journey believe in me

• Songwriter Interviews
• Song Writing
• Fact or Fiction
• They're Playing My Song
• Songfacts Pages
• Songwriting Legends
• Songfacts Podcast
• Amanda Flinner
• Bruce Pollock
• Corey O'Flanagan
• Dan MacIntosh
• Laura Antonelli
• Leslie Michele Derrough
• Maggie Grimason
• Nicole Roberge
• Roger Catlin
• Shawna Ortega
• Stephanie Myers
• Trevor Morelli

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey

Songfacts®:

• Journey's most enduring song, this track has a unique structure, which helps it stick in your mind. Where most songs have a chorus that's repeated several times, "Don't Stop Believin'" brings in its chorus (and title) only at the end - about 3:20 into the song. The structure goes: instrumental, first verse, instrumental, second verse, first pre-chorus, instrumental, third verse, second pre-chorus, instrumental, and then finally the chorus until fade-out. It was not their biggest chart hit (that would be " Open Arms "), but is by far Journey's most famous song, thanks to a resurgence in the '00s.
• The line, "Strangers waiting, up and down the Boulevard" is a reference to Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, where dreams are made. Keyboard player Jonathan Cain got the idea for the song when he went there to pursue his career. In his Songfacts interview , Cain said: "The song began with the chorus. My father had coached me. I was in Hollywood, struggling with my career, kind of lost. I was asking him, 'Should I come back to Chicago and just give up on this dream?' And he said, 'No, son. Stay the course. We have a vision. It's gonna happen. Don't stop believin'.'" Cain's dream came true when he joined a group called The Babys with John Waite. In 1980, he joined Journey in San Francisco, and this song took shape. He told Steve Perry about his idea for placing the song in Sunset Boulevard, and Perry had him describe it. "I described the menagerie of people who would show up on a Friday night," Cain said. "All the dreamers that had dreams to become actors. Producers, artists, lawyers, anything... they were all there on a Friday night."
• Journey lead singer Steve Perry, keyboard player Jonathan Cain and guitarist Neal Schon are the credited songwriters on this one, but the entire band contributed. In the Time3 compilation, the genesis of this song is explained: "At the band's Oakland warehouse, this song bubbled out of a rehearsal. Schon developed the bass riff, the chugging guitar line and the sweeping chords on the chorus. Steve Smith built the song around a pattern featuring a lot of tom-toms, anchoring the number to a rich drum figure. Perry and Cain drew from their experiences with the Sunset Strip street scene for the lyrics, 'streetlight people.'"
• Speaking with New York Magazine , Perry explained that the song originated during a series of gigs in Detroit when he found himself in a hotel room unable to sleep, staring out of the window: Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard Their shadows searching in the night Streetlight people, living just to find emotion Hiding, somewhere in the night "I was digging the idea of how the lights were facing down, so that you couldn't see anything," he recalled. "All of a sudden I'd see people walking out of the dark, and into the light. And the term 'streetlight people' came to me. So Detroit was very much in my consciousness when we started writing."
• The popular resurgence of this song can be traced to its use in the 2003 movie Monster , which was based on the true story of the female serial killer Aileen Wuornos. The film was not widely seen but drew critical raves and a Best Actress Oscar for Charlize Theron, who portrayed Wuornos. In the movie, the song comes on when Wuornos and Selby Wall (played by Christina Ricci) are skating to it in a roller rink. They mention how they love the song, and as it builds, so does their passion, and they end up kissing outside the rink. The use of "Don't Stop Believin'" in this critically adored scene got the attention of the Hollywood community, who saw the emotion the song could bring out and no longer thought of it as a nostalgia track. Requests started pouring in to use the song in a variety of movies and TV shows, and soon another generation was familiar with the song. So how did it get in Monster in the first place? The film's director Patty Jenkins used it when they shot the scene and knew it fit perfectly. She sent the band members viewing copies of the film and asked permission to use it on a short budget. Perry called her back and not only gave approval, but helped her select music for the rest of the film; he's credited as a music consultant.
• The song was written to give the audience a connection with the band, a goal it achieved. Jonathan Cain told Songfacts: "It was the first attempt to bring an audience into the band's world. We're singing for you. We're singing about your world now. So, it was a departure from what they had been doing before. What I wanted to do was get a little Bruce Springsteen going on. Bruce was the master of that, bringing his audience into his songs. I was a huge fan of Bruce's."
• Speaking with the British radio station Planet Rock in 2010, Steve Perry said of this song: "Personally, it's something that means a lot to me. Everybody has emotional issues and problems, and the song has helped me personally to not give up, and I'm finding a lot of people feel that."
• This is the first track on Journey's seventh album, Escape . It was chosen to lead the album because, according to Cain, "With that piano line, it just sounds like a book opening up."
• The song got a boost when it was used as the closing number in Rock of Ages , a jukebox musical featuring hits of the '80s. The show ran on Broadway from 2009-2015, and in 2012 was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise. It's an appropriate choice, as Rock of Ages takes place on Sunset Boulevard, which is also the primary setting for the song.
• In the last ever episode of the TV show The Sopranos , which aired June 10, 2007, Tony Soprano plays this song on a jukebox during the final scene. The episode abruptly ends with the lyrics "Don't Stop" as the scene cuts to black. Steve Perry said in People magazine June 13, 2007: "I needed to know how this song was going to be used. I didn't want the song to be part of a blood-bath, if that was going to be the closing moment. In order for me to feel good about approving the song use, they had to tell me what happened. And they made me swear that I would not tell anybody."
• This was featured in an episode of the TV show Scrubs called "My Journey." Other television series and films to use "Don't Stop Believin'" include South Park , The Wedding Singer , Shrek the Halls , Bedtime Stories , Yes Dear , King of the Hill , The Comebacks , View from the Top , Cold Case , CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , My Name Is Earl , Just Shoot Me and Laguna Beach .
• In November 2008 it was announced that this track had become the first song available in the pre-digital era to sell more than 2 million downloads through iTunes. The track's popularity increased significantly after its appearance in the final episode of The Sopranos . It also became one of the most popular karaoke songs in America in the late '00s.
• In May 2009 a remake by the cast of the Fox TV musical comedy Glee debuted at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, five places higher than Journey's version ever reached. It was performed in the season pilot and became part of the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 1 . By the end of 2009, the digital download had earned 500,000 digital sales. The Glee version was performed on Sesame Street with monsters portraying the cast. The bit featured the letter G, so the lyrics were adapted to "Don't stop G-ing."
• Believing in yourself and following your passion are ideals Steve Perry holds dear. When Randy Jackson, who used to play bass with Journey, was a judge on the singing competition American Idol , he asked Perry to come on as a guest judge. Perry turned him down, saying, "I don't feel good about sitting in judgment of anyone's honest passion to perform or their talent. If someone has a passion to perform, they should do it no matter what anyone says." Perry added: "I was passed on in the music business many, many times before Herbie [Journey manager Walter Herbert] heard my demo and believed in me. That was the moment that changed my life and I'm still forever grateful to him for believing in me. The hardest part is to keep believing in what you love when others tell you that you are not good at it."
• MTV went on the air shortly before this song was released. The band made a Spartan performance video for it in an empty arena, apparently at a soundcheck. They made a better one with footage from a Houston stop on their Escape tour, which became the official video that shows up on their VEVO account. Neither video got much love on MTV, which preferred concept videos.
• In the UK, this song peaked at #62 when it was first released. In November 2009, it was rereleased after Joe McEldry sang it on the TV show X-Factor , and this time, it climbed to #19. Joe McElderry won the competition, and franchise boss Simon Cowell wanted to release his version of the song as the single in the aftermath of the teenage singer's victory. However, Journey declined and Cowell instead arranged for McElderry to cover Miley Cyrus' track " The Climb ." Guitarist Neal Schon explained to The Sun : "We knew about Joe's version because Simon had contacted our management. He wanted to re-do the song with a different arrangement. We listened to it. We declined. There was nothing wrong with the original version - if it's not busted, let's not fix it." Schon added that Journey were aware they were possibly passing up a UK #1 hit. "Randy Jackson, who was on American Idol with Simon, was stressing that we should let him do it because it would probably go to #1. But we stuck to our decision."
• In the UK, the Glee Cast version debuted at #5 on the UK singles chart dated January 17, 2010, one place above Journey's original recording. It was the first instance of two versions of the same song sitting at back to back positions on the chart since December 2008 when Alexandra Burke's take on " Hallelujah " was at #1 with Jeff Buckley's version one place behind.
• The song starts with Perry singing about a young couple from two different backgrounds: Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world She took the midnight train goin' anywhere Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit He took the midnight train goin' anywhere But hang on a sec, any good Motor City citizen will tell you, there is no location called South Detroit; Detroit, Michigan, distinguishes only between an East Side and a West Side. If you go south in Detroit ("down-river"), you end up in Canada. Perry admitted to New York Magazine that he wasn't overly concerned with being geographically accurate. "I ran the phonetics of east, west, and north, but nothing sounded as good or emotionally true to me as South Detroit," he said. "The syntax just sounded right. I fell in love with the line. It's only been in the last few years that I've learned that there is no South Detroit. But it doesn't matter."
• This was used in the 1982 Atari video game Journey Escape . The song played in the background while you controlled various band members, helping them find the space ship while avoiding groupies and evil promoters. Computer graphics were pretty bad back then, so the groupies were represented as hearts with legs, and the promoters were floating heads. In fact, the very game was created to be based on the band Journey and the album Escape .
• This was one of the first Journey songs on which keyboard player Jonathan Cain played. He replaced Gregg Rolle for the Escape album.
• Lady Gaga, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Blondie and Shirley Bassey performed this at the finale of a Rainforest Fund benefit at Carnegie Hall in May 2010.
• This song was used in a 2005 episode of animated TV series Family Guy where Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire did a drunken karaoke rendition of the song. ITunes was catching on at this point, and after this episode aired there was a spike in download sales of the song. >> Suggestion credit : Bert - Pueblo, NM
• Journey toured to support this album, but they interrupted their tour to open for The Rolling Stones in Philadelphia on September 25, 1981. It was The Stones first show on their North American tour.
• This became the anthem of the Chicago White Sox during their 2005 season in which they won the World Series. Steve Perry attended the last game of the Series and sang the song at their victory parade. Perry's allegiance though, is to his hometown team the San Francisco Giants. He was often seen supporting the team when they won World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Perry would sometimes lead the crowd in singing along to "Don't Stop Believin'" when it was played between innings at games.
• Steve Perry severed ties with Journey in 1998 when he needed hip replacement surgery and couldn't give his bandmates a return date. Anxious to tour, they replaced him with the similar sounding Steve Augeri, and later with Arnel Pineda. For Journey fans, a dream scenario finds Perry reuniting with the band, triumphantly taking the helm on "Don't Stop Believin'" in an affirmation of unity and faith. But every year, they scenario seems less likely. In 2017 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Perry attended but didn't perform with the band, which did three songs (including this one) with Pineda. When Perry emerged with a solo album, Traces , in 2018, he offered some insight into his split with the band and his absence. "My love for music had suddenly left me," he said. "If music was ever to return to my heart, then and only then I would figure out what to do. If not... so be it, for I had already lived the dream of dreams." Journey first fractured in 1987 after touring for their Raised On Radio album. This was Perry's doing, as he was burned out and worried about keeping his voice healthy. But it was Perry who initiated their return, calling Cain in 1995 to talk about getting back together. This resulted in the 1996 album Trial by Fire ; Perry's hip condition emerged after it was finished.
• "Don't Stop Believin'" powered Journey's 1988 Greatest Hits album to a whopping 15 million in US sales ( Escape sold 9 million), making it one of the best-selling compilation albums in history. In 2001, they released another compilation, The Essential Journey , which sold another 2 million.
• During the 2020 pandemic, some hospitals used the song as a rallying call for patients recovering from COVID-19 and those treating them. The New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, for instance, played "Don't Stop Believin'" throughout the building each time they discharged a coronavirus patient.
• In 2020, Ladbaby, a UK duo comprising YouTuber Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne, released a playful twist on this song titled " Don't Stop Me Eatin' ." Recorded to raise money for foodbank charity The Trussell Trust, Ladbaby's single was the UK's Official Christmas #1 that year.
• "Don't Stop Believin'" was honored by the Library of Congress, which added it to the National Recording Registry in 2022. Steve Perry said: "That song, over the years, has become something that has a life of its own. It's about the people who've embraced it and found the lyrics to be something they can relate to and hold onto and sing."
• On January 26, 2024, the RIAA certified "Don't Stop Believin'" at 18x Platinum, a jump from 5x Platinum in 2013. The new certification reflects streaming, and signals that the song is immensely popular across generations. Other songs to reach that milestone are all far more recent, like " Sunflower " by Post Malone. Based on these figures, it's safe to say that "Don't Stop Believin'" is the most widely popular song of all-time in America. You can play it to anyone and they'll certainly recognize the song and probably like it. The next-closest song from the pre-streaming era is Mariah Carey's " All I Want For Christmas Is You ," with a 14x Platinum certification in 2024.
• More songs from Journey
• More songs about perseverance
• More songs used in TV shows
• More songs used in movies
• More popular Karaoke songs
• More songs that were hits for more than one artist
• More songs covered by the Glee cast
• More songs that are discussed in movies
• More songs popular during the coronavirus pandemic
• More motivational songs
• More songs from 1981
• Lyrics to Don't Stop Believin'
• Journey Artistfacts

Comments: 119

• Chad Eicher from Apple Creek, Ohio This song has got to be one of the greatest hit songs that I knew the words to. The cast of the Fox television show "Glee" did their version of that hit song. It just blew me away.
• Rw Cain, at a songwriters festival in 2014, explained some parts of the song. The girl and guy story is like a version of Jack And Diane; they may not be real people. The trains moving at midnight is inspired by the song Midnight Train To Georgia. Live versions of the song, depending on the main vocalist, may change South Detroit to whatever city the band is playing in at that moment.
• Soulsoldseparately from Buffalo, Ny Does "city boy born and raised in South Detroit" refer to an actual person?
• Seventh Mist from 7th Heaven My daughter's favorite song. She often used it as inspiration once she was on her own and (seemingly) facing a new challenge every day. She never stopped believing.
• Susan from Illinois Question-asker from A Train Going Anywhere, I think the lyric means ourselves. The movie is our lives. I believe our lives on this planet will end, but our souls will live on and on in another place.
• Ronsha from New Jersey OMG. This song is so dang famous! People everywhere know this song. I swear to God it's even growing on the younger generations, including me. I used to hate it and think it's overrated, but deep down I always thought, oh darn, this song's catchy, who am I kidding? I'm 13 now and Don't Stop Believin' is one of the most uplifting songs I've ever heard. Not only the sound, but also the lyrics are beautiful. Good song to make you feel strong, nostalgic... it could make you cry too.
• Brett from Mason Whether we choose to hear Streetlight People for street lights, people Steve Perry came right out and said after a concert in Detroit he is looking out from his hotel room down on the street and there we're people just wandering around the street. Not necessarily prostitutes or any other specific type of people. More or less aimlessly wandering around Under The Lights doing nothing. Mendez for the South Detroit I don't think he was intending to give a geography lesson. He was making a song sound the best it could possibly be
• Mckinzie from United States This is my all time favorite song, I say that this is my song because I could relate to this song so much.
• Nick from Ohio This is the most played classic hit of all time. Who would have thought that a song that peaked at #9 would become the undisputed biggest song in history.
• Badintense from Erie Pa This song has crossed all generations and ethnicities as a beloved song. Last summer (2019) in my neighborhood a group of young black teens were hauling their giant boom box down the street blaring this song and singing the words perfectly as if they were in an adult karaoke bar. It actually brought a tear to my eye since I was a teen when this song first came out in 1981. Journey's music has really brought people together into a common bond no matter what the media tries to push on people.
• Question-asker from A Train Going Anywhere what does the lyric "Oh, the movie never ends It goes on and on, and on, and on" mean in this song?
• Seventhmist from 7th Heaven I recently took a long trip and played a Journey collection in my car, downloaded from a phone app. It contained a live version of this song, performed in Houston, that I hadn’t heard before. When Perry reached line about the boy, he sang, “Just a city boy, born and raised right here in Houston!” That definitely caught me by surprise.
• Jodie from Xx I'm pretty sure he's saying "streetlights, people". Not "streetlight people".
• Steve from Albany, Ny And the nonsense about Windsor being "considered" south Detroit continues to stick to the Wiki page like doodoo. LOL It's been said by many that you should never rely on Wiki as a source of reliable / accurate information. Very true.
• Charles from Charlotte The stuff about lowlife killer Eileen Wuernos kissing her female lover just sullies the discussion of a great American pop song. Wish Perry & Co, had said NO!! to that.
• Leonardo from Connecticut I would argue that the Sopranos season finale repopularized the song, not Monster...
• Tony from San Diego Steve Smith plays an amazing drum pattern during the choruses.
• Steve from Albany, Ny The info on the Wikipedia page for this song is inaccurate. And some moderator is allowing it to be there. I guess the following from John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band's song C-I-T-Y was actually referring to Windsor too: "On the South side of Detroit city I'm working all night on the line" Yep, definitely referring to Windsor, Ontario because everyone knows Windsor, Ontario is "considered" south Detroit. Right. LOL
• Steve from Albany, Ny Regarding "south Detroit", I'm simply going to paste in what I just got done explaining to a mod at Wiki who is apparently bent on leaving misinformation on the Wiki page for this song. Sorry but this is pretty simple stuff and anyone who doesn't get it is an imbecile. ........................ I'm guessing / just realizing that you're a type of moderator here. If you in fact have control over what info is on the page in question, it would be a HUGE wrong to leave in the very misleading entry you've re-submitted. Windsor, Ontario is south _OF_ Detroit, Michigan. Detroit, Michigan is the city that NUMEROUS bands would make reference to in their songs. Especially rock bands and especially during the 70s into the 80s. Not Windsor and not any other suburbs of Detroit that also lie south of Detroit (or "downriver"). The song simply makes reference to the south SIDE of Detroit. The quote by Perry makes it clear that the word south was only added because... well, try singing it without south and just a long INNNN in it's place. As the quote makes clear, the song would not have sounded right without south (or something) before the word Detroit. Not that it's is needed for most to understand that the song is referencing Detroit and only Detroit but there is also a quote by Perry in which he stated that Detroit was very much in their (the writers) minds as they wrote the song. Windsor is not a part of Detroit. The song makes reference to the south side of Detroit. If the entry about Windsor is left on the page, so be it, but it is completely misleading and wrong.
• John from Chino, Ca This song is played during the final minutes of Detroit Red Wings home games where it seems evident that the team will win. Played over the PA system, the song is muted so the crowd can sing the verse, "Born and raised in South Detroit."
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On December 13th 1981 "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey peaked at #9 (for 3 weeks) on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; it had entered the chart on October 25th and spent 9 weeks on the Top 100... It reached #2 in Canada and #6 in the U.K. Was one of four tracks from the group's 1981 album 'Escape' to make the Top 100 (the others were "Who's Crying Now" (4), "Still They Ride" (#19) and "Open Arms" (#2)... And on September 12th, 1981 the album peaked at #1 (for 1 week) on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart.
• Steve from Albany, Ny Some of the comments here regarding this song and it's mentioning of south Detroit are ridiculous. Saying there is no south Detroit is funny enough (there is a south side of any city and I was born and raised in SW Detroit myself) but I especially get a kick out of the people who say the song is referring to Windsor. If the following Steve Perry quote is accurate, "All of a sudden I'd see people walking out of the dark, and into the light. And the term 'streetlight people' came to me. So Detroit was very much in my consciousness when we started writing.", then the ONLY city being referenced in the song is Detroit. If by chance the lyrics were written as "South Detroit" as opposed to "south Detroit", I suppose that could indicate that Perry/ the writers were thinking of some area of Detroit or evena separate town with that name but it's not likely and that capital S is the only error here. There's nothing complicated here, the song simply refers to the south side of Detroit.
• Jay from Centereach, Long Island, Ny I am surprised that the "South Detroit" line is so controversial. As a New Yorker, and not wholly familiar with the local geography or the neighborhood names of Detroit, I always thought South Detroit simply meant the southern part of Detroit, much like the South Bronx is the southern part of the Bronx. But who cares? This is a great song; no one should be concerned about a geographic error.
• Deethewriter from Saint Petersburg, Russia Federation Neal Schon told RAW RAWK RU NEWS 2011-10-24 that the recent resurgence of "Don't Stop Believin'" after appearing on The Sopranos and Glee -- as well as becoming the first iTunes song to reach two million downloads -- is beyond his comprehension: "When the record came out, there were other songs that were actually bigger than that off it on radio. Y'know, to have it this many years later just come out and be bombastic (laughs) like never before, just like all over the place and just keep on . . . It just keeps on going. Y'know, it's just pretty amazing."
• Terry from Grafon, Wi This song should be the national anthem of the United States.
• Willie from Scottsdale, Az Bwaaahahaha! Now Michelle "White House Crasher" Salahi is shacking up with Neal Schon. Priceless.
• Ken from San Mateo, Ca Since last year's World Series victory, I will always associate this song to the Giants and the Bay Area. Absolutely one of the best songs!!!!
• Hannah from Gustavus, Oh I'm graduating this coming Sunday (May 29, 2011) and I couldn't be more thrilled that this was voted in as our class song. When they announced it at school you could hear people cheering. I think the reason it's such an enduring song for graduation is that unlike most of the class themes that get picked ("Good Riddance," "Here's to the Night," etc.) it's not about looking back and being sad it's over, but rather looking forward and realizing there is indeed life afterward. It's about living life to the fullest (the first verse) and how even though life is difficult ("some are born to sing the blues"), the important thing is to at least take chances and try ("roll the dice just one more time") - and of course, to not give up no matter what may happen, because everything will turn out just fine in the end.
• Michael from Cincinnati, Oh Journey's 1982 album "Eascape was made into a video game titled "Escape".It was produced by Atari for the 2600 model.It was made by Data Age in San Jose,Cal.The Object of the game was to help the band members "Escape" the fans chasing them around.Pretty cool game at the time.
• Steppy from Detroit, Mi *South Detroit Debate* I'm from metro Detroit (as well as a giant Journey fan) and had always wondered about the reference to South Detroit. I heard and interview a year or so ago with Steve Perry, where he addressed the issue. I listened to it online, maybe Youtube?, so the interview may have been old. At any rate, he said that after a concert in Detroit, he was sitting in his hotel room, very late, working on this song. The room was on a high floor and he was watching the people standing under the lights and pondering their lives ("streetlight people"). While he realized that South Detroit didn't really exist, he used a bit of artistic license, because it flowed better than East Detroit.
• Megan from Stevenson, Al Tell me why this is AMAZING?! lol This song is on a totally different level. Awesome.
• Jim from Long Beach, Ca Great song. South Detroit=Winsor,Ontario,Canada.....
• Jay from St Paul, Mn I listened to a few interviews Steve has given. He said he used South Detroit because it sounded better than North, East or West. He said he didn't realize there was no South Detroit. He jokingly said he found out South Detroit was actually Windsor. As far as streetlight people, he said it's something that he noticed when he looked out of a hotel window. If you Youtube it, you can find the interviews. Very worth while.
• Ken from San Mateo, Ca What a song...Like the Chisox, this also became a tribute song for the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants! And Journey is from this area, so it makes better sense.
• Bobby from Belleville, Nj While Journey's version is a classic, back in 2008 before it was used in Sopranos, freestyle artist George LaMond remade the song into a pop/dance version. And a very good one, I might add.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny Five years before Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" Olivia Newton-John had a completely different record with the same title, it peaked at No. 33...
• Bd from Vienna, Va Probably worth noting in the brouhaha about Journey turning down a cover of this song is that Randy Jackson was in the band for a while in the mid-80s before their first breakup.
• Rob from Fredericton, Nb One of the many anthems most prominiately found in the 80s hall of great music. For every song played on the radio, this one song sticks out the most when I use to go to a carnival in my hometown. With the smell of fries, hotdogs and other foods lingering in the air, you could always hear a Journey tune blaring in the background while everyone enjoyed riding the many rides at this carnival. So when you take an experience, like a carnival, and feature all of it's pleasantries you soon inaugurate any song from the 80s, namely a Journey tune, and the picture is complete. Such a great band and such a great song.
• Sara from Detroit, Mi And for those of you that want to split hairs, Look on the map of Detroit. Melvindale, Ecorse, Lincoln Park, Ecorse, Delray, Allen Park, Southgate, Taylor, River Rouge, Wyandotte. These are all blue collar or very poor areas, and most people worked for the Big 3 auto companies. This area is called "Downriver" as it is south of Detroit. Detroit itself is a pretty small city. What most people think is Detroit is any one of the suburbs that lies within or outside of Detroit's city limits. Oak Park, Hazel Park, Highland Park, and Hamtramck, are all INSIDE the City Limits. Where as Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Southfield, Eastpointe, are OUTSIDE of Detroit's City Limits...yet most people consider it part of the greater metro area. When the word METRO is used by itself all over the country it means DETROIT METRO. We were the first place to use the term "Metro" as a colloquial term for a specific large area, as Detroit was the first city in the country to spread out that fast with that large of a population. The city of Detroit itself, is small.
• Sara from Detroit, Mi You are all VERY WRONG about the South Detroit explanation. To those of us who are FROM Detroit and GREW UP THERE....SOUTH DETROIT IS ANYTHING SOUTH OF I-96...a.k.a "Downriver" ....There has NEVER been a place CALLED South Detroit. It's like being in any big city, the term is more loosely used, than say "South Philly", "South-Central L.A." "Southside Of Chicago". Yes Eastpointe was East Detroit but that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this, you don't see a "West Detroit" on the map do you? As for the lyrics it IS in fact "Streetlights, People". It's amazing how many Americans struggle with their own native language!
• Carrie from Roanoke, Va Petra Haden does a cover version of this song.
• Karen from Manchester, Nh I have loved this song for years...until I heard that it was the closing song on the piece of filth that is titled "The Sopranos".
• Jose from Brisbane, Australia Please tour Australia! I know it's hard because for some reason, Australia never really got into Journey... sad lot we are.
• Nikki from Yamba, Australia greta song... love that it has on family guy.. scrubs... the sapranos... the wedding singer and love when LC and stephen sing it on the second series of laguna beach!
• Ellen from Chicago, Il A great song. See Wikipedia's article (search the song title) for additional details as to what exactly is meant by "South Detroit" - in the section called "Sports".
• Rahul from Chennai, India absolutely beautiful song....
• Stu from Philly, Pa They've been quoted as saying "it's streetlight people, we're talking about prostitutes." At any rate, check the lyrics book that came with the album. One of the greatest songs of all time, it was a real treat to see the cast of Glee perform it on that new TV show. One of the best non-Journey renditions of it. My band Raised On Radio usually starts our sets with this song.
• Mike from Brighton, Ma To answer the age old question, "South Detroit" actually refers Southfield, Michigan. (Southfield, ironcally is north of Detroit.) In the 1980s, Journey played many charity soft ball games with WRIF-FM (The Riff).
• Brendan from Cape Town, South Africa The line after "streetlights, people" sounds like "heaven just a fun emotion" Any other suggestions?
• Allen from Knoxville, Tn On the University Of Tennessee campus, somebody has spray painted on the stop signs "dont STOP believin'" Great song, even 27 years after it was released!
• Katie from St. Paul, Mn The lyrics say "Streetlights, people...", not "Streetlight people".
• Josh from Indianapolis, In Journey Rocks Big Time!!!!!!!!!!!!! thers not a song by them i dont like> Rock on!
• Bob from Dumbsville, Belarus Wow this song is beautiful! Everytime I'm down, I listen to it and it gets me back on my feet again. This song just defines 80s music. Journey will just never be the same without Steve Perry leading their crusade.
• Morten from Sydney, Australia I'm an 80's music tragic but suprisingly had never heard of this song! Thanks to Family Guy for introducing me to this gem! -Morten, Sydney, Australia
• Dean from Windsor, On I would just like to inform all those people who say this song isn't about Windsor. When "South Detroit" is mentioned the city of Windsor is what they are talking about. Windsor is actually SOUTH of Detroit. If your ever around my town and stand at the river your compass will point north. Enjoy!
• Julie from Taylor, Tx When this song comes on...me and best friend victoria go crazy! it's their best song. Classic 80's!
• Melanie from Seattle, Wa Scott from Boston - what a cool story! Haha I want to go write that on a stop sign now! :D This song is sooo good. Journey's best IMO. Steve's voice is amazing.
• Neil from Ottawa, Canada This song was sung by the football team in the 2007 film "The Comebacks". One of the players starts singing it in the change-room, and it turns in to a full-stage concert. It mocks the sports movie cliche of teams turning it around with an uplifting theme song, and also references the Chicago White Sox World Series.
• Liquid Len from Ottawa, Canada What a great song! The only song Journey did in the 80s that wasn't horrid!
• Fredrik from Stockholm, Sweden This song was also featured in the South Park episode "tsst" when Cartman is plugging in his X-Box. He sings the lines "Don't stop believing, hold on to your feelings"
• Krista from Elyria, Oh I love Journey! And I love it when ametuers sing the lyrics! But I HATE baseball cards...
• Scott from Boston, Ma During cross country last year there was a stop sign we always ran by during practice and it said "don't" above it and "believing" below it. It became our team's song and we often sang it very out of tune during runs. Also, that Family Guy episode is awesome (as most are). "Oh my god, that is Journey!"
• Michael from San Diego, Ca One of the most beautiful songs of all time...if this song doesn't get to you, then you may need to check your pulse!
• Richie from Sedalia, Mo Edgar, Kings Park, NY Better luck next time!!
• Edgar from Kings Park, Ny This song reminds me of my failed suicide attempt. Well... there's always next time.
• Brian from Portage, Mi Yes, Detroit is an East/West city, but no matter where an area is, there is still four cardinal directions.
• Brian from Detroit, Mi Anyone from Detroit will know what i am saying, but "south detroit" refers tothe area south of Outer Drive, Detroiters refer to the area as "downriver." i Just want to clear the confusion. It ISINT canada, it ISINT eastpointe, NOR groose pointe.
• Eamon from Motherwell, Scotland THis inspirational song was played every night in a juke by me when I was teaching summer camp in up state New York back in 1980. Being from Scotland, I loved the American rock scene and this classic just typifyies it. 27 years later, I play the Journey live DVD while I work out every other night and never tire of hearing it, it is in my blood. I had the pleasure of seeing Journey in Glasgow earlier this year and it was a real highlight. One question - I have heard different lyrics for this some say "Heaven is a funky mouse?" Any comments guys and girls? Eamon.Motherwell. Scotland.
• Sergio from Miami, Fl I have been listening to this song for a long time now. I grew up listening to it and I admit, its my all time favorite. It is so cool now to see a new generation fall in love with it thanks to Family Guy, Scrubs and Sopranos. I dont think it matters if South Detroit is correct or not cause whenever they performed it live with Steve Perry he always replaced Detroit with the city they were in at the moment. I always thought that was a nice touch and he always got a cheap pop for it. I know I will always love this song and just dont get sick or hearing it. Journey was a fantastic band with some great musicians.
• Mary from Canyon, Tx This song was my junior class song way back when in ancient times, not too long after it was first released. EVen I know Windsor, ON is south of Detroit! (Southeast to be exact.)
• Mark from Glassboro, Nj This song was used in the very end of The Soprano's Final Episode. The song is cut short and the screen goes to blank.
• Missy from Ann Arbor, Mi You may not belive this but 'Don't stop Belivin' was my senior class song...I love it and so did my class...we were a pretty small class and we were all ubsessed with soft and classic rock...the good stuff...Whenever I hear those first few piano keys play, I will alway go back to my high school gym, on a hot june day, walking to the stage to graduate...Good Times, Great Memories and GREAT SONG!!!
• Mike from Hueytown , Al I love the 80's on VH1 ripped this song apart.
• Mark from Des Moines, Ia I can't help but think of the CHICAGO WHITE SOX and their magical run to the World Series title in 2005. What a great season!!! What a great song!!!
• Maria from Houston , Tx I agree with most, his voice is awesome!!!!
• Kara from Cadillac, Mi Artists magic is what happens when you take a group of extraordinarily talented people and put them together, allowing them each to do what they do best. Journey is what happens when it all fits together and creates something wonderful. They're not just a band- they're an era. Neal Schon is with out a doubt one of the most gifted guitarists ever. His knowledge and presentation of his craft are nothing short of brilliant. Steve Perry's vocals are masterful. They, along with Schon's guitar work, gave Journey a distintive sound. Jonathan Cain - a perfect fit, though I admit I've always liked Greg Rolle too. I have a Journey album that was made prior to Steve Perry's joining and listening to that makes me know that Journey would have been great no matter what because they had the talent to be great. I know there were changes in the lineup, but Ross Valory's bass playing was also part of what made Journey what it is to me. I loved Steve Smith on the drums, but as with Rolle, I was sad to see Aynsley Dunbar go. Journey was a concept, a feeling, a part of life, an important accent to memories in my life and continues to contribute to important events in the lives of my kids. Two of my sons play guitar and are greatly influenced by Neal Schon. One of them is currently overseas serving in the millitary- he will marry his high school sweetheart when he returns and their wedding song will be "Open Arms". The two sons that I have at home have recently been getting into Journey - "Generations" and I have found that I love their music now as much as I ever did. It never mattered to me that Steve Perry said "South Detroit" - I lived in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti for many years and I never could keep the suburbs or other offspring areas of Detroit straight anyway. I lived in San Francisco too and always knew that "Lights" was about that city - even if it was written in (or partially in) L.A. - Who cares? Does anybody ever question why "Still They Ride" has traffic lights in it? No. Why? Because it's a truly amazing song about times changing before people are ready for them to with an outstanding guitar lead and excellent vocals. Get over the details. This is legendary music by exceptional musicians. Just enjoy it.
• J from Boston, Ma and I mean (in the last comment) in the chorus part at the end.
• J from Boston, Ma About the streetlight line, I think the first time the line is done, it sort of sounds like streetlight with a little extra sound on it. However, the second time the line is sung, he definetly says streetlights. As the song fades out, I think he says streetlight.
• Jack from London, England Coming from England I had never heard this song on the radio before I heard it on Family Guy. I then heard the song during an episode of Scrubs Season 3 called "My Journey" and decided I had to download it. JOURNEY KICK ASS
• Nathan from From The Country Of, Canada I always heard this song on the radio, but it wasn't until its appearance on Family Guy's kareokee episode that i realized how good the song actually is.
• Peter from Detroit, Mi No matter what, at least once a month I hear this song at the bar. My friends and I are from Dearborn Heights, MI and I like to replace south detroit with "dearborn heights" while belting the lyrics to the annoyance of my girlfriend...she thinks I'm cute so it's cool. Rock on Journey!
• Tom from Vashon, Wa This is an amazing song. It is so sweet. I love it. I think that it has a great message that we can all relate to. Wether we are living on the streets or we are just having problems with our closest friend. You can never stop believing.
• Dave from Beamsville, Canada If you listen closely, you will hear a rendition of this song during the first wedding ceremony on 'The Wedding Singer' when Adam Sandler gets stood up at the alter.
• Allan from Calgary, Canada At The Den (the on-campus bar at the University of Calgary) this song has been the last song every weekend night for the last 10 years. All the regulars drop their pants and do the "no pants dance" Quite a good time and a great way to end the night at a great bar.
• Zeke from Washington, Dc All the lyrics say that the line is "Streetlight, people..." but if you listen to the song it DEFINITELY sings "Streetlights, people." Which do you think it is?
• Kevin from Grosse Pointe, Mi Yeah, but who calls Windsor "South Detroit"? Nobody. I love this song, but that line always bugs me. Why not say "Just a city boy, born and raised in East Detroit" East Detroit is the former name of Easpointe, Michigan. Also, East Detroit is just considered the East side of Metro Detriot, so he could be from the eastern part of the city of Detroit or from any one of the suburbs that is considered East Detroit (Harper Woods, Roseville, Clinton Township, St. Clair Shores)
• Emma from Palm Beach, Australia This song was performed in episode 403 of "The Family Guy" entitled "Don't Make Me Over" (original air date 06/05/05) by Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire and Joe. It's an enjoyable rendition, with pall bearers even dropping a coffin in order to hit "The Drunken Clam" to check out the performance.
• Matt from Haddon Hieghts, Nj This song is great and i got my whole family to love this song its Steve Perrys voice thats just awesome and its one of my fav
• Cindi from Vancouver, Canada OMG WHO care weather it is North, South. East or West it is a great song.....I can think about better things to debate than which way is up, down or left or right....I agree with who ever said there is N,S, E or West every where just get a compass and stand outside this isn't rocket science it's a Rock song.
• Zeke from Washington, Dc Actually, Canada IS south of Detroit. The southern part of Ontario is actually south of Detroit. Check your map Jon from Regina.
• Justin from Monson, Ma I think Journey's song "Don't stop Believin" is the greatest song in the world. I love it so much. Each time it comes on the radio, I turn it up loud. By the way, why does anyone care about how the city of Detroit is used in the song. The song's great!!!!!!!! -Justin Dubois,Monson,MA
• Matthew from East Brunswick, Nj Great song, Journey is a godsend of the 80's!
• Anwiya from Sterling Heights, Mi Hey John from Canada, you know nothing. A portion of Canada (city name: WINDSOR) is south of Detroit.
• Sara Mackenzie from Middle Of Nowhere, Fl white sox have used it for their theme song, omg!! at least it kept them going on to believe that they could win, and they did, so this song is like, an inspiration.
• Christa from Aurora, Il This was the song the white sox used for inspiration to win the world series 2005!
• Jeff from Sothington, Ct this is an inspirational song that has a good guitar part in it...the family guy episode was funny and the fact that i knew this girl that would sing this song and now everytime i hear it i see her singing it..but i still see myslef playing guitar...nice solo though
• David from Yosemite, Ca I heard this song sung a few weeks ago in San Francisco's North Beach--I was trying to sleep in the GreenTortoise hostel in the room above the lounge--and a chorus of girls was singing it. It must have been Kerioki night, but it was lovely. I couldn't recall the group (Journey), but heard a bit on the radio, and googled the lyrics. I've been googling lyrics all weekend--Napster's having free downloads, which brought me here--nice site.. I wish I could have recorded the girls singing. David Yosemite Sept. 4, 2005
• Chase from Pasadena, Ca Most of the memories posted on this website are by a girl named "Stephanie."
• Stephanie from Ellicott City, Md this song brings back some great memories .... reminds me of being just over the edge of 17, vacationing in Florida with my family. we were staying at this resort, and i was hanging out in the game room. i had been pretty bored, and i met this guy about 2 years younger than me. he was from a small town in Maine, while i was from the big city in Maryland. i was grateful to find someone close to my age, and we played airhockey, with us deciding to make a friendly bet, the terms to be determined after the game. he let me win, and the term of the bet was decided to be a kiss. we ended up making out for awhile, and when we parted for the night, we shared no pretense that we'd ever meet again. the next night, i heard this song, and it made me think of him - although it was reversed, he was the small town boy and i was the city girl, for a smile we shared the night, and the memories go on and on. i had been feeling pretty low about myself at this time, and feeling undesirable, and he made me feel like, hey, maybe there is something desirable about me after all. so, Matt from Maine, thank you.
• Ryan from Windsor, Canada Amazing song, one of the best from the 80's. oh and Jon from Regina, check your map bro. I'm from Windsor, Ontario Canada and to go to Detroit I'd have to travel North, not South (one of those "tricky" geography catches).
• Jev from Marietta, Ga Well does anyone know where I can get a good ringtone of this song period.
• Patrick from Charlotte, Nc no.
• Jev from Marietta, Ga Does anybody know where I can get a Don't Stop Believin ringtone that is reliable?
• Jon from Regina, Canada This is a great song. By the way, who really cares if they say South Detroit? It's not the end of the world. And John from Scottsdale, I thought most people knew this, but Canada is NORTH of Detroit, not south.
• Matthew from Marquette, Mi Ok... I don't know how many of you really know Geography, but there is a North, South, East and West of EVERYTHING! There is South America, Southern US, Southern California, South Detroit, my dorm room even has a southern part. While you may not find South Detroit on a map, there is in fact a South Detroit. The guy probably grew up near Michigan Avenue. As for the song... GREAT EFFIN' SONG!
• Tatem from San Diego, Ca No matter the radio station I'm listening to, you can always tell that distinctive Journey-Steve Perry sound and instantly know a Journey song regardless of your knowledge of their song list. Steve Perry gave Journey their uniqueness. I had heard about the Monster movie thing, never saw the movie though. It's hard to believe how old these guys are now. Steve Perry was a hottie. Aging happens to the best of us!!
• Perviz from Cochin, India Words can't describe the kind of feeling you get on hearing this song. Truly a masterpiece!!
• Perviz from Cochin, India This is truly a super duper song. Thanx a million Journey.
• Kevin from Grosse Pointe, Mi Yeah the whole South Detroit thing always bugged me too. Detroit is an East Side/West Side city, not a North Side/South Side city like Chicago. If the lyrics had said "East Detroit" it would have made more sense.
• Ryan from Lansing, Mi There is no East Detroit however as everyone should know, they changed there name to Eastpointe. But yeah he should really have said southren Detroit.
• John from Scottsdale, Az When I ever hear this song, I have to say "you've got it wrong, Steve, and sing "There ain't no such place as South Detroit." I grew up in Detroit. There's an east side and a west side. The dividing line is Woodward Avenue. South Detroit is..uh... Canada. Stand on the plaza in downtown Detroit, and look south. Oh, Canada. Otherwise, I like the song, but Steve and his buddies should hvae stuck to San Francisco or looked at a map
• Tom from Alma, Ga Ack! Another cookie-cutter corporate rock band. Being a child of the 80's, however, they did have some good stuff.
• Dawn from Highlands Ranch, Co Well, Neal Schon, Steve Perry and Jon Cain I think all take credit for the genesis of this song, which probably explains part of why they're not together anymore. But actress Charlize Theron really wanted this song for a scene in her movie Monster, so she and director/writer Patty Jenkins wrote a letter to Steve Perry begging him to allow them to use the song. He saw the scene they wanted it for, said it was perfect, through Sony contacts asked Jon and Neal if they were ok with it, they said yes, and Steve became musical consultant for the film, as well as the song being in the film. Steve is still traveling around the US and Canada with Patty helping her promote the movie and accepting awards for it.
• Mooler from Detroit, Mi Nora hit the nail right on the head. South Detroit is just referring to the southern part of the city just as south west detroit or west side or east side or northeast detroit...etc etc. I should know...im from north east detroit. 7 and gratiot.
• Paul from Greenwood, Sc Just a couple tidbits...in live shows, Journey frontman Steve Perry would insert the name of whatever city that would be hosting them, evidenced by the NFL films documentary of them from the late 80's where they are playing in Philly..."Born and raised in Phil-a-del-phia!"...also the guitar break between the first and second verse spotlights Schon at what he did best. Neil Schon was discovered by Carlos Santana and was playing on stage at the age of 15. He is incredibly fast and it shows on this classic.
• Larry from Artesia, Ca Streetlight people, living just to find emotion Hiding, somewhere in the night
• Angela from Santa Fe, Tx Does anyone know the lyrics to this song? I know most of them, however, there is one line in there where I can't seem to catch all the words. It is right after the line in the chorus "Streetlife people". Can anyone help me? Thanks.
• Nora from Richfield, Mn The lyrics didn't say 'south OF Detroit', it said South Detroit. Big difference

More Songfacts:

Blackbird The Beatles

Paul McCartney wrote "Blackbird" in Scotland after reading about race riots in the US, triggered when federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital's school system.

Love Never Felt So Good Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson became the first artist in history to score Top 10 hits in five consecutive decades on the Hot 100 when "Love Never Felt So Good" landed at #9 on the chart dated May 31, 2014.

Call Me Maybe Carly Rae Jepsen

"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen was the song of the summer in 2012 and a major meme. It got some help from her fellow Canadian Justin Bieber, who tweeted that it was "possibly the catchiest song I've ever heard."

Flying Without Wings Westlife

A live stripped down version of "Flying Without Wings" was the first ever #1 on the Official UK Download Chart. It was recorded in May 1994 at The Globe, Stockholm.

Dancing In The Dark Bruce Springsteen

Alfonso Ribeiro's "Carlton Dance" was inspired by Bruce Springsteen and Courteney Cox' dance moves in the "Dancing In The Dark" video.

Do You Believe In Love? Huey Lewis & the News

The first Huey Lewis & the News hit, "Do You Believe In Love?," is a cover of a song Mutt Lange wrote three years earlier called "We Both Believe In Love."

Editor's Picks

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt Song Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind .

Rob Halford of Judas Priest Songwriter Interviews

Rob Halford dives into some of his Judas Priest lyrics, talking about his most personal songs and the message behind "You've Got Another Thing Comin'."

Dean Pitchford Songwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose . His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."

Michael W. Smith Songwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Boy Bands Fact or Fiction

From NKOTB to 1D, how well do you know your boy bands?

Metallica Fact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Songfacts® Newsletter

A monthly update on our latest interviews, stories and added songs

Information

• Terms of Service
• Our Privacy Policy
• Google Privacy Policy
• Songfacts API
• Music History Calendar
• Song Licensing
• Affiliate Disclosure
• Privacy Manager
• X (Twitter)

Contribution

• Message Boards
• Songfacts Writers

©2024 Songfacts, LLC

• Behind the Song

Behind The Song Lyrics: “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey

by Jacob Uitti December 15, 2021, 9:19 am

What if I told you the world’s favorite 1:58 AM song—“Don’t Stop Believin’”—came from a conversation between a dejected musician and his supportive parent?

Videos by American Songwriter

Well, that’s exactly what happened with the tune and the writer of its famous chorus, Jonathan Cain, the now-71-year-old musician and longtime keyboard player and writer of the American rock band Journey.

Sing it with us now:

Don’t Stop! Believin’! Hold on to that feelin’ Streetlight, people Don’t stop, believin’ Hold on Streetlights, people

The song, which was released on the band’s sophomore album, Escape , in 1981, later hit the Billboard and the U.K. charts at various points in its long lifespan. Later, Rolling Stone named it No. 133 of its best 500 songs.

We caught up with Cain to talk about the origins of the lyrics, which includes a phone call with his father. As Cain says, he remembers writing it like it was yesterday.

American Songwriter: Do you remember writing “Don’t Stop Believin’”?

Jon Cain: Like it was yesterday. Yeah, I remember like it was yesterday. Basically, we had one more song—[former Journey lead singer] Steve Perry said, “I think we need one more, let’s write one more song.” He said, “There must be something in that lyric book.” Because I had several spiral notebooks full of ideas and lyrics. I’m writing lyrics all the time. Even back in those days, I was working on it. I believe you use it or lose it when you’re writing lyrics.

AS: Absolutely.

JC: So, I had this idea. My dad and I had this conversation. In the 70s, I was kind of on my down and out phase. I’d lost my record deal with Warner Bros. and I had a day job and then my dog got hit by a car and I had a $1,000 vet bill. And I had called for money and I said, “Maybe I should give up on this thing dad, and come home to Chicago.” And he said, “No. You stay where you are.”

He said, “Your biggest breakthrough is right around the corner. It seems bad right now but there’s something coming and I feel it and don’t stop believing, Jon. That’s all I can say to you, don’t stop believing.” So, I wrote it and as I was talking to my father, he said, “I’ll send that money, you can pay me back someday, don’t worry about it. But your greatest breakthrough is right around the corner, just stay with it.”

JC: So, I did. And I wrote down don’t stop believing. And that was five years before Journey called me to join. So, I had this in my notebook. And we had finished all these songs and when I went home that night, I saw the title, “Don’t Stop Believin’” and I said, “That’s it!” And so, I immediately jumped on my little Wurlitzer and came up with a chorus. I mean, in about 20 minutes I had it.

And I brought it in and all I had was chords. And when I played it for the guys, they were like, “This is a great chorus.” So, we beat it around a little bit, and then Steve said, “I got an idea, why don’t we use your chords for the chorus, same ones.” He said, “Don’t change them. They’re great chords, just change the way you do it. Just do that rolling thing you did in the bass, that eighth note feel.”

And then Neil [Schon] came up with the bassline—doo-doo-doo-doo—and he showed that to Ross [Valory] and then he came up with the B-section, the “strangers waiting up and down…” Interestingly enough, musically there’s a tension and release that is constant. It’s like a theme in the song. It sort of goes to the chorus and then releases. Tension and release, tension and release.

Then we ended up with this musical version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” and interestingly enough, the chorus was introduced by Neal’s guitar. Neal just came right out and played that melody before we sing it. Which breaks all the rules. And I kept saying to Steve in the rehearsal room, are we going to go to the chorus? And he said, “No, we’re going to save it to the end. And we’re going to make them want to play it over and over again. It’s only going to be one time, they’re going to hear it and it’s going to be gone and they’re going to want to play it again.”  

I liked that philosophy, I said that was a good strategy, let’s go with it. So, we did. And we didn’t have the lyric yet for the verse and I went to Steve’s house there and it reminded me—Neal had played that interlude that sounded like a train. It was these little staccato things—diggy-diggy-diggy—it sounded like a train going down the track. And I listened to it. We had a cassette and a little blaster and I said, “This sounds like a train, Steve.”

And I said, “You know that song, ‘ Midnight train to Georgia ’ [by Gladys Knight & The Pips]? What about a midnight train going anywhere?” And he’s like, “Yeah!” and then he looked at me and he said, “That Jack and Jill song about the guy and a girl, what if we plug that concept in?” I said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” And then “small-town girl living in a lonely world,” you know? And then we had this little movie of these two meeting somewhere.

And I said, “They’re going to meet on Sunset Boulevard.” Because I lived right above Sunset Boulevard in Laurel Canyon and I described what Friday night looked like on Sunset Boulevard in 1974. It was a menagerie of all these people from all walks of life. Rock stars, actresses, hustlers, you name it. They were all meeting on Sunset Boulevard on Friday night to check it out. And it was this big cruise thing where the cars would be there and people would be walking up and down the street, from every different place.

I mean, L.A. in 1974 was the heart of rock and roll, it really was, on Sunset Boulevard. You had the Whiskey-a Go Go. Van Halen playing at Gazzarri’s. You had Aerosmith playing at the Starwood. You had David Bowie with his Diamond Dogs thing. All of that. It was the heart of rock and roll. So, Steve said, “Yeah!” So, strangers waiting up and down the boulevard, their shadows… ” That was Sunset Boulevard. And he totally got the movie.

JC: We saw the movie together. Now, he hadn’t been there, but I’d described the movie well enough that he was like, “Let’s do this.” And we wrote about Vegas. Paying anything to roll the dice one more time. That’s it and that’s dreaming. Like, I’m going to win, I’m not stuck where I am. I think we wanted to write that song to say it’s okay to dream, it’s okay to get out. You’re not stuck where you are. You can go somewhere and take that midnight train.

And the “South Detroit” thing I got a lot of flack for. Because there was no South Detroit. And I said, “Because it’s a mystical place, it doesn’t exist!” It’s the city of possibilities in your mind. That’s what South Detroit is. So, leave it alone. And that’s really it.

AS: And how about the chords, the keys part you play?

JC: Oh, that was just kind of leftover from The Babys, I think [Cains band before he joined Journey]. Again, it’s tension and release. So, we’re playing a sort of an augmented 3rd to a 3rd and even the B-section has tension and release to it. So, we broke the rules with the form on that because it’s ABABC, you know?

Very seldom are you going to see a song like that. And that was just the way Steve Perry was wired. When we put the song together in the studio, it was obvious that it was going to open up the Escape album. It was the one that led fans into the new sound of Journey. They hired me to change their sound [in 1980] and I did. I helped them—we all did it together. And they were very brave to take a chance on me and I’ll be forever grateful that I was able to put my signature on that album.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Only members can comment. Become a member . Already a member? Log In .

Bonnie Raitt Set for ‘Just Like That’ Tour in 2022 with Lucinda Williams, NRBQ

© 2024 American Songwriter

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

American Anthem

'don't stop believin" goes on and on, because we need it to.

Roben Farzad

Steve Perry performs with Journey at a Chicago-area concert in 1981. Paul Natkin/Getty Images hide caption

Steve Perry performs with Journey at a Chicago-area concert in 1981.

This story is part of American Anthem, a yearlong series on songs that rouse, unite, celebrate and call to action. Find more at NPR.org/Anthem .

It's midnight on a Tuesday in Richmond, Va. At Sticky Rice, a sushi joint that hosts this college town's most raucous karaoke night, the crowd is already at fire-code capacity, and would-be crooners are forming a line outside. At around 12:30 a.m., a set of famous piano chords begins to play, and the place explodes. Friends stand together on tables; the people stuck in line outside press against the windows. For a fleeting moment, everyone's on the same midnight train going anywhere.

Twenty-somethings Matt Malone and Shilpa Gangisetty are tonight's lucky performers of Journey's " Don't Stop Believin' ," for which the DJ has received as many as five requests — though you can't exactly hear their singing beneath the overflowing crowd shouting along. When they're done, Gangisetty, who is Indian American, says she loves the song because it's something she can enjoy with her immigrant parents.

"This came out right before my parents came to this country," she says. "There aren't too many cultural things that we can relate on."

"It's like the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' of, like, middle school," Malone chimes in. "You have to know it. Everyone hates to love it."

Thirty-eight years after it debuted on the album Escape, "Don't Stop Believin'" is the go-to anthem for perseverance that has itself persevered, successfully riding wave after new wave of media. Though born in the era of rock radio and cassette mixtapes, the song found its real glory at the dawn of binge TV and the smartphone, and it has woven its way into weddings, bar mitzvahs, graduations, the 2005 World Series, The Sopranos and Glee .

Its fate was hardly a given. Critic Deborah Frost didn't even mention "Don't Stop Believin'" by name in her October 1981 review of Escape in Rolling Stone, which gave the album two out of five stars. "Maybe," she wrote, "there really are a lot of 'streetlight people' out there. If so, my guess is that they'll soon glow out of it." They didn't: According to Nielsen Music, "Don't Stop Believin'" holds the record as the most downloaded 20th-century song, and it has nearly 700 million streams on Spotify, at last count. What is it about this track that just won't stop?

The story of the song itself begins with Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. In the late 1970s, he was a struggling rocker who was ready to quit SoCal and move back to Chicago. Cain says everything had been going wrong: He and his girlfriend had split up, and he'd had to pay a costly vet bill to save his dog after it was hit by a car.

"I called my father for some money," he says. "I said, 'Dad, I'm out of cash here. ... Should I come home? Is this thing just not, you know, panning out?' And he told me, 'We've always had a vision, son. Don't stop believing.' I had a lyric book next to me, and I wrote it down."

Things started looking up for the musician after that. Cain found himself in a band opening up for mega-act Journey. Then, Journey itself poached him.

Alone Together: Robyn's 'Dancing On My Own' Opens The Corners Of Community

What Does 'Born In The U.S.A.' Really Mean?

In 1981, when the band was recording Escape, lead singer Steve Perry asked Cain to come up with a final track. Cain still had his dad's advice in the dog-eared lyric book and from it drew inspiration for the pedaled, keep-the-faith piano part that builds and releases over and over until the phrase itself arrives in the chorus, more than three-quarters of the way into the track.

The characters introduced in the first verse, a small-town girl and a South Detroit city boy, are familiar by now — enough so that it's rarely addressed that there is no such neighborhood as South Detroit, apart from Perry needing an extra syllable. As for the singer in the smoky room with wine and cheap perfume, that tableau evokes the desperation Cain says he felt at the Sunset Strip's Whisky a Go Go during his rough Los Angeles days.

"I really believe this song is about wanting to make it," he says, "Where you think you're stuck in life — that you're able to get out, the same way I got out of Chicago."

The fictional William McKinley High School's glee club sang "Don't Stop Believin'" in a 2009 episode of Fox's Glee . FOX Image Collection/Getty Images hide caption

By the late 1990s, Perry had left Journey, and the band's career was in the wilderness. But the requests for "Don't Stop Believin'" kept coming.

Charlize Theron roller-skated to the song in her Oscar-winning turn as a serial killer in 2003's Monster . Four years later, The Sopranos ended its pioneering six-season run on HBO with — spoiler alert — a tense sequence involving a diner and parallel parking, soundtracked by "Don't Stop Believin'." Downloads of the track on iTunes soared. In 2009, the earnest high school show choir on Glee covered the song for the first of several times throughout the series' run, sending its download numbers through the roof again.

"Don't Stop Believin'" has been heard on Scrubs, South Park and Family Guy. A string ensemble played it in the Adam Sandler comedy The Wedding Singer. It was the rally song for the Chicago White Sox in the team's 2005 World Series run, and it was the climax of the hit Broadway jukebox musical Rock of Ages. On social media, you can find plenty of photos of stop signs playfully defaced with the title exhortation.

For all its new success, Journey still needed a new lead singer who had something approximating Perry's trademark high tenor altino . Desperate, guitarist Neal Schon turned to searching for singers on YouTube — where, late one night, he discovered Arnel Pineda, a formerly homeless kid in the Philippines who was covering the band's ballads at smoky venues that reeked of wine and cheap perfume.

In 2007, Journey flew him to the U.S. for a tryout and hired him — a fairy-tale story chronicled in the 2009 documentary Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey .

Pineda told CBS News in 2012, "Even before I discovered 'Don't Stop Believin,' it has been my motto — you know, to never stop believing in myself. The life that I've gone through, all those hardships, I never stopped believing that someday there is something magical that will happen in my life."

As for Frost — the critic who originally panned Escape in Rolling Stone — she tells NPR that four decades later she's still not a fan but that maybe those streetlight people might — might — have a point.

"You know, I think maybe it helps them celebrate their high school years — or their hopes," she says. "And if it does, what can I tell you? Good for them."

Roben Farzad is the host of Full Disclosure on NPR member station VPM.

Walter Ray Watson produced this story for broadcast. Daoud Tyler-Ameen adapted it for the Web.

Story Behind the Song: 'Don't Stop Believin' '

The words "Don't Stop Believin' " have served Jonathan Cain well in his lifetime. First, they were the words of encouragement he heard from his father, when the younger Cain wasn't sure he'd make it as a musician in Hollywood.

Later, when he joined the ranks of Journey, it became the title and refrain of "Don't Stop Believin'." Released in 1981, it wasn't the band's biggest hit at first, but it's gone on to become its signature, and one of the most popular rock songs of all time.

Cain told the story behind the song to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.

BH: "Don't Stop Believin'." One of the greatest songs ever written. I'd love to make the case for that. ... I can tell you this: It's the most contagious song ever written because you can be in the worst mood ever — in a place (where) you don't want anybody to talk to. And that (song) comes on, and you just start moving with it.

JC: It’s got a groove to it, it does. It's got something. And it was all based on some advice my father had given me back when I was struggling in Hollywood. My dog got hit by a car and I had to put her back together. And it was a $900 vet bill, and I’m barely making my rent. I call my dad up and said, "I need a loan. ... Am I just dreaming? Should I just come back to Chicago?"

He said, "I’ll give you the loan, you gotta stay put." ... And he said, “Son, don’t stop believin'.”

I was like, "That’s beautiful, Dad." I had my little lyric book, and I’m doodling "Don’t stop believin'." 

BH: But it's a while before you write it.

JC: Mm-hmm. This is in the '70s. ... I took my lyric books with me and my spirals with me all up to San Fran and (had them) when (Journey) asked me to join ...

BH: Journey asked you to join?

JC: We're going to start on this album called “Escape.” I had played hardly a note with them. We jammed some in the clubs, and then I'm asked to make this record. ... (Steve) Perry looks at me and says the producer wants one more tune.

And I’m like, "Well, we already gave him 17." And he goes, "I don’t care, we need one more. What do you got? Go home and see what you got. I know you've got something."

Pressure's on. I go home, and there's my little Wurlitzer piano sitting there, the same one I wrote “Open Arms” and all this stuff on. I go in my book and I see it, "Don’t Stop Believin'."

BH: Did you know right then?

JC: I said, “Steve Perry will sing this. Now, John you've got to write some kind of chorus where he can soar."

... All I had was “Don’t stop believin’, hold on to that feeling.”

I went (back to the band) with those two lines. That’s it. And the chords! Perry said, "Man, those chords are great.' ... He just had an engineer's (mindset). ... This was a much different situation than (writing) "Faithfully." This was an improv by all. ... We still haven’t played a chorus yet. And I kept looking at Steve: "Chorus now?" And he goes, "Oh no." So we haven’t sung it yet. And this was all Steve leading the thing, being Steve. Because he’s just so musical! I mean because he played bass and drums, and he understood. He was like a real mechanic, understood how all the parts fit. ... So here he is yodeling this stuff. And all we got is this yodel and this great track.

I take it home on my cassette. I go to his house the next day, the very next day, in his little flat, and then we got to write the lyrics. I always listened to what he scatted for clues. ... I said, "Well, it sounds like (he sang) 'lonely world.' That (word) sounds like 'anywhere.' "

I said, "What if it's like 'Jack and Diane,' you know? Kind of, "Just a small-town girl." He goes, "Livin’ in a lonely world." 

Now we're in the movie, and the movie goes on and on and on. I said, "I'll tell you where the location is. This sounds like Sunset Boulevard in the '70s, where I lived, and it sounds like Friday night." I was explaining to them how everybody would cruise up and down the boulevard. I mean, the hustlers, the dreamers, the producers, the actors, the actresses, the wannabe starlets, the wannabe anybodies were all on Sunset, cruising, driving, looking for their hookup, their something.

(After we recorded the instruments,) I called Steve and said, "We did it. It’s killer. You’re going to love this track." So he came in the next week to lay down the vocal in, I think, two takes. I’m serious. Two takes. Three takes at the most. And then I said, "Man, I’m hearing all of these background (vocals)." So we went out and we did all the background parts, and the whole band is singing in one mic. Then Mike Stone mixes the heck out of it. ... And when we heard that (finished) record, me and Perry, we lost our mind.

BH: Still one of the great ones.

About the series

In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, each week we interview a songwriter about his or her work.

Song Meanings and Facts

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” Lyrics Meaning

by SMF · Published August 4, 2019 · Updated September 21, 2022

As the title implies (“Don’t Stop Believin’”), this song is based on the concepts of positivity thinking and remaining optimistic in the face of uncertainty. Its origins can famously be traced back to one of its co-writers, Jonathan Cain, calling his dad one day from Hollywood. He went there to pursue his dream of becoming a famous musician, but things weren’t working out for him. 

So he asked his dad if he should quit and come home, upon which his father replied, in summation,  “don’t stop believing” . 

Cain, Steve Perry and the rest of Journey were able to take that piece of inspiration and work with it. At the end of the day, they turned it into one of the greatest rock classics in the history of American music.

The Lyrics of “Don’t Stop Believin'”

Now let’s get back to the song’s lyrics meaning. In this song, the band depicts people from different walks of life who are facing challenges somewhat similar to what Steve went through. For instance, in the first verse we are introduced to two individuals who “ took the midnight train ”, as in ventured away from home, “going anywhere”. That is to say that they have set off into the unknown, more or less in search of their destiny.

Then in the second verse we have “a singer in a smoky room” . In all it reads as if he is an itinerant entertainer. He appears to be a hustler who is just enjoying his gig for the night with no telling what fortune will come his way tomorrow.

Indeed in the third verse we are made privy to the uncertainty the characters who make up this song (including the singer himself) face, as Perry states that “ some will win; some will lose .”

 But the one thing they all have for common is that they are looking for something. Or as Steve sings in the pre-chorus in reference to the “ streetlight people ” (who are basically synonymous with  city dwellers in general ), they are “ living just to find emotion ”.

But amidst it all, the chorus (which unconventionally comes at the end of the song) brings home the main point of this track. And that is even amidst this uncertainty and wandering if you will, these people should “ hold on to that feeling ” – as in a sense of optimism and destiny – and ‘ not stop believing’ . 

In other words, whatever they set forth looking for in the first place, as in “that feeling”, they should continue to strive for.

This is intrinsically even in the face of obstacles, specifically within the context of this song perhaps those which evolve internally. And this general theme of this song is of course a piece of timeless, faith-based inspiration. Thus it is likely that “Don’t Stop Believin'” will continue to be a staple of American pop culture, as its overall sentiment is applicable to a variety of situations.

Release Date of “Don’t Stop Believin’”

Journey released this motivational song through Columbia Records on 6 October 1981. It was the lead song and second single from the band’s most-successful album titled Escape .

Chart Performance

It fared well upon its original release, peaking at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 62 on the UK Singles Chart. It also managed to chart in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands.

However, “Don’t Stop Believin’” has proven to be a timeless hit, charting annually in the UK from 2008-2012.

Furthermore, till date, it frequently makes appearances on the music charts in many countries around the world. This is largely due to the song being utilized in a number of different venues in pop culture in more-recent years.

Movie Appearances

When the above phenomena began is a matter of debate.  Some say it started  when the track was featured in the iconic 1998 film The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler.  Others would argue  it is due to the song playing a prominent role in the 2003 hit movie Monster , starring Charlize Theron. And still others may assert that this classic’s modern popularity is attributable to it being featured on the final episode of the hit television show The Sopranos in 2007.

Other Popular Usages

Indeed “Don’t Stop Believin’” has been featured in a quite a few movies and sports venues (i.e. Major League Baseball games, being the theme song of the 2005 World Series’ champions Chicago White Sox). It has also appeared on many a television show, including popular sitcoms like The Simpsons and Glee . It is also commonly used in reality-based musical contests like X-Factor . In fact this song is also known to be a karaoke favorite.

Talking about this song’s appearance in Glee , it should be noted that it has been performed, in varying capacities, on at least six different episodes of the show. And the rendition the cast released in 2010 was actually nominated for a Grammy Award, making it the only song from the show to ever accomplish this feat.

Moreover a 2009 rendition of the song by X-Factor champion Joe McElderry charted higher on the UK Singles Chart than the original version of the track.

Commercial Success in America

Indeed in terms of digital sells, “Don’t Stop Believin’” set the record for being the top-selling song from the 20 th  century (i.e. the pre-digital era), specifically in the United States. As of 2019, in the United States alone, it has sold in excess of 7 million copies. Many believe it was able to achieve this great feat due to it being featured The Sopranos .

Covers of “Don’t Stop Believin’”

And logically “Don’t Stop Believin’” has been covered by a number of musicians. Prominent names on this list include the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Sting and Lady Gaga.

Who wrote “Don’t Stop Believin’”?

Steve Perry wrote “Don’t Stop Believin'” along with fellow Journey band members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon.

The city of Detroit plays a prominent role in the composition of this song. Indeed Perry  was inspired  to write part of it by watching people in the Motor City. It’s no wonder, he gives a shoutout to “South Detroit” in the track’s lyrics. However, it has been pointed out that there is not actually a “South Detroit” as he references in the song. This is something Perry did not become aware of until more recently. And he has stated that he chose to say “South Detroit” (as opposed to ‘East’, ‘West’ or ‘North’) because it sounded better.

On the production side, record producers Mike Stone as well as Kevin Elson handled the production of “Don’t Stop Believin’”). It’s important to mention that for several years both Stone and Elson were among  the band’s regular collaborators.

Related posts:

“keep on runnin'” by journey, “send her my love” by journey.

• “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” by Journey 
• “Who’s Crying Now” by Journey
• “Never Walk Away” by Journey
• “Foolish Heart” by Steve Perry
• “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes
• “Friends” by Whodini
• “Five Minutes of Funk” by Whodini

5 Responses

• Pingbacks 0

Great Song!!!!! That’s one of the best mottos ever… DON’T STOP BELIEVING!!!!!!!

Great song with only one major faux pas. There’s no such thing as South Detroit. South from downtown is Windsor Canada

False. There of course IS a south Detroit as this is simply a reference to the south SIDE of Detroit. Windsor is NOT Detroit. As Perry said a word (south) was only added because the lyric/line sounded better.

Popular Usage needs to include the use of this song in the last scene of the HBO drama series ‘The Sopranos’

Those who hilariously say “There is no south Detroit” insult the intelligence of Steve Perry and the writers. There of course IS a south Detroit, the south of Detroit. No one in the rock world cared about any Windsor. Not in the 70s nor today, and Windsor is in no way a part of the city of Detroit. As Steve said, an as any intelligent person gets, a word (south) was added because the line sounded better. Or flowed better if you will, sing the song with no word before Detroit and the timing is off. Everyone over in “Windsor” finally got it? Good. Lol

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name (Optional)

Tags: Escape Jonathan Cain Journey Kevin Elson Mike Stone Neal Schon Steve Perry

You may also like...

April 12, 2021

 by Amanda London · Published April 12, 2021

January 4, 2022

 by Amanda London · Published January 4, 2022

April 18, 2022

 by Amanda London · Published April 18, 2022

Song Meanings & Facts

• Terms and Conditions

Start believin': The story of Journey's Infinity album

By 1978, Journey had a loyal muso following but were still looking for their breakthrough. What they needed was a singer would could turn their improvisations into anthems. Cue one Steve Perry...

“If I had the chance I would do it all again exactly the same way,” says Steve Perry. “I swear to God. I would not hesitate for a minute.” 

Steve Perry is on the phone. The commonly held notion that he’s a dark and sombre recluse couldn’t be further from reality. He’s a veritable ball of energy, dispensing charm and cheer like it was going out of fashion. Before long he’s singing down the phone, and hinting that he wants to stop kicking his heels and put a ‘section’ together (that’s old-school parlance for a band). 

We’re hooked up to talk about Journey’s fourth album, 1978’s Infinity. Steve doesn’t give many interviews, but he speaks at length and opens his heart about a record that changed his life, and the course of history for his band; 

a record that heralded the arrival of one of the greatest voices of our time, and set Journey on a crash course for superstardom that would ultimately result in their 1981 anthem Don’t Stop Believin’ becoming, in 2009, the best-selling song from the 20th century on iTunes (currently seven million downloads and counting).

All the facts and figures in the Journey  story complete a cluster of astonishing accomplishments which are the envy of the music industry. Achievements that, in today’s music marketplace, would be almost impossible to duplicate. For a good 12 years, Journey took position at the very top of the food chain, releasing album after album of instantly recognisable songs all embellished with clear-cut hooks and melodies to die for. 

These are records that have stood the test of time, and because of the musicianship inherent in each and every song they have never sounded dated. In many ways, then, Journey were not only pioneers of a style but they were also uniquely aloof – in a league of their own and a world away from the processed, hard-on-the-ears clamour of similar-sounding acts trying to carve out a slice of the same market.

When all is said and done, it was Steve Perry’s presence that really cemented the band’s reputation. Prior to his arrival Journey had been a fairly inconspicuous and mainly instrumental fusion outfit, looking to muscle in on the jazz-rock scene perpetrated by the likes of Weather Report and the Mahavisnu Orchestra. 

Classic Rock Newsletter

Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!

Great players, Journey’s early style and meticulous arrangements would, inevitably, limit their appeal unless radical changes were implemented. Their sound had attracted stellar critical reviews but, as a commercial entity, they were stuck in a rut. Not surprisingly, at the behest of their label, Columbia, changes needed to be made, a radical remodelling of the band was demanded to expand their appeal.

Infinity marked Perry’s initiation into the world of professional recording, a milestone in contemporary aural acrobatics. Within the confinement of 10 songs he effortlessly switched from breezy improvisation ( La Do Da ) to epic bombast ( Wheel In The Sky ), providing a template from which future creative diamonds would emerge, forever cementing the appeal of Journey and securing his place in rock’s vocal Hall Of Fame. 

• Steve Perry on Infinity, track by track
• Journey’s Cain says it’s time for band to put Neal Schon spat behind them
• Def Leppard and Journey announce massive 58-date North American tour

Unlike the brusque delivery of British blues-belters such as Coverdale and Rodgers, Perry’s reference points evolved from diverse and somewhat unexpected sources, including the sweet soul sounds of Sam Cooke and Smokey Robinson. 

Born in California in 1949, Steven Ray Perry was of Portuguese extraction. The family’s original name of Perrera was quickly anglicised to Perry when the family had entered the US, to disguise the fact that they were European immigrants (a common policy back then to improve employment opportunities). Growing up, his epiphany moment was hearing the Sam Cooke song Cupid on the radio while riding in his mother’s car. From that moment on, becoming a musician was all he dreamed of.

By his teens, Perry was a veteran of several garage bands, singing and drumming with names such as The Nocturnes, Dollar Bills, Ice (also featuring future producer Scott Matthews) and The Sullies. He even joined a Toronto-based unit called Privilege and toured Canada. 

“They were a 12-piece brass group that had played in my home town near Fresno,” says Perry. “I was so blown away by how amazing they were I kept in touch with the guitar player, one of two brothers, Andy and Harry Krawchuk, and they hired me for a few months. I toured Canada with them – they were a very high-end covers band.”

By the mid 70s, Perry focused all his energies upon infiltrating the music business and moved to Los Angeles, where he formed a band called Pieces alongside experienced musicians like Cactus/Beck Bogert & Appice bassist Tim Bogert, guitarist Tim Denver Cross and drummer Eddie Tuduri. Sadly no deal was forthcoming. Bogert and Tuduri then moved to the UK to join British prog rockers Boxer. 

In order to support himself, Steve took a gig as a second engineer at Crystal Studios while piecing together his next outfit, called Alien Project (the group occasionally switched to the moniker of Street Talk, which Steve later used for the title of first solo album). It was this unit that caught the ear of a couple of labels, including Chrysalis and Columbia. The latter’s A&R man, Michael Dilbeck, was hot to sign them.

The group featured drummer Craig Krampf who would later go on to become an in-demand session musician. 

“Craig had some contacts in the business,” says Steve, “enough where he could pick up the telephone and call them. He was really good at hustling and got us into Chrysalis and Columbia. Michael Dilbeck was one of the Columbia people who heard Alien Project and liked it. He talked with Don Ellis who was running the West Coast office. They were thinking of signing the band.

“Back in those days, the sweetest thing that could happen was signing to a record label and making a record – that was the pathway of dreams for all of us. Michael liked the band, but I must say the demo got kind of shelved a little bit, meaning he liked it but wasn’t really moved to sign us right away. So we were kind of vacillating, thinking should we go back to Chrysalis who had been pretty excited. Then the next thing that happened was, someone at Columbia decided to go around Michael and send my demo tape to Herbie Herbert, Journey’s manager, in San Francisco.”

It’s impossible to talk about Journey without the towering presence of their manager Herbie Herbert, a bear of a man with a personality and reputation that, at times, has almost seemed to eclipse (pun intended) the band. Think Peter Grant, if he weren’t quite so intimidating and wasn’t surrounded by henchmen with fists at the ready. Herbie loved music and loved Journey. He dedicated his life to their needs and to the advancement of their career. He had a vision and nobody was gonna fuck with it, and recruiting a vocalist to the group was paramount to his plan. 

In Steve Perry, Herbert had found the proverbial needle in the haystack – a vocalist with unlimited range, unique delivery and looks that killed. The consummate frontman, in fact. There is every reason to believe that Perry singlehandedly rescued Journey from interminable underachievement. 

“This is where its gets complex,” Steve says, of his initial meeting with Herbert. “Herbie had already heard my name. I was mentioned to him by one of his team, Jackie Villanueva. Jackie had a friend in Frisco by the name of Larry Luciano who, as it happens, was a childhood friend of mine. We had grown up together. Larry had moved up there and become friends with Jackie and the Santana clan. That’s when he and Larry became friends with Herbie. 

“Larry told him that he had a cousin called Steve Perry and that I was a pretty good singer and he should check me out. That never came to fruition until the guy at Columbia sent the Alien Project demo tape to Herbie, who saw the name and thought, ‘Steve Perry… Hmmm… Larry’s cousin?’ And of course it was. Then Herbie called me up and said, ‘I love the way you sing, I love what you’re doing and I love the band.’” 

However, this budding relationship between Herbert and Perry was suddenly derailed due to the tragic death of Alien Project’s bassist Richard Micheals Haddad, who was killed in an automobile accident on the July 4th weekend. The rest of the band felt like the rug had been pulled from under their feet.

“We were due to resume talks with the labels after that weekend but, of course, it never happened,” says Perry. “I started to pack it in and called my mom to say, ‘I’m coming back home.’ It felt like the closer I got to achieving my dream, the bigger something in my life would say ‘no’. At that point I’d never been so close to someone who had died and I thought, ‘I’m not supposed to do this.’ 

"I was so distraught and knocked back by it all. But my mother said, no, don’t give up – something will happen. And that’s when I got a telephone call from Don Ellis, who said, ‘I’m sorry to hear about your bass player, but Herbie Herbert has your tape and he loved it. We have Journey on Columbia and we’d love you to be the singer of that band. What do you think about it?’ 

“I had seen Journey come to town and play many times in LA and I knew that my voice with Neal Schon’s guitar would be like salt and pepper. 

"I knew that if I could ever work with him that would be a dream. It was Neal who really attracted me to that set up.”

Journey’s origins go right back to the beginning of the 70s, with the band members based in San Francisco, the centre of hippy counterculture. Keyboard player Gregg Rolie was a founding member of Santana, immortalised by the group’s stunning appearance at the Woodstock festival. The footage of Rolie trashing the living daylights out of his organ during Soul Sacrifice became iconic.

Guitar prodigy Neal Schon was also cooking up a name for himself in the Bay Area, not only as another alumni of Santana but also by working his way through a number of musical cabals, including Latin rockers Azteca and the Golden Gate Rhythm Section. Joining Journey on bass was Ross Valory and second guitarist George Tickner, both of whom were from the curiously named Frumious Bandersnatch. The band’s first drummer was Prairie Prince from fellow SF band The Tubes, but he was quickly replaced by British ex-pat Aynsley Dunbar, who had moved to the US to play with Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention.

Journey’s interest in experimental jazz-fusion was confirmed on their self-titled debut album issued in 1975. A classy work, the album resonates with a surety beyond their recent formation, all players coming across as both fluid and experienced. Neal Schon in particular rips up his fretboard like combination of Jeff Beck and Robert Fripp. Check out the seven-minute long Kahoutek where he trades call-and-response licks with Gregg Rolie.

Surprisingly for such complex music, the album sold moderately well, reaching No.138 on the Billboard chart. After George Tickner bailed out of the band, their next two albums – 1976’s Look Into The Future and 1977’s Next – repeated the pattern, with Gregg Rolie making a concerted effort to deliver reasonably effective vocals atop what was clearly a jazz-fusion fanfaronade.

Despite the concerted efforts of both Columbia Records and Herbie Herbert, it was clear that Journey had reached a sales ceiling. They could continue no further in an upward trajectory unless major changes were implemented. Effectively this meant adding a proper vocalist/frontman and modifying the musical direction. It was a bitter pill to swallow but the band took it on the chin and cast their net to see what was possible. 

They settled on Californian Robert Fleischman, who teamed up with the band in June 1977, at the request of label president Bruce Lundvall, who asked Robert to fly to San Francisco and see the band. Fleischman rapidly assimilated with his new bandmates, co-writing a handful of songs, three of which – Wheel In The Sky, Anytime and Winds Of March – would later surface on Infinity . Pretty much an unknown, Fleischman was, at one point, in the running to replace Peter Gabriel in Genesis for their A Trick Of The Tail album, a move scuppered when Phil Collins made a last-minute decision to step up to the microphone. 

Things were moving swiftly – if not completely smoothly – when, as previously mentioned, Steve Perry’s name entered the frame. Fleischman had been out on the road with Journey during the summer, supporting Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and matters had progressed to the point where it was understood by all that Robert was their new vocalist. Behind the scenes, however, Robert had apparently been ruffling feathers. Herbie was seemingly concerned that Fleischman was unwilling to relinquish his previous manager, well-known US concert promoter Barry Fey. A reputed incident where Robert allegedly refused to go onstage unless the band played newly written material may not have helped matters either.

By now Herbie and Columbia were coming to the same opinion: that Steve Perry would be the better option for Journey frontman. Matters accelerated when Herbie asked Steve to go out on the road with the band to get to know each other. Fleischman was unaware of his diminishing status within the set up, which resulted in an uncomfortable situation. Perry’s presence in the Journey camp was explained by passing him off as Jackie Villanueva’s Portuguese cousin. 

 “That really only happened one time,” says Perry. “I think it was when they were playing a show at Long Beach Arena, and I don’t think Robert was actually performing with the band – he was doing soundchecks with them. I think they had pretty much told him he was going to be the singer. I was also told that internally they were conflicted about it. I said to John Villanueva [brother of Jackie, and also part of Herbie’s management team] at the Oakland Coliseum, 

‘Do you think this could really happen?’ And he said ‘yes’. So I was hanging around, waiting for my opportunity.

“Actually, it should be pointed out – and I only found this out a few years later – that the label had told the band that if they didn’t get a singer they were going to drop them.”

Gregg Rolie has some further insight.

“At the time Neal and I were looking for someone with more of an edge, but Herbie brought us Steve Perry,” he says. “We thought that he was a bit of a crooner and we were looking in a different direction. Robert is a great singer, but there was a lot of politics with the record company and various other things that took place there. They’re two very different singers. 

“Steve actually came out on the road with us as my keyboard tech John’s cousin,” confirms Gregg. “We had to make the change, and it was a difficult thing to do, but Robert made a bit of a mistake. We were opening for ELP and he kind of made an ultimatum in Fresno, that he wanted us to play the new songs, but we were just trying to get the band across. We wanted to do the older material because it was more in keeping with the audience. 

“He said he wouldn’t go on and that was a mistake on his part. Herbie made the decision right there to fire him. Nothing was really written in stone until that happened. For me, it’s now water under the bridge. I like Robert a lot and I liked what he brought to the situation. Robert has more of an edge but they’re both quality guys. It’s always a struggle.”

Did Steve feel that he had been forced upon the band by the label and Herbie?

“He [Herbie] said in essence, if not the actual words, ‘This is your new singer, deal with it,’” says Perry. “I don’t think I would have been in the band if Herbie had not just said, ‘Look guys, get used to it, keep going and shut the fuck up and write the music.’ Herbie and I have had a lot of artist/management collisions across the years.

"We accomplished so much together but it’s almost normal that artists and management have their issues. That being said, had it not been for Herbie my life would be profoundly different right now. He gave me my chance.”

Gregg: “In the end we made the right choice. Quite frankly, Herbie presented it as ‘this is your new singer’ and we were like, OK. And the fact is, he was absolutely right. Y’know, the proof is there.”

Did the band embrace Steve or were they a little apprehensive?

“You have to remember that the band had recorded three records and toured extensively,” says Perry. “Herbie was very talented in his ability to get that band to open for some very big acts – ELP and Santana – and play big outdoor shows. However, even though that was happening, they weren’t selling enough records. I think they wanted to make it on their own terms, so maybe it was a little weird for them to have to bring in a singer. 

“Neal Schon was the guitar prodigy and stood centre stage. The group was built by Herbie around Neal, showing off his virtuosity. They had more of an instrumental Mahavishnu Orchestra thing going on, so it was a transition for them. Sure, I think we had our moments of difficulties with me being the new guy, so for a while I had to sort of walk on thin ice. 

“It was a ‘let’s do it and see’ kind of attitude, and I had to prove myself, and I understood that, I really did. I can’t fault them for any hesitancy, because yes, they had a following before I joined them and they had fans out there that wanted the band to be successful as a fusion-based band with Gregg Rolie singing a little bit and Neal, Ross and Aynsley going off into fusion rock. 

"When I joined I think they were concerned whether the fans would embrace me. Some did and some didn’t, and it was difficult walking out there. I remember one time we were in Paris I had a [camera] flash cube thrown at me and hit me in the eye.”

Gregg: “Perry wasn’t nervous, and if he was, it sure didn’t show. He knew he was good and he was co-writing a lot of the material. When you co-write, you get pretty comfortable about what you are doing, because it’s customised for you.”

How did Gregg Rolie feet about all this - he had, after all, been the band’s vocalist up until this point?

“I do believe in my heart that Gregg wasn’t that excited about the idea," says Perry, "but on the other hand he was certainly amenable and open-minded. We wrote Feeling That Way together, sharing vocals, and that was cool. In fact that’s the song where I would walk out on stage.”

From Gregg Rolie’s perspective, the situation was clear. “I expected to still sing a couple of songs here and there, but Steve was our lead singer,” he says. “I was stretched pretty thin playing four keyboards, harmonica and singing lead. With Santana I was the lead singer, and with Journey I was lead also. So, I’d never shared vocals before. 

"I wanted to continue to do that – I looked at it like, well, The Beatles didn’t do so bad with four singers. So the more the merrier, and I still feel that way about it, but it just slowly got to be less and less.

“Eventually the band got built around Perry,” Gregg continues. “He came in at it slowly and it evolved into this situation where we were writing songs for an actual lead vocalist, which is totally different from where early Journey and Santana came from. Back then we had vocals, but it was really about the solo work and then, slowly, it became more about the lead vocals. It was great for me because I became a much better songwriter.”

It was the beginning of a new chapter for both of them. Blessed with an appealing personality, good looks and a voice from heaven, Perry soon became the focal point of attention. It was now time to unleash his talent in the studio by recording Journey’s fourth and pivotal album, Infinity .

The plan was simple: write songs, hire a producer, select a studio and make an album that would set out their stall for the next 10 years or more. Steve immersed himself in songwriting with all the band members, but mainly with new creative partner Neal Schon, eventually securing co-writing credits on eight of the 10 songs. 

Steve and Neal struck up a strong rapport and quickly established a beachhead, strengthening the band’s sound and setting in place a new direction. The emphasis was now on fully formed songs with melodies, hooks and the sort of contemporary buff that made the competition quake in their boots.

The choice of producer was inspired. Band, management and label all agreed on Roy Thomas Baker, the flamboyant British studio craftsman who had worked with some of the most influential rock bands around, including Free and – most importantly – Queen. 

After seeing the band live in Santa Monica, RTB (as he is affectionately known) and his trusted engineer Geoff Workman rendezvoused with the band at His Master’s Wheels Studio (formerly Alembic Studios), located on Brady Street in downtown San Francisco.

“They put me in a little apartment on Bay Street,” remembers Steve. “I went to SIR [Studio Instrument Rentals, a well-known rehearsal room] every day and wrote songs with band. 

“Then, all of a sudden RTB comes in. We had enormous respect for him, because he’d produced Queen and Free. He was so much fun. The studio [His Master’s Wheels] had an old Neve console and a large tracking room, and the next thing you know he was really giving us a different sound. 

“Neal’s doing what we called ‘violin guitars’. Roy had me stack all the vocals on a 40-track machine, and I really enjoyed that process. Also, Geoff Workman was so instrumental that we ended up grabbing him to do one of the records [ Departure ] without RTB. 

“We rehearsed the material quite a bit before we recorded it so everything was ready to go before Roy got there. What Roy gave us was the opportunity to try different textures and ideas, but the foundational aspect of the songs and the arrangements were done. He really gave us a direction, and from there the band found itself.”

“I have fond memories of working with Roy and Geoff,” says Gregg. “Roy was very into experimentation, and quite wild in the studio. The multi-tracking of guitars and vocals was a brand new thing for us – all the layering. It was intense work. He created a sound which a lot of the guys didn’t like because it was so edgy, but I happened to dig it.  

“Those tracks had a specific sound to them, which is what a good producer does. He was, and still is, a real character. Him and Workman both – they were fun to be around. Workman did a lot of the heavy lifting, inasmuch as getting things done. 

“Geoff had worked with Roy for a long time and knew what he wanted. If Roy disappeared for a couple of hours, Geoff just carried on because he knew what they were doing as a team. We used the same team on the next album, Evolution . It got us on the map.”

Not surprisingly, the biggest impact was the quality and strength of Steve Perry’s vocals. 

“I certainly discovered the depth of multi-tracking, as I never had a chance to work on a 40-track machine before,” says Perry. “I’d never had the ability to do eight root notes and then bounce them to one track, then wipe those and do the eight thirds, wipe those then do eight fifths and eight octaves and so on – and suddenly you have a big stack like on Anytime . When they are layered and smeared tight they just really block up. Roy knew how to do that.”

But despite the good vibes and enthusiastic progress, the glue soon came unstuck when a studio prank backfired…

“One night we went out for sushi and drank a bit of Sake,” laughs Steve. “Roy drank a little bit more Sake than most of us, along with a couple of the road crew. When they got back, Scotty [Ross, roadie] remembered a story about how Roy had once chased Freddie Mercury around the studio with a fire extinguisher. 

“So Scotty decided to be funny and grabbed one of the studio extinguishers and chased Roy. Then Roy grabbed an extinguisher to reciprocate and fired it off, but it was one of those dry chemical types. The next thing we knew was that we couldn’t breathe – it had sucked the oxygen right out of the room and we couldn’t see in front of us for the smoke. So we ran outside thinking, ‘Oh my God, what the hell happened there?’ After a while we walked back in and the place looked like it had snowed, everything was covered in white powder. The problem was that the console, the recording tape and everything had this fine, very abrasive powder all over it. 

“The Neve console was ruined. We had to quickly remove the tape because the dust would eat the oxide, so we moved to Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles to finish the vocals.”

With the album completed, a design makeover followed. The band brought in renowned San Francisco artists Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse (real name Stanley George Miller). The duo had first hooked up with San Francisco’s counter-cultural doyens the Grateful Dead (designing their album covers) and legendary West Coast promoter Bill Graham (designing his gig posters). During the early 70s they had formed the Mouse Studio, and helped rebrand Journey by designing and standardising their cover art, including Infinity’s colourful flaming wings. The pair also came up with a Journey logo. 

Says Perry: “Bruce Lundvall was the president of Columbia at the time, and he quipped that, in order for us to make another record with me singing, we would have to sell one million units. Hence the reason we stayed on the road for 298 shows that year. We started touring in February and didn’t come home for almost a year. 

“ Wheel In The Sky was the first single. Neal and I went to a pizza place, and I went over to the jukebox and saw a Wheel In The Sky 45 in that machine – an ecstatic feeling. I didn’t tell Neal, I just put two quarters in, pushed the button and sat down and the song started. Neal looked at me and started laughing. It was a monumental moment. Back then if you were starting to show up in jukeboxes it was a sign that you might be finally starting to happen. My mom had an eight track in her car and she would play the cassette to everybody saying, ‘That’s my Steven.’”

Although the tour emphasised the band’s growing stature, it also highlighted that while Aynsley Dunbar was an exceptional rhythm king, he was perhaps too complex for the way Journey’s music was developing.

“Van Halen were the opening act on the tour,” remembers Steve. “They were a brand new band back then. We were doing 3,000-seat auditoriums and they were killing us every night. It was eye-opening. We were keeping up with them, but they were certainly making us be a better band. They were so musically simple.

“Well, I was a drummer before becoming a singer and one of the things about being a drummer is that I’m kind of hard on other drummers. Foundationally you can have a really great band, but if the drummer doesn’t measure up you’re not going to do very well. But if you have a mediocre band and a great drummer you’re going to do better. So we’d do soundchecks and sometimes Aynsley might not be there or be off doing something like radio promotion and I would do soundcheck for him – set his drums up and play a few songs. It started to be apparent to Neal and to myself that the band sounded different with me because I’m a slamming R&B-style drummer, as opposed to a jazz-fusion drummer like Aynsley. 

“Aynsley’s style had been perfect up to when the band changed style. As the music evolved, we started to work up some of our new ideas with me playing drums, and they didn’t sound as good with Aynsley playing them. So we toyed with that for a while, but occasionally we kept being reminded about it while jamming new ideas for the follow-up record. And then we saw Steve Smith playing drums with Ronnie Montrose, who was also one of our support bands, and we thought, ‘Help, what do we do now? Because this guy sounds like the cat.’ We started hanging out a lot – the next thing is we made a switch.”

Journey’s run of success continued with their follow-up albums, from Evolution through to blockbusters such as Escape, Frontiers and Raised On Radio . 

Their continued uphill trajectory was an unprecedented triumph, propelling the band into increasingly larger arenas and stadiums, right the way through to the late 80s, before they implemented a (theoretically) indefinite and somewhat strained hiatus. With hindsight, the appointment of Steve Perry and the creation of the Infinity album was one of the pivotal moments in the development of modern rock.

“I liked the songs, I liked the edge and I liked the dual vocal stuff,” reflects Gregg Rolie. “The band had a lot of colour to it and I think we could have explored more of that. Infinity for me personally was a big change; writing songs for singing rather than writing songs for playing. The addition of harmonies and multi-track vocals… we’d never sung harmonies like that before. 

“Also, the songs were great: Patiently, Winds Of March, Lights … Later it started going away from where I thought it should have been, but I’m only one member of the band so you’ve gotta roll with it. On Infinity there was still solo and instrumental work influencing how it sounded – it still had that vibe of being alive. It was always powerful. We actually carried that edge into the Evolution album.”

 “If I had the chance I would do it all again exactly the same way,” says Steve Perry in conclusion. “I swear to God. I would not hesitate for a minute.” 

Journey are on tour now. This article was first published in Classic Rock presents AOR, issue 11

Derek’s lifelong love of metal goes back to the ’70s when he became a UK underground legend for sharing tapes of the most obscure American bands. After many years championing acts as a writer for  Kerrang! , Derek moved to New York and worked in A&R at Atco Records, signing a number of great acts including the multi-platinum Pantera and Dream Theater. He moved back to the UK and in 2006 started Rock Candy Records, which specialises in reissues of rock and metal albums from the 1970s and 1980s.

Robert Plant is reportedly working on a new version of a Led Zeppelin classic for a "top-secret project"

"I'm at that point in my life where I am truly happy": Richie Sambora is in fine voice on celebratory new solo single I Pray

The 40th anniversary edition of Def Leppard's Pyromania: Come for the originals, stay for the "utterly fierce" unreleased live album

Most Popular

Journey - Believe Lyrics

You can lose yourself along the way Find there's something new in yesterday

Hold onto your faith and your dreams Look into yourself and believe In you

Oh, go on, go on The stars will guide your journey home, yeah Oh, it won't be long 'Til you see your diamonds in the stone, yeah

'Cause there's still some magic here tonight If you just step out into the light

Hold onto your faith and your dreams Look into yourself and believe

I believe in you, believe in me I believe in you, believe in me I believe the truth will set you free, yeah I believe in you, believe in me

I believe in you, believe in me

(Hold on) Hold on, hold on To your innocence and your beliefs Mmm, hold on, hold on Onto who you are and where you've been

I believe in you, believe in me, yeah I believe in you, believe in me Oh, I believe the truth will set you free, yeah, yeah I believe in you, believe in me

Oh I believe in you, believe in me Oh I believe in you, believe in me Yeah I believe the truth will set you free Oh, I believe in you, believe in me Oh, whoa, oh yeah, oh yeah

Popular Song Lyrics

Billboard Hot 100

Upcoming Lyrics

Recently Added

Top Lyrics of 2011

Top Lyrics of 2010

Top Lyrics of 2009

More »

Popular Artists

Artists A-Z

Popular Albums

Upcoming Albums

Hip Hop/Rap

All Genres »

Daily Roundup

Album Reviews

Song Reviews

Sign In Register

Submit Lyrics

• Song Lyrics
• Artists - J
• Journey Lyrics
• Generations Album
• Believe Lyrics

Journey - Believe Lyrics

Artist: Journey

Album: Generations

Genre: Rock

Hold on, hold on To opportunities you thought long gone Hold on, hold on To the could-have-beens and should-have-dones You can lose yourself along the way Find there's something new in yesterday Hold onto your faith and your dreams Look into yourself and believe In you Oh, go on, go on The stars will guide your journey home, yeah Oh, it won't be long 'Til you see your diamonds in the stone, yeah 'Cause there's still some magic here tonight If you just step out into the light Hold onto your faith and your dreams Look into yourself and believe I believe in you, believe in me I believe in you, believe in me I believe the truth will set you free, yeah I believe in you, believe in me I believe in you, believe in me (Hold on) Hold on, hold on To your innocence and your beliefs Mmm, hold on, hold on Onto who you are and where you've been I believe in you, believe in me, yeah I believe in you, believe in me Oh, I believe the truth will set you free, yeah, yeah I believe in you, believe in me Oh I believe in you, believe in me Oh I believe in you, believe in me Yeah I believe the truth will set you free Oh, I believe in you, believe in me Oh, whoa, oh yeah, oh yeah I believe in you (I believe in you) Darlin', believe in me (Darlin', believe in me) I believe in you (I believe in you) Darlin', believe in me (Darlin', believe in me)

Add Comment

Generations tracklist.

Get the embed code

Journey Lyrics provided by SongLyrics.com

Note: When you embed the widget in your site, it will match your site's styles (CSS). This is just a preview!

Preview the embedded widget

In the Know

Popular journey lyrics.

Cannot annotate a non-flat selection. Make sure your selection starts and ends within the same node.

An annotation cannot contain another annotation.

"Believe" lyrics

• Journey Lyrics

'I believe in myself.' Granger native Sarah Hildebrandt leans on family during Olympic run

M oments after Sarah Hildebrandt qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team last Saturday , the entire Hildebrandt family — mom, dad, siblings — engaged in a raucous group hug just off the center mat in State College, Pa.

For the second time, Sarah had won the women’s 50 Kg (110 pound) weight class at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials and earned a spot on Team USA. And for the second time, her family played a monumental role in getting her there.

Winning the Trials means Hildebrandt will be wrestling in the Paris Olympics, which run July 26-Aug. 11.

More: How Granger native Sarah Hildebrandt punched her ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris

“It’s a whole family affair,” Sarah would tell the media following her 10-0, 10-0 victory over Audrey Jimenez in the championship match at Penn State University.

And how true that is.

Sarah Hildebrandt's journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics

This time around, it was her younger brother who put his life on hold in order to help his sister get ready for the Trials. Drew Hildebrandt is a former state champion at Penn High School — he won the 120-pound weight class in 2016 — and a two-time All-American at Central Michigan University.

At Sarah’s request, Drew moved to Colorado a year ago to join his sister at the Olympic Training Center and show no mercy during workouts.

“He’s the absolute best,” Sarah Hildebrandt said. “He really offers the most amazing energy. He’s the greatest human being. And him being around just puts things in perspective.”

But Drew is the just the latest Hildebrandt to put Sarah through her paces. The story actually starts years ago with her parents, Chris and Nancy, who had to get used to the idea of their daughter wrestling on the boys team at Penn High School when she was a freshman. Penn coach Brad Harper wasn’t all that keen about the idea, either.

But the more Harper tried to get Sarah to quit, the more determined she became.

“When I first started wrestling, I wrestled on the all boys team, so my mom needed to come in when it was just me and my coach training,” recalls Sarah. “Just school rules, you know. So, my mom was there, but my coach (Harper) was too big for me to do the moves, so my mom would step in. And yeah, I would wrestle her, and she would leave with all these bruises. So, yes, it started with my mom.”

‘Why am I here?’

There were times, Sarah says, when she did wonder if it was worth it.

“It was hard. I remember sitting down with my dad and counting down the days until wrestling was over. And he said, ‘Why are you doing this? If you are sitting here counting down, why are you here?’”

“And I was like, ‘Why am I here?’ And then it was like a light switching on in my head. I’m like, ‘Alright I’m here, let’s be here.’ I stopped counting off the days till I’m done and stuck through it.”

At that point, Harper realized he wasn’t going to chase her off. And the Kingsman coach also started to see her potential.

“The next season, he (Harper) was in the wrestling room with me at 4 a.m.,” Hildebrandt recalls. “And he’s been with me for 20 years since.”

Harper, who has guided Hildebrandt since she began all this, was also beside her in State College last weekend.

Hildebrandt was the first girl in Indiana history to qualify for an individual semistate, and the only girl ever to win a match at the now-defunct state team wrestling finals.

A few years after that, she was a college national champion at King University in Tennessee.  

And a few years after that, Hildebrandt was on the phone to her sister, Amy, looking for help as she prepared for the 2020 Olympic Trials, which ended up being pushed to 2021 due to COVID.

“My sister actually moved out to train with me before the Tokyo Olympics," Hildebrandt said. "Little did we know the world was going to shut down and she was going to be living with me full time, my training partner, in the garage.”

Moving on from tough loss in Tokyo

Hildebrandt ended up with a bronze medal in that Olympics. But as great as that was, Hildebrandt is still haunted by the memory of her Olympic semifinal, when she gave up what looked like a sure victory in the last 10 seconds.

“It was really hard coming back after Tokyo, I suffered a really rough loss in the semis,” Hildebrandt said. “I didn’t take enough time to process what happened, then immediately jumped into another world championships two months later.”

That didn’t go the way she wanted, either.

“It set back my healing process a whole year," Hildebrandt said. "So 2022 was just spent recovering, just getting back to a state where I wanted to be on a mat."

It took some time, but Hildebrandt realized she still has a burning desire — call it a need — to win a gold medal. So as she started ramping up her training for another Olympics, Sarah made another call back home.

“My brother actually finished his career at Penn State (he went there as a grad student) and I was like, ‘Hey, you want to come to Colorado?’” asked Sarah. “He agreed.”

Now, at age 30, Hildebrandt is changing some of her training methods, but not her style.

“Leading into Tokyo, I was hard headed, stubborn to a fault,” she said. “Wouldn’t listen to my body, just trained through walls, because I thought that’s what it took. I’ve taken a step back from that. It’s like, ‘Whoa. We put in the work the last 20 years, we can listen to our body, rest when we need to rest so we can push when we need to push.’ I think that will help a lot.”

More: How one night in June was 'like a fairytale' for Penn High School athletics

What awaits Sarah Hildebrandt in Paris ... 'I can take it to her'

To win a gold medal in Paris, Hildebrandt will likely have to get past Japan’s Yui Susaki, the defending World Champion. It’s a tall order. The Japanese have dominated international women’s wrestling in recent years.

“Yui Susaki, she’s the best wrestler on the planet. But with that said, I think I can take it to her,” says Hildebrandt. “I don’t think she has anything special. I think we give them (Japanese) too much credit when we step on the mat. I believe in myself.”

And for certain, the entire family believes in her, too.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: 'I believe in myself.' Granger native Sarah Hildebrandt leans on family during Olympic run

Why so many asylum-seekers like me make the journey to Tukwila

For months you’ve been reading about asylum-seekers coming to the U.S. The news says the borders are flooded and the immigration system can’t handle the need. 

But you don’t hear from the people who arrive at the borders with everything they have on their backs. We’re not just numbers or statistics, but real people who have gone through so much to seek safety in the U.S. 

I am one of those people. 

I was born in Cabinda , a region north of Angola. Or in northern Angola, depending on whom you ask. Cabinda is considered Angolan territory, but many Cabindans, including myself, believe that our home should be independent.

Armed conflict has torn Cabinda for decades. The Angolan armed forces illegally occupy Cabinda, and commit human rights violations such as murder, kidnapping and lack of basic freedoms.

Free speech does not exist in Angola. Because of my work as a political activist, I was arrested several times. I was threatened and harassed by the police and once I was detained for three days, deprived of food, documents and contact with my family.

• Leaders must step up on migrant crisis | Editorial
• With no more room for asylum-seekers, church turns families away

I am not the only one. When authorities make an arrest, they often take people to military bases, where they are tortured with gun butts, clubs and electrical wires to make them confess. The perpetrators continue to go unpunished.

I decided to flee my home. I simply wanted to live in a place where my political opinion does not put my life, and my family’s lives, at risk. 

I crossed more than nine Latin American countries before arriving at the border at San Diego. Someone told me about Riverton Park United Methodist Church in Tukwila, a place that welcomes immigrants who have nowhere to live.

When I arrived at the church, Pastor Jan Bolerjack and other staff welcomed me with love. They gave me a tent and a phone number for a shelter. I called that number every day, but most shelters didn’t have space for a single man. When I did find a space, I immediately wanted to leave. It was loud and the people seemed unpredictable. That same day, I returned to my tent in Tukwila, where I felt safer. I have since moved, but I am always at the church working with the community and supporting them. I’m one of the only asylum-seekers here who speaks English — it’s one of the five languages I speak. 

I didn’t expect that a journey that started out with so much hardship and pain would transform into one where I found community, and that it would reignite what I started fighting for back home: justice and freedom. I think the asylum system is unfair and there are not enough resources to support asylum-seekers’ needs. When I met organizations like OneAmerica and The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, I started to see that we, as asylum-seekers, had the opportunity to change our circumstances even though we’re not citizens.

I went to Olympia, where I talked to elected officials and participated in democracy, something that was shut down in my home country. But most important, I started to reclaim a part of myself. I saw myself as a leader again and joined a community that is now like my family. 

When I heard the state had budgeted about $25 million for asylum-seekers, I was so happy. It means that more of us will have enough to eat, a warm place to sleep and help finding work.

The asylum process has been hard, but I finally feel safe. I don’t worry about someone killing me in the night. I can walk the streets without being chased. I’m no longer afraid that Angolan government agents will torture me. 

Just as I came here, millions came before me and millions will still come. The anti-immigrant bias in this country is strong, but immigrants are stronger. We have run from worse things than rumors. 

I am seeking asylum in your country, and I will work to make it better. 

Most Read Opinion Stories

• Ground Control to WA’s GOP
• The humbling of Marjorie Taylor Greene
• All Trump all the time
• Now Congress must defend democracy at home by saving press
• Caitlin Clark’s salary shows WNBA players deserve more money

The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.

Frist Center for Autism and Innovation

FCAI Partner Autism Tennessee Launches EmployME Job Seeker Program to Support Autistic Job Seekers; Registration Open!

Posted by stasikjs on Thursday, April 25, 2024 in Partner News .

The Frist Center for Autism and Innovation is excited to promote the EmployME Job Seeker Program from AutismTN  a FCAI partner , specifically designed to empower and support Autistic self-advocates in their journey towards meaningful employment. 

This program is strengths-based and celebrates neurodiversity, which is the cornerstone of FCAI’s work. We believe in embracing the unique perspectives and talents of Autistic individuals, and we are thrilled to see that this is the focus of the EmployME program. 

We encourage all Autistic job seekers to seriously consider signing up for this program. It consists of a series of four sessions taking place weekly (Mondays at 6:00pm CT) over the course of one month (June), offered in a hybrid format (in-person in Nashville and via Zoom). The sessions are designed to help participants understand their Autistic strengths, design their professional profile, decode the interview process, and navigate the workplace as self-advocates. 

Participants will also receive a Job Seeker Resource Guide, have access to a closed EmployME Peer Support Facebook group, and have the option to schedule a one-on-one coaching session for personalized career advice. 

AutismTN Members can participate for $75, and non-members for $100. AutismTN suggests that if cost is a barrier to your participation, to reach out to [email protected] to discuss options. This is an incredible opportunity to gain valuable skills and insights to help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

More information on the training series can be found here . Registration is at this link . 

Comments are closed

• Share full article

For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio , a new iOS app available for news subscribers.

The Crackdown on Student Protesters

Columbia university is at the center of a growing showdown over the war in gaza and the limits of free speech..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

[TRAIN SCREECHING]

Well, you can hear the helicopter circling. This is Asthaa Chaturvedi. I’m a producer with “The Daily.” Just walked out of the 116 Street Station. It’s the main station for Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus. And it’s day seven of the Gaza solidarity encampment, where a hundred students were arrested last Thursday.

So on one side of Broadway, you see camera crews. You see NYPD officers all lined up. There’s barricades, steel barricades, caution tape. This is normally a completely open campus. And I’m able to — all members of the public, you’re able to walk through.

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

Looks like international media is here.

Have your IDs out. Have your IDs out.

Students lining up to swipe in to get access to the University. ID required for entry.

Swipe your ID, please.

Hi, how are you, officer? We’re journalists with “The New York Times.”

You’re not going to get in, all right? I’m sorry.

Hi. Can I help please?

Yeah, it’s total lockdown here at Columbia.

Please have your IDs out ready to swipe.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.” Today, the story of how Columbia University has become the epicenter of a growing showdown between student protesters, college administrators, and Congress over the war in Gaza and the limits of free speech. I spoke with my colleague, Nick Fandos.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

It’s Thursday, April 25.

Nick, if we rewind the clock a few months, we end up at a moment where students at several of the country’s best known universities are protesting Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks, its approach to a war in Gaza. At times, those protests are happening peacefully, at times with rhetoric that is inflammatory. And the result is that the leaders of those universities land before Congress. But the president of Columbia University, which is the subject we’re going to be talking about today, is not one of the leaders who shows up for that testimony.

That’s right. So the House Education Committee has been watching all these protests on campus. And the Republican Chairwoman decides, I’m going to open an investigation, look at how these administrations are handling it, because it doesn’t look good from where I sit. And the House last winter invites the leaders of several of these elite schools, Harvard, Penn, MIT, and Columbia, to come and testify in Washington on Capitol Hill before Congress.

Now, the President of Columbia has what turns out to be a very well-timed, pre-planned trip to go overseas and speak at an international climate conference. So Minouche Shafik isn’t going to be there. So instead, the presidents of Harvard, and Penn, and MIT show up. And it turned out to be a disaster for these universities.

They were asked very pointed questions about the kind of speech taking place on their campuses, and they gave really convoluted academic answers back that just baffled the committee. But there was one question that really embodied the kind of disconnect between the Committee — And it wasn’t just Republicans, Republicans and Democrats on the Committee — and these college presidents. And that’s when they were asked a hypothetical.

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?

If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment.

And two of the presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, they’re unwilling to say in this really kind of intense back and forth that this speech would constitute a violation of their rules.

It can be, depending on the context.

What’s the context?

Targeted at an individual. Is it pervasive?

It’s targeted at Jewish students, Jewish individuals. Do you understand your testimony is dehumanizing them?

And it sets off a firestorm.

It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes. And this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board.

Members of Congress start calling for their resignations. Alumni are really, really ticked off. Trustees of the University start to wonder, I don’t know that these leaders really have got this under control. And eventually, both of them lose their jobs in a really high profile way.

Right. And as you’ve hinted at, for somewhat peculiar scheduling reasons, Columbia’s President escapes this disaster of a hearing in what has to be regarded as the best timing in the history of the American Academy.

Yeah, exactly. And Columbia is watching all this play out. And I think their first response was relief that she was not in that chair, but also a recognition that, sooner or later, their turn was going to come back around and they were going to have to sit before Congress.

Why were they so certain that they would probably end up before Congress and that this wasn’t a case of completely dodging a bullet?

Well, they remain under investigation by the committee. But also, as the winter wears on, all the same intense protests just continue unabated. So in many ways, Columbia’s like these other campuses. But in some ways, it’s even more intense. This is a university that has both one of the largest Jewish student populations of any of its peers. But it also has a large Arab and Muslim student population, a big Middle Eastern studies program. It has a dual degree program in Tel Aviv.

And it’s a university on top of all that that has a real history of activism dating back to the 1960s. So when students are recruited or choose to come to Columbia, they’re actively opting into a campus that prides itself on being an activist community. It’s in the middle of New York City. It’s a global place. They consider the city and the world, really, like a classroom to Columbia.

In other words, if any campus was going to be a hotbed of protest and debate over this conflict, it was going to be Columbia University.

Exactly. And when this spring rolls around, the stars finally align. And the same congressional committee issues another invitation to Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s President, to come and testify. And this time, she has no excuse to say no.

But presumably, she is well aware of exactly what testifying before this committee entails and is highly prepared.

Columbia knew this moment was coming. They spent months preparing for this hearing. They brought in outside consultants, crisis communicators, experts on anti-Semitism. The weekend before the hearing, she actually travels down to Washington to hole up in a war room, where she starts preparing her testimony with mock questioners and testy exchanges to prep her for this. And she’s very clear on what she wants to try to do.

Where her counterparts had gone before the committee a few months before and looked aloof, she wanted to project humility and competence, to say, I know that there’s an issue on my campus right now with some of these protests veering off into anti-Semitic incidents. But I’m getting that under control. I’m taking steps in good faith to make sure that we restore order to this campus, while allowing people to express themselves freely as well.

So then the day of her actual testimony arrives. And just walk us through how it goes.

The Committee on Education and Workforce will come to order. I note that —

So Wednesday morning rolls around. And President Shafik sits at the witness stand with two of her trustees and the head of Columbia’s new anti-Semitism task force.

Columbia stands guilty of gross negligence at best and at worst has become a platform for those supporting terrorism and violence against the Jewish people.

And right off the bat, they’re put through a pretty humbling litany of some of the worst hits of what’s been happening on campus.

For example, just four days after the harrowing October 7 attack, a former Columbia undergraduate beat an Israeli student with a stick.

The Republican Chairwoman of the Committee, Virginia Foxx, starts reminding her that there was a student who was actually hit with a stick on campus. There was another gathering more recently glorifying Hamas and other terrorist organizations, and the kind of chants that have become an everyday chorus on campus, which many Jewish students see as threatening. But when the questioning starts, President Shafik is ready. One of the first ones she gets is the one that tripped up her colleagues.

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Columbia’s code of conduct, Mr. Greenwald?

And she answers unequivocally.

Dr. Shafik?

Yes, it does.

And, Professor —

That would be a violation of Columbia’s rules. They would be punished.

As President of Columbia, what is it like when you hear chants like, by any means necessary or Intifada Revolution?

I find those chants incredibly distressing. And I wish profoundly that people would not use them on our campus.

And in some of the most interesting exchanges of the hearing, President Shafik actually opens Columbia’s disciplinary books.

We have already suspended 15 students from Columbia. We have six on disciplinary probation. These are more disciplinary actions that have been taken probably in the last decade at Columbia. And —

She talks about the number of students that have been suspended, but also the number of faculty that she’s had removed from the classroom that are being investigated for comments that either violate some of Columbia’s rules or make students uncomfortable. One case in particular really underscores this.

And that’s of a Middle Eastern studies professor named Joseph Massad. He wrote an essay not long after Hamas invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government, where he described that attack with adjectives like awesome. Now, he said they’ve been misinterpreted, but a lot of people have taken offense to those comments.

Ms. Stefanik, you’re recognized for five minutes.

Thank you, Chairwoman. I want to follow up on my colleague, Rep Walberg’s question regarding Professor Joseph Massad. So let me be clear, President —

And so Representative Elise Stefanik, the same Republican who had tripped up Claudine Gay of Harvard and others in the last hearing, really starts digging in to President Shafik about these things at Columbia.

He is still Chair on the website. So has he been terminated as Chair?

Congresswoman, I —

And Shafik’s answers are maybe a little surprising.

— before getting back to you. I can confirm —

I know you confirmed that he was under investigation.

Yes, I can confirm that. But I —

Did you confirm he was still the Chair?

He says that Columbia is taking his case seriously. In fact, he’s under investigation right now.

Well, let me ask you this.

I need to check.

Will you make the commitment to remove him as Chair?

And when Stefanik presses her to commit to removing him from a campus leadership position —

I think that would be — I think — I would — yes. Let me come back with yes. But I think I — I just want to confirm his current status before I write —

We’ll take that as a yes, that you will confirm that he will no longer be chair.

Shafik seems to pause and think and then agree to it on the spot, almost like she is making administrative decisions with or in front of Congress.

Now, we did some reporting after the fact. And it turns out the Professor didn’t even realize he was under investigation. So he’s learning about this from the hearing too. So what this all adds up to, I think, is a performance so in line with what the lawmakers themselves wanted to hear, that at certain points, these Republicans didn’t quite know what to do with it. They were like the dog that caught the car.

Columbia beats Harvard and UPenn.

One of them, a Republican from Florida, I think at one point even marvelled, well, you beat Harvard and Penn.

Y’all all have done something that they weren’t able to do. You’ve been able to condemn anti-Semitism without using the phrase, it depends on the context. But the —

So Columbia’s president has passed this test before this committee.

Yeah, this big moment that tripped up her predecessors and cost them their jobs, it seems like she has cleared that hurdle and dispatched with the Congressional committee that could have been one of the biggest threats to her presidency.

Without objection, there being no further business, the committee stands adjourned. [BANGS GAVEL]

But back on campus, some of the students and faculty who had been watching the hearing came away with a very different set of conclusions. They saw a president who was so eager to please Republicans in Congress that she was willing to sell out some of the University’s students and faculty and trample on cherished ideas like academic freedom and freedom of expression that have been a bedrock of American higher education for a really long time.

And there was no clearer embodiment of that than what had happened that morning just as President Shafik was going to testify before Congress. A group of students before dawn set up tents in the middle of Columbia’s campus and declared themselves a pro-Palestinian encampment in open defiance of the very rules that Dr. Shafik had put in place to try and get these protests under control.

So these students in real-time are beginning to test some of the things that Columbia’s president has just said before Congress.

Exactly. And so instead of going to celebrate her successful appearance before Congress, Shafik walks out of the hearing room and gets in a black SUV to go right back to that war room, where she’s immediately confronted with a major dilemma. It basically boils down to this, she had just gone before Congress and told them, I’m going to get tough on these protests. And here they were. So either she gets tough and risks inflaming tension on campus or she holds back and does nothing and her words before Congress immediately look hollow.

And what does she decide?

So for the next 24 hours, she tries to negotiate off ramps. She consults with her Deans and the New York Police Department. And it all builds towards an incredibly consequential decision. And that is, for the first time in decades, to call the New York City Police Department onto campus in riot gear and break this thing up, suspend the students involved, and then arrest them.

To essentially eliminate this encampment.

Eliminate the encampment and send a message, this is not going to be tolerated. But in trying to quell the unrest, Shafik actually feeds it. She ends up leaving student protesters and the faculty who support them feeling betrayed and pushes a campus that was already on edge into a full blown crisis.

[SLOW TEMPO MUSIC]

After the break, what all of this has looked like to a student on Columbia’s campus. We’ll be right back.

[PHONE RINGS]

Is this Isabella?

Yes, this is she.

Hi, Isabella. It’s Michael Barbaro from “The Daily.”

Hi. Nice to meet you.

Earlier this week, we called Isabella Ramírez, the Editor in Chief of Columbia’s undergraduate newspaper, “The Columbia Daily Spectator,” which has been closely tracking both the protests and the University’s response to them since October 7.

So, I mean, in your mind, how do we get to this point? I wonder if you can just briefly describe the key moments that bring us to where we are right now.

Sure. Since October 7, there has certainly been constant escalation in terms of tension on campus. And there have been a variety of moves that I believe have distanced the student body, the faculty, from the University and its administration, specifically the suspension of Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. And that became a huge moment in what was characterized as suppression of pro-Palestinian activism on campus, effectively rendering those groups, quote, unquote, unauthorized.

What was the college’s explanation for that?

They had cited in that suspension a policy which states that a demonstration must be approved within a certain window, and that there must be an advance notice, and that there’s a process for getting an authorized demonstration. But the primary point was this policy that they were referring to, which we later reported, was changed before the suspension.

So it felt a little ad hoc to people?

Yes, it certainly came as a surprise, especially at “Spectator.” We’re nerds of the University in the sense that we are familiar with faculty and University governance. But even to us, we had no idea where this policy was coming from. And this suspension was really the first time that it entered most students’ sphere.

Columbia’s campus is so known for its activism. And so in my time of being a reporter, of being an editor, I’ve overseen several protests. And I’ve never seen Columbia penalize a group for, quote, unquote, not authorizing a protest. So that was certainly, in our minds, unprecedented.

And I believe part of the justification there was, well, this is a different time. And I think that is a reasonable thing to say. But I think a lot of students, they felt it was particularly one-sided, that it was targeting a specific type of speech or a specific type of viewpoint. Although, the University, of course, in its explicit policies, did not outline, and was actually very explicit about not targeting specific viewpoints —

So just to be super clear, it felt to students — and it sounds like, journalistically, it felt to you — that the University was coming down in a uniquely one-sided way against students who were supporting Palestinian rights and may have expressed some frustrations with Israel in that moment.

Yes. Certainly —

Isabella says that this was just the beginning of a really tense period between student protesters and the University. After those two student groups were suspended, campus protests continued. Students made a variety of demands. They asked that the University divest from businesses that profit from Israel’s military operations in Gaza. But instead of making any progress, the protests are met with further crackdown by the University.

And so as Isabella and her colleagues at the college newspaper see it, there’s this overall chilling effect that occurs. Some students become fearful that if they participate in any demonstrations, they’re going to face disciplinary action. So fast forward now to April, when these student protesters learned that President Shafik is headed to Washington for her congressional testimony. It’s at this moment that they set out to build their encampment.

I think there was obviously a lot of intention in timing those two things. I think it’s inherently a critique on a political pressure and this congressional pressure that we saw build up against, of course, Claudine Gay at Harvard and Magill at UPenn. So I think a lot of students and faculty have been frustrated at this idea that there are not only powers at the University that are dictating what’s happening, but there are perhaps external powers that are also guiding the way here in terms of what the University feels like it must do or has to do.

And I think that timing was super crucial. Having the encampment happen on the Wednesday morning of the hearing was an incredible, in some senses, interesting strategy to direct eyes to different places.

All eyes were going to be on Shafik in DC. But now a lot of eyes are on New York. The encampment is set up in the middle of the night slash morning, prior to the hearing. And so what effectively happens is they caught Shafik when she wasn’t on campus, when a lot of senior administration had their resources dedicated to supporting Shafik in DC.

And you have all of those people not necessarily out of commission, but with their focus elsewhere. So the encampment is met with very little resistance at the beginning. There were public safety officers floating around and watching. But at the very beginning hours, I think there was a sense of, we did it.

[CHANTING]: Disclose! Divest! We will not stop! We will not rest. Disclose! Divest! We will not stop!

It would be quite surprising to anybody and an administrator to now suddenly see dozens of tents on this lawn in a way that I think very purposely puts an imagery of, we’re here to stay. As the morning evolved and congressional hearings continued —

Minouche Shafik, open your eyes! Use of force, genocide!

Then we started seeing University delegates that were coming to the encampment saying, you may face disciplinary action for continuing to be here. I think that started around almost — like 9:00 or 10:00 AM, they started handing out these code of conduct violation notices.

Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!

Then there started to be more public safety action and presence. So they started barricading the entrances. The day progressed, there was more threat of discipline. The students became informed that if they continue to stay, they will face potential academic sanctions, potential suspension.

The more they try to silence us, the louder we will be! The more they —

I think a lot of people were like, OK, you’re threatening us with suspension. But so what?

This is about these systems that Minouche Shafik, that the Board of Trustees, that Columbia University is complicit in.

What are you going to do to try to get us out of here? And that was, obviously, promptly answered.

This is the New York State Police Department.

We will not stop!

You are attempting participate in an unauthorized encampment. You will be arrested and charged with trespassing.

My phone blew up, obviously, from the reporters, from the editors, of saying, oh my god, the NYPD is on our campus. And as soon as I saw that, I came out. And I saw a huge crowd of students and affiliates on campus watching the lawns. And as I circled around that crowd, I saw the last end of the New York Police Department pulling away protesters and clearing out the last of the encampment.

[CHANTING]: We love you! We will get justice for you! We see you! We love you! We will get justice for you! We see you! We love you! We will get justice for you! We see you! We love you! We will get justice for you!

It was something truly unimaginable, over 100 students slash other individuals are arrested from our campus, forcefully removed. And although they were suspended, there was a feeling of traumatic event that has just happened to these students, but also this sense of like, OK, the worst of the worst that could have happened to us just happened.

And for those students who maybe couldn’t go back to — into campus, now all of their peers, who were supporters or are in solidarity, are — in some sense, it’s further emboldened. They’re now not just sitting on the lawns for a pro-Palestinian cause, but also for the students, who have endured quite a lot.

So the crackdown, sought by the president and enforced by the NYPD, ends up, you’re saying, becoming a galvanizing force for a broader group of Columbia students than were originally drawn to the idea of ever showing up on the center of campus and protesting?

Yeah, I can certainly speak to the fact that I’ve seen my own peers, friends, or even acquaintances, who weren’t necessarily previously very involved in activism and organizing efforts, suddenly finding themselves involved.

Can I — I just have a question for you, which is all journalism, student journalism or not student journalism, is a first draft of history. And I wonder if we think of this as a historic moment for Columbia, how you imagine it’s going to be remembered.

Yeah, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a historic moment for Colombia.

I think that this will be remembered as a moment in which the fractures were laid bare. Really, we got to see some of the disunity of the community in ways that I have never really seen it before. And what we’ll be looking to is, where do we go from here? How does Colombia repair? How do we heal from all of this? so That is the big question in terms of what will happen.

Nick, Isabella Ramírez just walked us through what this has all looked like from the perspective of a Columbia student. And from what she could tell, the crackdown ordered by President Shafik did not quell much of anything. It seemed, instead, to really intensify everything on campus. I’m curious what this has looked like for Shafik.

It’s not just the students who are upset. You have faculty, including professors, who are not necessarily sympathetic to the protesters’ view of the war, who are really outraged about what Shafik has done here. They feel that she’s crossed a boundary that hasn’t been crossed on Columbia’s campus in a really long time.

And so you start to hear things by the end of last week like censure, no confidence votes, questions from her own professors about whether or not she can stay in power. So this creates a whole new front for her. And on top of it all, as this is going on, the encampment itself starts to reform tent-by-tent —

— almost in the same place that it was. And Shafik decides that the most important thing she could do is to try and take the temperature down, which means letting the encampment stand. Or in other words, leaning in the other direction. This time, we’re going to let the protesters have their say for a little while longer.

The problem with that is that, over the weekend, a series of images start to emerge from on campus and just off of it of some really troubling anti-Semitic episodes. In one case, a guy holds up a poster in the middle of campus and points it towards a group of Jewish students who are counter protesting. And it says, I’m paraphrasing here, Hamas’ next targets.

I saw an image of that. What it seemed to evoke was the message that Hamas should murder those Jewish students. That’s the way the Jewish students interpreted it.

It’s a pretty straightforward and jarring statement. At the same time, just outside of Columbia’s closed gates —

Stop killing children!

— protestors are showing up from across New York City. It’s hard to tell who’s affiliated with Columbia, who’s not.

Go back to Poland! Go back to Poland!

There’s a video that goes viral of one of them shouting at Jewish students, go back to Poland, go back to Europe.

In other words, a clear message, you’re not welcome here.

Right. In fact, go back to the places where the Holocaust was committed.

Exactly. And this is not representative of the vast majority of the protesters in the encampment, who mostly had been peaceful. They would later hold a Seder, actually, with some of the pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters in their ranks. But those videos are reaching members of Congress, the very same Republicans that Shafik had testified in front of just a few days before. And now they’re looking and saying, you have lost control of your campus, you’ve turned back on your word to us, and you need to resign.

They call for her outright resignation over this.

That’s right. Republicans in New York and across the country began to call for her to step down from her position as president of Columbia.

So Shafik’s dilemma here is pretty extraordinary. She has set up this dynamic where pleasing these members of Congress would probably mean calling in the NYPD all over again to sweep out this encampment, which would mean further alienating and inflaming students and faculty, who are still very upset over the first crackdown. And now both ends of this spectrum, lawmakers in Washington, folks on the Columbia campus, are saying she can’t lead the University over this situation before she’s even made any fateful decision about what to do with this second encampment. Not a good situation.

No. She’s besieged on all sides. For a while, the only thing that she can come up with to offer is for classes to go hybrid for the remainder of the semester.

So students who aren’t feeling safe in this protest environment don’t necessarily have to go to class.

Right. And I think if we zoom out for a second, it’s worth bearing in mind that she tried to choose a different path here than her counterparts at Harvard or Penn. And after all of this, she’s kind of ended up in the exact same thicket, with people calling for her job with the White House, the Mayor of New York City, and others. These are Democrats. Maybe not calling on her to resign quite yet, but saying, I don’t know what’s going on your campus. This does not look good.

That reality, that taking a different tack that was supposed to be full of learnings and lessons from the stumbles of her peers, the fact that didn’t really work suggests that there’s something really intractable going on here. And I wonder how you’re thinking about this intractable situation that’s now arrived on these college campuses.

Well, I don’t think it’s just limited to college campuses. We have seen intense feelings about this conflict play out in Hollywood. We’ve seen them in our politics in all kinds of interesting ways.

In our media.

We’ve seen it in the media. But college campuses, at least in their most idealized form, are something special. They’re a place where students get to go for four years to think in big ways about moral questions, and political questions, and ideas that help shape the world they’re going to spend the rest of their lives in.

And so when you have a question that feels as urgent as this war does for a lot of people, I think it reverberates in an incredibly intense way on those campuses. And there’s something like — I don’t know if it’s quite a contradiction of terms, but there’s a collision of different values at stake. So universities thrive on the ability of students to follow their minds and their voices where they go, to maybe even experiment a little bit and find those things.

But there are also communities that rely on people being able to trust each other and being able to carry out their classes and their academic endeavors as a collective so they can learn from one another. So in this case, that’s all getting scrambled. Students who feel strongly about the Palestinian cause feel like the point is disruption, that something so big, and immediate, and urgent is happening that they need to get in the faces of their professors, and their administrators, and their fellow students.

Right. And set up an encampment in the middle of campus, no matter what the rules say.

Right. And from the administration’s perspective, they say, well, yeah, you can say that and you can think that. And that’s an important process. But maybe there’s some bad apples in your ranks. Or though you may have good intentions, you’re saying things that you don’t realize the implications of. And they’re making this environment unsafe for others. Or they’re grinding our classes to a halt and we’re not able to function as a University.

So the only way we’re going to be able to move forward is if you will respect our rules and we’ll respect your point of view. The problem is that’s just not happening. Something is not connecting with those two points of view. And as if that’s not hard enough, you then have Congress and the political system with its own agenda coming in and putting its thumb on a scale of an already very difficult situation.

Right. And at this very moment, what we know is that the forces that you just outlined have created a dilemma, an uncertainty of how to proceed, not just for President Shafik and the students and faculty at Columbia, but for a growing number of colleges and universities across the country. And by that, I mean, this thing that seemed to start at Columbia is literally spreading.

Absolutely. We’re talking on a Wednesday afternoon. And these encampments have now started cropping up at universities from coast-to-coast, at Harvard and Yale, but also at University of California, at the University of Texas, at smaller campuses in between. And at each of these institutions, there’s presidents and deans, just like President Shafik at Columbia, who are facing a really difficult set of choices. Do they call in the police? The University of Texas in Austin this afternoon, we saw protesters physically clashing with police.

Do they hold back, like at Harvard, where there were dramatic videos of students literally running into Harvard yard with tents. They were popping up in real-time. And so Columbia, really, I think, at the end of the day, may have kicked off some of this. But they are now in league with a whole bunch of other universities that are struggling with the same set of questions. And it’s a set of questions that they’ve had since this war broke out.

And now these schools only have a week or two left of classes. But we don’t know when these standoffs are going to end. We don’t know if students are going to leave campus for the summer. We don’t know if they’re going to come back in the fall and start protesting right away, or if this year is going to turn out to have been an aberration that was a response to a really awful, bloody war, or if we’re at the beginning of a bigger shift on college campuses that will long outlast this war in the Middle East.

Well, Nick, thank you very much. Thanks for having me, Michael.

We’ll be right back.

Here’s what else you need to know today. The United Nations is calling for an independent investigation into two mass graves found after Israeli forces withdrew from hospitals in Gaza. Officials in Gaza said that some of the bodies found in the graves were Palestinians who had been handcuffed or shot in the head and accused Israel of killing and burying them. In response, Israel said that its soldiers had exhumed bodies in one of the graves as part of an effort to locate Israeli hostages.

And on Wednesday, Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American dual citizen, whom Hamas has held hostage since October 7. It was the first time that he has been shown alive since his captivity began. His kidnapping was the subject of a “Daily” episode in October that featured his mother, Rachel. In response to Hamas’s video, Rachel issued a video of her own, in which she spoke directly to her son.

And, Hersh, if you can hear this, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days. And if you can hear us, I am telling you, we are telling you, we love you. Stay strong. Survive.

Today’s episode was produced by Sydney Harper, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Olivia Natt, Nina Feldman, and Summer Thomad, with help from Michael Simon Johnson. It was edited by Devon Taylor and Lisa Chow, contains research help by Susan Lee, original music by Marion Lozano and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

• April 26, 2024   •   21:50 Harvey Weinstein Conviction Thrown Out
• April 25, 2024   •   40:33 The Crackdown on Student Protesters
• April 24, 2024   •   32:18 Is $60 Billion Enough to Save Ukraine?
• April 23, 2024   •   30:30 A Salacious Conspiracy or Just 34 Pieces of Paper?
• April 22, 2024   •   24:30 The Evolving Danger of the New Bird Flu
• April 19, 2024   •   30:42 The Supreme Court Takes Up Homelessness
• April 18, 2024   •   30:07 The Opening Days of Trump’s First Criminal Trial
• April 17, 2024   •   24:52 Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ a Forever Problem?
• April 16, 2024   •   29:29 A.I.’s Original Sin
• April 15, 2024   •   24:07 Iran’s Unprecedented Attack on Israel
• April 14, 2024   •   46:17 The Sunday Read: ‘What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise’
• April 12, 2024   •   34:23 How One Family Lost $900,000 in a Timeshare Scam

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Nicholas Fandos

Produced by Sydney Harper ,  Asthaa Chaturvedi ,  Olivia Natt ,  Nina Feldman and Summer Thomad

With Michael Simon Johnson

Edited by Devon Taylor and Lisa Chow

Original music by Marion Lozano and Dan Powell

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

Columbia University has become the epicenter of a growing showdown between student protesters, college administrators and Congress over the war in Gaza and the limits of free speech.

Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The Times, walks us through the intense week at the university. And Isabella Ramírez, the editor in chief of Columbia’s undergraduate newspaper, explains what it has all looked like to a student on campus.

On today’s episode

Nicholas Fandos , who covers New York politics and government for The New York Times

Isabella Ramírez , editor in chief of The Columbia Daily Spectator

Background reading

Inside the week that shook Columbia University .

The protests at the university continued after more than 100 arrests.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Research help by Susan Lee .

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Nicholas Fandos is a Times reporter covering New York politics and government. More about Nicholas Fandos

Advertisement

• Newsletters
• Account Activating this button will toggle the display of additional content Account Sign out

My Daughter’s Stepsons Just Made a Disgusting Mess in My House. Her Reaction Left Me Floored.

I can’t believe she feels this way..

Slate Plus members get more  Care and Feeding every week. Have a question about kids, parenting, or family life?  Submit it here !

Dear Care and Feeding,

I work evenings and I am the primary caregiver of my 6-month-old granddaughter. My daughter lives with me and works mornings often on weekends. She is trying (again) to work on her relationship with my granddaughter’s father, “Jake.” Jake has twin 8-year-old sons with his ex. They both work weekends, too. I tried watching the boys, but their behavior is atrocious and their manners nonexistent. They do not say “please” or “thank you” and instead feel free to make demands even after I tell them “no.” They do not flush the toilet or wash their hands. I can’t take them out shopping because they will run away or throw a fit because they didn’t get a treat. Jake and his ex don’t see anything wrong with this, nor do they show any appreciation for my free help. I hit my limit when I found one of the boys had peed all over the bathroom floor again and then argued with me when I made him get gloves and clean it up himself.

I talked to their mother when she came to pick the boys up. This has been a continual problem and it needed to be addressed. She rolled her eyes at me and told me it wasn’t my place to tell her how to raise her sons.

I told her this was my place, and I didn’t appreciate having her sons leaving mess after mess and arguing with me when they had to clean up after themselves. They left, and I texted Jake about the conversation.  He told me not to be difficult. At this point, I was done, so I informed everyone it would be my last weekend watching the twins. Everyone got up in arms over this, but I held firm. Jake and his ex fought over who had to skip work to take the boys, and my daughter accused me of trying to torpedo her relationship. I love my daughter and granddaughter, but I did not approve of how my daughter acts like her choices exist in a vacuum. Jake rarely cares for my granddaughter and also never pays for baby supplies. My daughter insists they will work things out and will not seek child support. It has been a month, and things still haven’t improved. What do I do? I am at the end of my rope here.

—Bathroom Blues

Dear Bathroom,

Continue to hold firm. Those boys are a nightmare and they are not your problem. It is not your responsibility to placate your daughter’s trifling baby daddy. She’s worried about holding on to what I feel safe to assume is a mediocre relationship with a man who won’t care for the child they have together, and she’ll probably be better off when he leaves for good. If your daughter is angry with you now, oh well. She relies on you too much, she’ll get over it. If she feels the need to complain about your refusal to care for the twins, remind her that she is very lucky to have to have you providing your services to her —which you don’t have to do. —Jamilah

More Advice From Slate

This week, my first grader had his two front teeth adorably crooked and very nearly falling out spontaneously. I wanted to get a good picture of them before they fell out, but when he got home, he was toothless. He presented them to me in a bag and said a teacher (not his own teacher, but another teacher he knew) pulled them out. He said he bled a little but it didn’t hurt. He never admits to pain.

Journey Wealth Strategies discusses Roth conversions

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Josh Taffer, wealth management advisor and owner of Journey Wealth Strategies, joined Studio 3 to discuss Roth conversions.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.

Copyright 2024 WLBT. All rights reserved.

14 arrested, assault rifle recovered after drug bust in Yazoo County

Video shows 2 people shooting into Brandon home, police say

Meridian Police speak about ‘tragic and violent act’ that took the lives of elderly Meridian couple

Bond set for suspects arrested in connection with shooting death of Rankin County man

Tomekia Reed steps down as head women’s basketball coach at Jackson State

Latest news.

Factcheck: Attorney’s claim that Jackson violated confidentiality rule in wrongful death settlement not true

Negotiations progress on Medicaid expansion and education funding

Wooden Flag giveaway for veterans

The Probate Book

Counseling alum writes her trauma and journey to heal with memoir

Demarra West, author of "Me Too: A Therapist's Journey to Heal, Find Liberation, and Joy"

KALAMAZOO, Mich.— Demarra   West , a graduate of Western Michigan University's clinical mental health counseling program, is inspiring readers with her memoir, " Me Too: A Therapist's Journey to Heal, Find Liberation, & Joy ." As a therapist and self-healer, she offers insight for readers seeking to overcome past trauma and live abundantly in every area of their lives. A survivor of trauma herself, West shares her healing journey and offers a roadmap to overcome even the most challenging of obstacles.

"The book has been 26 years in the making, and I started writing it before I even realized I had a lot of my own healing to do," explains West. "Before my healing journey, I really was under the impression that my past was my past and I was moving forward. I had gotten married, became a mother, attended graduate school and started a business."

"Then about 10 years ago when I stared learning about holistic practices, I found myself gravitating to doing trauma sensitive yoga, reiki, forest bathing, breathwork and other types of healing practices. Initially I thought these are going to be modalities that I use to help support my clients and community. But what I realized through finding these practices that I had my own healing to do myself," says West.

West's earliest recollection of trauma occurred at age six, although trauma was present long before that with her absentee father and the violence she witnessed from her stepfather. By age 13, she had already experienced eight of the 10  Adverse Childhood Experiences , including substance abuse, incarceration and homelessness. According to the Cleveland Clinic, these negative experiences affect a child’s brain and health as they grow into adults. They can also lead to mental health or chronic health conditions.

West describes the trauma suffered in her childhood as nearly obliterating her existence.

"In the book I talk about the most significant things that I faced in terms of trauma, the aftermath and struggle to talk about it and allow for my healing journey," says West. "So it's really a blueprint for people to understand some of the research-based holistic modalities that are revolutionary to helping us heal ourselves."  

ABOUT DEMARRA WEST

Demarra West

Demarra West is a community advocate, counselor, entrepreneur and author of "Me Too: A Therapist's Journey to Heal, Find Liberation, & Joy." She has a bachelor's in family life education from Spring Arbor University and masters in  clinical mental health counseling from Western Michigan University . West is also the former chair of YWCA Kalamazoo and led the organization's CEO search in 2023.

Starting her own full-service consulting practice in 2008, West's Change Agent Consulting has provided expertise in strategic planning, fund and program development, coaching and DEI training to organizations in Southwest Michigan. Additionally, she is the founder of Be Well Beautiful Women (BWBW), a non-profit aimed at supporting female leaders and entrepreneurs in business and wellness by providing business planning, executive coaching, training and retreats. BWBW also has a  podcast  featuring women who are experts in their field.

To learn more about West,  visit her website .

UPCOMING WORKSHOP

West will be holding a free workshop to demonstrate the therapeutic powers of writing, offering everyone—from trauma survivors to those simply seeking personal growth—tools to turn their experiences into powerful narratives on Tuesday, May 7, at Kazoo Books from 4 to 5:30 p.m. To learn more about the event or RSVP,  visit her website .

For more WMU news, arts and events,  visit  WMU News  online.