Top Ten Songs by Journey
10.”Easy to Fall”: From the Trial By Fire album released in 1996, written by Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain, and Neil Schon. This is the final album Perry would record as a member of Journey. After a 10 year break, Journey was back in the studio to record this album. Due to hip problems, and disagreements with the band, Journey would soon find another front man. This is a classic Journey power ballad with the sweeping Journeyesque chorus.
9.”Be Good to Yourself”: From the Raised on Radio album released in 1986, written by Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain, and Neil Schon. This song was a long time in the making; Cain has stated he labored over the lyrics for over 5 months. Finally it came down to the day when the song was to be recorded, still unsure of the final working, Cain, while in the shower, formed the final melody in his head. Bursting into the studio in excitement, his hair still wet. Perry laid down the vocals in under an hour. The song peaked at number 9 on the charts upon its release. This is a classic Journey song, great for driving down the highway.
8.”Don’t Stop Believin'”: From the Escape album released in 1981, written by Steve Perry, Neil Schon, and Jonathan Cain, this song came out of a rehearsal. Perry and Cain pulled the lyrics from their experiences on the Sunset Strip, “streetlight people”. This is a classic Journey song, hitting number 9 on the charts. This song was later used in 2005 as the unofficial theme song for the Chicago White Sox during there run at the World Series.
7.”Too Late”: From the Evolutions album released in 1979, written by Steve Perry and Neil Schon. The Perry penned lyrics are about a hometown friend who is a drug addict, Perry wanted to warn him to leave town before his options ran out. His friend eventually heard the tune and Perry told him what it was all about. This is classic early Perry era Journey.
6.”Faithfully”: From the Frontiers album released in 1983, written by Jonathan Cain while he was on the road touring. It has been stated by Cain that the melody came to him in a dream. The song was meant to represent his life out on tour. This is one of, if not the trademark power ballad by Journey. The song climbed to number 12 on the charts when it was released as a single.
5.”Stone in Love”: from the Escape album released in 1981, written by Steve Perry, Neil Schon, and Jonathan Cain. This song began at a party; Schon was fooling around with his guitar and tape recorder throughout the night. The next day he listened back to it, he heard the beginnings of a song he titled “Stone in Love”. Perry and Cain would later work the lyrics. This song has some classic Journey guitar.
4.”Patiently”: From the Infinity album released in 1978, this was the first song Steve Perry co wrote with Neil Schon after he joined the band. The story is Perry sat down with Schon in a hotel in Denver, Colorado and finished the song in less than an hour. Perry is quoted as saying the song was really about the determination of me wanting to get next to those players (the band Journey). This song still stands up very well almost 18 years later.
3.”After The Fall”: From the Frontiers album released in 1983, this song was co-written by Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain. Though very rarely played at live concerts, this is a typical journey song. Strong vocals and a sweeping Journeyesque chorus. This song can also be heard in the background of a party scene in the Tom Cruise film “Risky Business”. This is a perfect song to listen to while driving down the freeway.
2.”Liberty”: From the Time 3 box set released in 1992, written by Neil Schon, Steve Perry, and Jonathan Cain, this was an unreleased song captured on tape during a rehearsal. Cain made it a habit to run a tape recorder during all rehearsals, even breaks; he would then listen to this tape on his way home at night. He did this “just to make sure we weren’t missing something”. During the pre-production of the Frontiers album, he caught Neal Schon on a break playing this tune. Combining Perry and Cain contributed vocals live in the studio and this song was born. Unfortunately, the results never managed to find there way on a album. This is could have been a classic Journey song.
1.”Only the Young”: From the Greatest Hits album released in 1988 (originally appeared on the Vision Quest movie soundtrack in 1985), this song was first recorded as part of the Frontiers album but pulled off at the last minute. Upon release on the Vision Quest soundtrack, the song climbed the charts to number 9 in 1985. This song has a very special story attached to it. In 1985, the members of Journey went to visit a terminally ill child, Kenny Sykaluk, 16, who was losing his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis. One of his wishes was to meet the band Journey. The band brought Kenny many items including a walkman with a tape of the next journey single soon to be released “Only the Young”, with its chorus line “Only the young can say they’re free to fly away.” Kenny died the next day with the walkman still in his hand and the tape still inside. Steve Perry later recalled meeting Kenny and playing that song for him, “As soon as I stepped out of that hospital room, I lost it” said Perry. “Nurses had to take me to a room by myself”. The song was later used as the concert opener throughout the “Raised on Radio Tour” .
There you have it, the top ten songs from Journey.
