Eighties, Music Blog

Embrace The Journey

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

The theme today at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday
is to write about songs with the words “hot, burning, fire or blazing”.

If reports in recent years are to be believed, former Journey singer Steve Perry and keyboardist Jonathan Cain don’t have much of a personal relationship anymore, but when they first met nearly 43 years ago, the situation was very different.

Journey, originally known as the Golden Gate Rhythm Section, was formed in San Francisco in 1973; the name was officially changed to Journey in 1975, shortly after signing with Columbia Records. The band’s early sound was influenced by jazz and fusion music. They gradually shifted towards a more pop-oriented sound in the late 1970s. Steve Perry joined Journey as their lead vocalist in 1977 and became one of the band’s most recognizable members.  Jonathan Cain was hired in January 1981 and it wasn’t long before he and Perry began writing together.

One of the first things they did was a song called “Who’s Crying Now.” Steve Perry said the chorus popped into his head while driving to Los Angeles, which he recorded on his mini cassette player. Once Steve Perry arrived in LA, he went straight to Jonathan Cain’s house to play his work in progress. Perry had come up with most of the melodies and rhythms but was stumped on the lyrics. Perry said, “Jonathan just like zeroed in on it. We had the beginning, we had the middle, he helped do the lyrics with me .… and it was done!”

“Who’s Crying Now” tells the sad and age-old tale of good love gone bad. The song, the first single from Journey’s album Escape, helped the LP achieve sales of over nine million copies. The song charted at #46 in the UK Singles Chart, the band’s highest charting single in the UK until “Don’t Stop Believin'”. Billboard praised “Who’s Crying Now” as one of Journey’s “strongest and classiest records” and one of the most appealing love songs of 1981. Escape remains their only #1 album.

In 1996, Steve Perry suffered a hip injury while hiking in Hawaii and was unable to perform. The diagnosis was degenerative bone disease and a hip replacement was required but Perry was reluctant to rush into the surgery and touring was postponed indefinitely. While Perry kept putting off the inevitable surgery, the other members of the band waited nearly 17 months after the initial diagnosis before presenting him with an ultimatum: If he did not undergo hip replacement surgery so the tour could proceed upon his recovery, the band would hire a replacement singer. Still hesitant to undergo surgery, and now upset at his bandmates, Perry announced in 1988 that he was permanently leaving Journey. No one loves the idea of surgery but Steve Perry made a big mistake making his band mates wait so long.

The position of lead singer went to Steve Augeri who was then sidelined with a chronic throat infection. The very hard-working singer-musician-songwriter Jeff Scott Soto temporarily stepped into the role of lead singer until Arnel Pineda signed on as frontman in 2007. Pineda, a vocalist for a Filipino cover band, was hired as a result of a video he posted on YouTube and is still Journey’s current lead vocalist. Hey …. sometimes you just gotta give it a shot!

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Journey has sold 52 million albums in the US, making them the 11th-best selling band. Their worldwide sales have reached over 100 million records globally, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. A 2005 USA Today opinion poll named Journey the fifth-best US rock band in history. In 2017 Journey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are without a doubt a truly great band and, IMO, Steve Perry’s voice is one of the best in the business.

Thanks for hanging with me at Jim’s place.

See you on the flip side. 😎

Now let’s listen to “Who’s Crying Now” and Steve Perry’s phenomenal voice. From 1981s album Escape, this is Journey.

Lyrics

It’s been a mystery
But still they try to see
Why something good can hurt so bad
Caught on a one-way street
The taste of bittersweet
Love will survive somehow, somewhere

One love, feeds the fire
One heart, burns desire
I wonder who’s crying now?
Two hearts, born to run
Who’ll be the lonely one?
I wonder who’s crying now?

So many stormy nights
So many wrong or rights
Neither could change their headstrong ways
And in a lover’s rage
They turn another page
The fighting is worth the love they save

One love, feeds the fire
One heart, burns desire
I wonder who’s crying now?
Two hearts, born to run
Who’ll be the lonely one?
I wonder who’s crying now?

Only so many tears you can cry
‘Til the heartache is over
And now you can say your love
Will never die

Whoa ooh ooh, ooh ooh

One love, feeds the fire
One heart, burns desire
I wonder who’s crying now?
Two hearts, born to run
Who’ll be the lonely one?
I wonder who’s crying now?

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Jonathan Cain/Stephen Ray Perry
Who’s Crying Now lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group

Lead Vocal, Composer, Lyricist: Steve Perry
Background Vocal, Keyboards, Composer, Lyricist: Jonathan Cain
Background Vocal, Bass: Ross Valory
Background Vocal, Guitar: Neal Schon
Drums: Steve Smith
Producer(s): Mike Stone, Kevin Elson
Engineer: Wally Buck

Inferno

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NARŠ2017-present.

31 thoughts on “Embrace The Journey”

  2. Pingback: Heaven (1984) – Bryan Adams | Observation Blogger

    1. Steve Perry must have certainly been angsting over that hip replacement to make his bandmates wait 17 months before they finally lost their patience. I’d say they were more than patient with him.

      Thanks for your comments and enjoy the concert.

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  5. What a lovely song, Nancy!
    One love, feeds the fire
    One heart, burns desire…
    Your back story is detailed and superb. It shows your depth.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. I never really got into Journey, to me they were just another American rock band among so many. But you can’t argue with those sales figures – not that I ever contributed to them 🤣

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    1. I can understand that, Clive.

      In case you’re curious, the top 5 in that 2005 Good Morning America poll looked like this:
      1. Pearl Jam
      2. Aerosmith
      3. Van Halen
      4. The Eagles
      5. Journey

      I don’t put much stock in polls but I can’t agree with this top 5. Where’s Springsteen or the Beach Boys or even KISS? They’re at numbers 15, 17 and 13, respectively …. that’s where! 😳

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      1. That rather proves my point, I think. I’d only rate the Eagles out of that lot, possibly Aerosmith if I were pushed. I agree on Bruce and the Beach Boys too, but definitely not KISS! Maybe the Monkees?

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        1. Ditto Eagles, Aerosmith and KISS who surprisingly beat out both Springsteen and the Beach Boys. The Monkees weren’t even in the top 20.

          I mistakenly wrote Good Morning America in my comment (go figure!) It’s USA Today but that doesn’t change the lineup. I’d like to see the entire list, which I can’t find.

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    1. Sure, it’s only their greatest arena anthem!

      Can you believe the lyrics to Don’t Stop Believin’ didn’t have even one of the prompt words? Yep, that’s why I couldn’t go with it and I was in a Journey kind of mood. (I’m trying to feature American groups for these challenges whenever I can).

      It ain’t all about the bass; it’s the MONEY. Cha-ching! 🤑

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      1. I did write an article about ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ in which I expressed how much I loved the verses, but loathed the chorus. I didn’t know about it being their greatest arena anthem. Mind you I know next to nothing about the group’s discography.
        You must have an encyclopedic memory of music if you can present songs based on some key words. Sounds like a fun project.

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