{"id":612682,"date":"2026-04-29T05:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/612682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T05:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:36:14","slug":"journeys-biggest-hit-in-1981-came-from-a-fathers-heartfelt-pep-talk-with-one-of-the-band-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/612682\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey\u2019s Biggest Hit in 1981 Came From a Father\u2019s Heartfelt Pep Talk With One of the Band Members"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1981, Journey released \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin<\/a>\u2019\u201d. On their Escape album, the inspiring song is written by band members Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, and Neal Schon.<\/p>\n

Their best-selling single, \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d was actually inspired by a conversation Cain had with his father. A newcomer<\/a> to Journey at the time, replacing founding member Gregg Jolie on keys, Cain had the idea for the song by recalling what his father would tell him every time he considered quitting, which was, \u201cDon\u2019t stop believing or you\u2019re done, dude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that every young person has a dream,\u201d Cain says<\/a>. \u201cAnd sometimes where you grow up isn\u2019t where you\u2019re destined to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d says, \u201cSome will win, some will lose \/ Some were born to sing the blues \/ Oh, the movie never ends \/ It goes on and on, and on, and on \u2026 Don\u2019t stop believin\u2019 \/ Hold on to that feelin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everything about \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d is perfect. The line, \u201cBorn and raised in South Detroit,\u201d is actually inaccurate<\/a>, not that Perry cares.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran the phonetics of east, west, and north, but nothing sounded as good or emotionally true to me as South Detroit,\u201d Perry tells Vulture<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s only been in the last few years that I\u2019ve learned that there is no South Detroit. But it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Jonathan Cain Says About Writing \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cain was new to Journey at the time, after years of struggling to make a living in music. While most people would have given up, Cain relied heavily on his father\u2019s encouragement when he wanted to quit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father had coached me,\u201d Cain tells Songfacts<\/a>. \u201cI was in Hollywood, struggling with my career, kind of lost. I was asking him, \u2018Should I come back to Chicago and just give up on this dream?\u2019 And he said, \u2018No, son. Stay the course. We have a vision. It\u2019s gonna happen. Don\u2019t stop believin\u2019.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also Cain\u2019s idea to make \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d a song that was relatable to everyone. Fortunately, it worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first attempt to bring an audience into the band\u2019s world,\u201d Cain says. \u201cWe\u2019re singing for you. We\u2019re singing about your world now. So, it was a departure from what they had been doing before.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mainstay in Journey\u2019s shows since then, Cain says that is his biggest wish come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was always my dream: to get the Journey fans\u00a0into\u00a0a Journey song,\u201d Cain says<\/a>. \u201cIt was the first attempt to bring an audience into the band\u2019s world. We\u2019re singing for\u00a0you. We\u2019re singing about your world now. So, it was a departure from what they had been doing before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Chris Walter\/WireImage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1981, Journey released \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019\u201d. On their Escape album, the inspiring song is written by band…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2617,88,40923,216],"class_list":["post-612682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-journey","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}