Richie Sambora Reveals What Inspired the Lyrics of Bon Jovi’s Hit ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’: ‘It’s a Lot of People’s Story’

The iconic track became Bon Jovi’s second No. 1 hit in 1986

Richie Sambora (left) and Jon Bon Jovi performing in Detroit in June 1985. Photo: Ross Marino/Getty

It’s the ultimate singalong — and now we know some of the backstory.

On the Nov. 12 episode of the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora reflected on the creation of the group’s biggest hit: “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

“A good song is a good song,” Sambora, 65, said. And though the band knew they liked “Livin’ on a Prayer” when they recorded it, when it was released in late 1986 and topped charts in the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Norway, they really knew they had something special. It was the group’s second consecutive No. 1, after “You Give Love a Bad Name.”

“It was the first time that we used characters in the lyric,” the musician told Mandel, 68, before citing some of the lyrics. In the song, Tommy is a striking dock worker who’s struggling to make ends meet, and his partner, Gina, is a tired diner waitress.

Richie Sambora (left) and Jon Bon Jovi in Los Angeles in September 1988.Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

“Tommy was actually my Uncle Sal, who got laid off and worked on the docks,” Sambora said. “And my dad was laid off at the same time in New Jersey. So it kind of was morphed into a story about the economic times.” Though the initial inspiration for the song — written by Sambora, Jon Bon Jovi and Desmond Child — was Sambora and Bon Jovi’s real “lower middle class” lives, Sambora thought it was ultimately a universal struggle. “I think it’s a lot of people’s story,” he said.

Mandel noted that the song remains a popular karaoke anthem. “It’s everybody’s song,” Sambora said. “Everybody has been in that position where you’re at a crossroads where … an amalgamation of life’s little tragedies might happen at the same time … Too many things are not going well and you got each other and your partner.”

Sambora was a member of Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He left the group mid-tour; he said in the 2024 documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, “I don’t regret leaving the situation, but I regret how I did it, so I want to apologize fully right now to the fans, especially, and also to the guys because my feet and my spirit were just not letting me walk out the door.”

In a Q&A about the documentary earlier this year, Bon Jovi himself said “there was never a fight” that led to Sambora’s exit.

“There was substance abuse, there was anxiety, there was being a single parent, there was a lot of personal issues he was going through. But never to this day did any of us, me or him or David [Bryan] or Tico [Torres], ever have a fight,” he added of their bandmates.

“He had some issues that he just couldn’t wrap his head around and he wanted to be home more than he wanted to be on the road, but you got to show up for work,” the 62-year-old continued. “So there’s no animosity. An integral part of my story for three of the four chapters was my right-hand man, asked to join my band and I was lucky to have met him. But life went on.”

Richie Sambora in Louisville in May 2024.Daniel Boczarski/Getty

Sambora reunited with his bandmates in 2018, when the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Reflecting on his time with the group in 2023, he told PEOPLE, “I think that we wrote a lot of songs that changed a lot of people’s lives just by letting them have a good time. I know that’s what music did to me … kept me company. And I hope that I can reflect that in what I do.” He added that a reunion tour “definitely could happen.”

“It’s just a question of when everybody’s ready to go do it. It will be a big, massive kind of undertaking,” he said. “It’s time to do it, though. This is our 40th anniversary, but I feel younger than ever. I’m having a ball.