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‘When The Sopranos used it, my phone blew up’: Journey on Don’t Stop Believin’
‘It’s a song that gives you permission to dream – and there are still a lot of smalltown girls and city boys wanting to get on a midnight train to anywhere’
I wrote it in a lyric book and, five years later, when I joined Journey and our singer Steve Perry was looking for new songs for the Escape album, I heard the melody in my head with my dad’s advice on it. Photograph: Richard E Aaron/RedfernsI came up with the guitar part – you know, the “diddly-diddly-diddly” – before Jon and Steve wrote the lyrics, so it painted a picture to them of a “midnight train” going down the tracks and speeding up. The cover artwork of Don’t Stop Believin’ Photograph: Records/AlamyWhen I first heard the finished song I knew it was special, but it took years to get to the place where it’s a worldwide anthem.
Or read this on The Guardian
