Don’t Stop Believin’
The song that I selected to analysis to “Don’t Stop Believin’” by the popular band Journey recorded and released in 1981. In my opinion, the main idea for this song is about the common search for love in a world we’re all somewhat lonely. The song discusses how life can make everyone feel lonely and we’re all just looking for love and companionship. The song also mentions the hardships of life and all the things we use to fill that void.
The first verse is about adolescence and the loneliness we experience during it and our will to escape it. “Just a small town girl...Living in a lonely world” and “Just a city boy...Born and raised in South Detroit” both are very different people but they share the same experiences of the world and want to escape it which is discussed in the next line. After both of these lines in the verse the lines “Took the midnight...Goin’ anywhere” are sung this shows that both of these very different people share the same will to escape their lonely lives and leave, even it is just to “anywhere”
The next verse is about the different places and ways that people try to find love or at least something to distract them. “Singer in smoky room...The smell of wine and cheap perfume” is invoking the imagery of a bar a place where people both try to find love and spend their time trying to ignore their problems. “For a smile they can share the night...It goes on and on, and on, and on” this line actually talks about the finding of companionship but to me it still doesn’t mean the finding of love. It really talks about how people are so desperate to not be lonely that they will form a relationship just on the basis of a smile. And the fact that it goes “on and on…” is implying that this is cycle that is continue as we always search of love and companionship.
The third verse is about the people who are searching for love and the deeper meaning to that. “Strangers waiting...Up and down the boulevard” is about how about endlessly search for love just constantly walking about hoping to find a complete stranger to make a connection with. “Their shadows searching...In the night” brings up the imagery of shadows, in the this case meaning people’s hidden selves and secrets. “Streetlight people” contrasts this by discussing light, from this we can probably determine that this means the people that are roaming the streets looking for love can only see the face that people but on in public because the light has illuminated and removed their shadow. “Livin’’ just to find emotion...Hidin’ somewhere in the night” is referring the fact that people are okay with only seeing the fake version of people as long as they get to form some kind of kind of emotional connection.
The fourth verse is about how the trials and tribulations of life affects people and how they try to escape it. “Workin’ hard to get my fill...Everybody wants a thrill” may be about how everybody works hard to get the basic needs of life but still wants something that actually excites them. This line may also be implying how some people will resort to getting cheap thrills, like sex, instead of working for love. “Payin’ anything to roll the dice...Just one more time” as previously mentioned throughout the song people have a lot of struggles in life and rarely find true love to help them. So this line is probably about the great price people would pay in order to get another chance at having a better life. “Some will win...Some will lose” elaborates on this further saying that some people will get a good roll and have a great life, while others will get a bad one. “Oh the movie never ends...It goes on and on, and on, and on” again brings about the metaphor of a cycle that people will continue living out. There will always be people will good lives and people will bad lives.
The chorus takes a different view on all this, by presenting a more optimistic view of life and love. The main line of the chorus is relatively self-explanatory, “Don’t stop believing...Hold on to that feeling” this line is telling people to not give up on the search for love even though it is incredibly hard and rare. The chorus again mentions the symbol of “streetlight people” but in this context it is saying that although we may only form connections with people’s public face it is possible for us to form deeper emotional connections. The main idea or moral of the song is brought to full form in the chorus as although the rest of the song lists all the reasons why the search for love is impossible, the chorus states that it is still important to hold on to love because when you working so hard to find it is what makes it so great.
It is for that reason why this song really appeals to me, because it makes a lot of deep and even dark observations about people, while still giving a positive message. There are a lot of terrible things about life but this song still makes you feel better about it. Not by simply ignoring the problem like a lot of “happy” songs, but by recognizing the problem and still finding something good in it. Overall this song is an excellent observation and analysis of the human condition and love, while still being fun to listen too. 