morning" He wakes up stretching, fists closed and yawns :) like most of us do when we can sleep untill we wake up on our own. Again he has a hangover...a marcingband drum-drum-drum in his head. And he has a nice talk with his girlfriend/wife.
3.verse Now his on the road again. He's so far away that no mather withc direction he takes a step, he could say it's one step closer to home. And he misses his girl and would pay like A LOT to be able to see her face when he calls her. (Remember this was before cell-phines and Skype etc) But even though he misses her and logs to see her, he's struggeling to find time in his busy day to call her, and when he does it's hard to get through to her (have you ever tried long distance phone calls from a payphone in another country)
"The bird on a wire" I like to think of as maby the "phone signal" travelling through the phone lines...or maby I see a bird outside in a tree and I send it a message with my thoughts and hope you see a bird outside in your tree and "hears" it... I like the last one best. And "Baby blind love is true" is hislove for her, even though he can't see her.
Bridge. He's in some bar, drinking wiskey, the barkeeper looks at him with like an invite...wanna do it in the back-kind of invite. And he might have said yes, because he often do. But this one is just to funny so he laughs insted.
4. verse. When she goes to bed at night and closes her eyes , then she must know that even though he has to go on stage and preform, he will be thinking of her. I belive his mistress here is the rock'n'roll life, the show, the stage. Music always com first, family second. And after he wont be alone, but he still feel lonely. And he's got nothing to proove his love for her. She must just belive that he would die for her...thats how much he loves her.
I'm sorry my english is not perfect, but I hope I got my opinion across :)
The chrous part he wants this girl tonight he misses her so much he wants to lay with her tonight but
she is not there so it will be very hard to sleep (toss and turn) without her. The holy ghost is supposedly in our hearts, mind and soul, how much closer can you get to someone other than this. He is missing her he is trying to call, he either can't get through or run out of time (10 cents for each minute long distance payphone remember). He wishes he could see her, he knows he can't but still they hang on (blind love is true). Then his cup is empty at the hotel bar, the batender looks at him to see if he wants another but he starts laughing because her wig is crooked. The mistress is his career, he has to go away again to perform, although he has fans, band members he will still be lonely still missing her. It' s not about cheating. Just about someone who misses the person they are with.
And the mistress reference is clearly referring to the music business and the touring/concert life.
In the next stanza, he explains that when he goes through life, he puts on a protective shield. This is the only way he can enjoy, love, or get through it. His head tells him how to act and when to do things, like something rhythmic or recited. He sings (or talks) with music about wanting these things to be different--about love, truth, and what music means to him. (Yes, this is a love song about music.) All he needs is music because it is the only thing he can be truly himself with, even as he struggles to write about something real.
He wants to dedicate a song to something happy. A bed of roses is an idiom about living a peaceful life. Despite the fact that he is struggling thought life on a bed of nails, his music is the happiest aspect where he is concerned. He wants to be as close to music as inspiration (the Holy Ghost). He literally wants to inspire music.
He then goes on to say that he's so far away from peacefulness/inspiration that every time he writes a song, he knows that it can't be more of a lie. Everything he had done was to get closer to this feeling, despite the fact that it led him farther away. Despite all the time he has spent, there is never enough to do music properly, or he still can't get through to the feeling. Then, the bird (or inspiration--Holy Dove) comes on a whim, making music and inspiration one again. This feeling of awe or love is true again, he realizes--music is great.
In the next verse, he realizes that he can't hide from who he is any longer. The blond girl (perhaps revealed to be the bartender), is a fake. His life has been built on lies, and he realizes that this is why he had a struggle with his art after inspiration ran dry. The lies are still tempting but he mocks them because life is short and there's no time left for them.
When inspiration leaves him, he's be thinking about it and his music. Lies and fame will take over his attention again while he goes back and forth between performing and writing. He will be around fans, but he'll be lonely without inspiration or feeling when he plays his music. He has learned that he no longer has to prove himself to them and can just enjoy what he is playing. Now, he'd die to defend his music because it is true.
All in all, this is a great song from what I believe to be about the struggle between inspiration, loving music, writing, and buying into the lies that make money. Bon's vocals are heaven and I applaud him for having such a glorious combination of melody, lyrics, and voice.