Live 31 Jan 1998 version
| Jon Bon Jovi (spoken): | Is there a doctor in the house? |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Your love is like bad medicine |
| Bad medicine is what I need | |
| Shake it up, just like bad medicine | |
| There ain't no doctor that can | |
| Cure my disease | |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Let's go! |
| Crowd: | Bad medicine |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I ain't got no fever got a permanent disease |
| It'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy | |
| I got lots of money, it isn't what I need | |
| Take more than a shot to get poison from me | |
| I got the symptoms, one, two, three | |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | First you need |
| (That's what you get for falling in love) | |
| Then you bleed | |
| (You get a little and it's never enough) | |
| Then you're on your knees | |
| (That's what you get for falling in love) | |
| This boy's addicted, your kiss is the drug, oh oh oh | |
| All: | Your love is like bad medicine |
| Bad medicine is what I need (oh oh oh) | |
| Shake it up, just like bad medicine | |
| There ain't no doctor that can | |
| Cure my disease | |
| All: | Bad, bad |
| Southside Johnny: | Medicine |
| Jon Bon Jovi (spoken): | Johnny! |
| Southside Johnny: | I don't need no doctor |
| To be giving me a thrill | |
| I don't need no anesthesia | |
| Or a nurse to bring a pill | |
| I got a down addiction | |
| And it doesn't leave a track | |
| I got a jone for your affection | |
| Like a monkey on my back | |
| Southside Johnny: | There ain't no paramedic |
| Gonna stop my heart attack, say, say | |
| Southside Johnny: | (That's what you get for falling in love) |
| It's too much, baby | |
| (You get a little and it's never enough) | |
| Oh, yeah, yeah | |
| (That's what you get for falling in love) | |
| I'm addicted, and your kiss is the drug | |
| All: | Your love is like bad medicine |
| Bad medicine is what I need | |
| Shake it up, just like bad medicine | |
| There ain't no doctor that can | |
| Cure my disease | |
| Jon Bon Jovi (spoken): | Southside! |
| All: | Bad, bad medicine |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Is what I want |
| All: | Bad, bad medicine |
| Jon Bon Jovi (spoken): | Come on Johnny, flow, baby! |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | Are you ready? Are you ready? |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | I need a respirator |
| I need a respirator | |
| I need a respirator, lord I'm running out of breath | |
| She's an all night generator in stockings and a dress | |
| All: | When you find your medicine you take what you can get |
| Jon Bon Jovi: | If there's something better baby, they haven't found it yet, oh, oh, oh |
| All: | Your love is like bad medicine |
| Bad medicine is what I need (oh oh oh) | |
| Shake it up, just like bad medicine | |
| There ain't no doctor that can | |
| Cure my disease | |
| Southside Johnny: | Babe, oh no |
| All: | Your love is like bad medicine (yeah) |
| Bad medicine is what I need (oh oh oh) | |
| Shake it up, just like bad medicine (oh yeah) | |
| There ain't no doctor that can | |
| Can cure my disease | |
| All: | Bad, bad |
| Southside Johnny: | Medicine |
| All: | Bad, bad... |
| Bad, bad... | |
| Jon Bon Jovi (spoken): | And it's alright! |
| Southside on the harp! |
BAD MEDICINE is a 1988 song by Bon Jovi. See the original Bon Jovi version for more details.
The above lyrics are for live 31 Jan 1998 performance of BAD MEDICINE at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert. Jon Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny traded lead vocals on this song. Bruce Springsteen did not sing, but he probably was onstage playing guitar during this and all the other songs on which he did not sing.
The "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert was organized by the Long Branch Police Department, The Asbury Park Press, and FPI Concerts, along with Jon Bon Jovi. The concert was to honor slain Long Branch police officer Sgt. Patrick King and raise money for the Sgt. Patrick King Memorial Fund to provide for his family. King, 45-year-old father of two young boys, was fatally shot on 20 Nov 1997 by a fugitive who had vowed to kill himself and a police officer rather than be captured and returned to jail.
Twenty musicians with ties to the Jersey shore music scene answered Jon Bon Jovi's call, including Bruce Springsteen and several members of the then-disbanded E Street Band (Clarence Clemons, Danni Frederici, Patti Scialfa, Steven Van Zandt, and Max Weinberg), Southside Johnny, Bobby Bandiera, and Richie Sambora among others. Actor Danny DeVito was the event's MC. Tickets, which were priced at $125, went on sale on 17 Jan 1998 noon and sold out in just eight minutes. The concert that was organized in short order raised more than $112,000 for King's widow and his two sons.
"It was a chance to forget about [the murder] a little bit," Long Branch police Sgt. Bruce Johantgen, one of about 50 city police officers who attended the show, told The Asbury Park Press. "The outpouring of love from the performers to the audience was unbelievable". Johantgen said he found it ironic that Bon Jovi and other performers thanked the audience for coming to the sold-out show. "From the police perspective, I kept thinking, 'We should be thanking you for giving your time'," Johantgen said.
This was a near-reunion of the fabled E Street Band and Springsteen's first full-length electric gig following the acoustic The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour. Springsteen spent much (or possibly all) of the night onstage, singing or playing guitar only. Soundboard recording for the complete concert is available among collectors.
The 31 Jan 1998 show at Count Basie Theatre was commercially released in Europe. Since 2005 some enterprising record labels in Europe (mostly in the UK) have been releasing Bruce Springsteen radio and TV broadcasts (and some soundboard recordings) from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Though these releases are not authorized by Bruce Springsteen or his record company, they are lawful due to a legal loophole in Europe.
BAD MEDICINE was performed off-tour on 31 Jan 1998 at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during the "Come Together: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends" benefit concert.
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
List of available versions of BAD MEDICINE on this website:
BAD MEDICINE [Live 31 Jan 1998 version]
