Phil X played on a latest bon jovi record ???

Why did it need to be written that day then? I mean, shame on Richie for not being there, but was Jon in such a rush to get the song and album done that he just decided Richie's input wasn't needed?

When you're writing something, if it's there, it's there. It waits for no one. Why should Jon wait for Richie when he was in a good place for writing it? The song is perfect the way it is. It doesn't suffer at all because Richie wasn't involved in it, so, obviously, his input wasn't needed. It's one of the best songs the band has ever done IMO.

That's the way they've always written though. Jon writes on his own, Richie writes on his own, they write together, or they write with co-writers. Not like it's a secret.

Maybe if Richie had been there he'd have pointed out the fact that Jon rhymed "curtains" with "hurtin'" which is one of the most cringeworthy pieces of songwriting in the Bon Jovi catalogue. The only worse one i can think of is "think about it, wouldn't that be cooooool" in Love's the Only Rule. I can't listen to that song because of that one line, makes me shudder.

I don't find that line cringeworthy at all. I think WLOL is a practically perfect song.

I actually love both those lines. Want to talk about the most cringeworthy Jovi lyric? There's NO COMPETITION for "The sweat on this old collar, that's my PHD."

I agree, I love this song too. Best song on LH personally for me.

As for why, Jon wrote this without waiting for Richie? maybe he had been waiting for him for a few days already and by that point, he didn't want to wait anymore?

Chris is correct, the whole song is written about Richie and Heather (only one line out of the whole song is for Jon and his wife). So it probably helped not having Richie there because Jon could see it more objectively and not take it personal as Richie would have (I'm guessing) besides, Richie loves the song too, so it's didn't hurt anyone.

I actually think that line sounds very cool

Agreed. I think I am one of the few that really like Save the World (a lot actually) but that line is terrible.

I'm fond of WLOL and STL but yeah that PHD line is definitely the cheesiest in Bon Jovi history, which is saying something