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Bay Area Classic Rock Act’s Biggest Song Is Actually About Christian Faith
East Bay Times ^ | July 10, 2026 | Jim Harrington

Posted on 07/10/2026 12:13:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway

"Only God can do that" Cain says of origin of hit song

There’s a deeper meaning to “Don’t Stop Believin’” — one that might not be widely evident to the some of the fans who hear the Journey anthem played at sporting events and on classic rock radio.

The song, which was released on Journey’s seventh studio album “Escape” in 1981, is actually a song based on Christian faith and dealing directly with the Holy Spirit, says the song’s co-author Jonathan Cain.

Cain says that, if one really thinks about it, the song is actually about the Holy Spirit.

“We don’t stop believing,” Cain said in an interview with christianpost.com. “We never do.”

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Cain — who cowrote the “Don’t Stop Believin’” with fellow Journey members Neal Schon and Steve Perry (who is no longer in the band) — says that connection to Christian faith can be heard in one of the song’s best-known lyrics.

“And when we say ‘hold on to that feeling,’ that might just be the Holy Spirit,” he says.

Neither Schon nor Perry have commented on the matter.

Cain, who has embarked on a solo career in Christian music and plans to leave Journey after the Bay Area band’s current farewell tour, says that the song was originally inspired by an encouraging talk that he had with his father that addressed God’s “vision” for the songwriter.

(Excerpt) Read more at eastbaytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment; Religion
KEYWORDS: 80s; christian; dontstopbelievin; journey; music; pop

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1 posted on 07/10/2026 12:13:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

For years I always thought the song was about whatever the listener wanted it to be about. Like how a lot of songs were written.


2 posted on 07/10/2026 12:16:04 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: nickcarraway

I thought it was about street light people.


3 posted on 07/10/2026 12:18:13 PM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: nickcarraway

I learned something from your post, as usual.

Similar to the bad reputation for “Crystal Blue Persuasion” as being a drug song. “Despite the pervasive counter-culture rumors and its later ironic use in Breaking Bad, the song “Crystal Blue Persuasion” by Tommy James and the Shondells is not about drugs at all.”

“Instead, the song’s origin is deeply spiritual. Frontman Tommy James has stated that the lyrics and imagery were inspired by his reading of the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation in the Bible. He was specifically fascinated by the concept of the “blue Shekhinah light,” which represents the presence of God.”
——From Wikipedia.


4 posted on 07/10/2026 12:18:55 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: nickcarraway

The song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3idGV-7kSQ


5 posted on 07/10/2026 12:22:16 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: nickcarraway

A nice dad story.

“My dog got hit by a car, and I was in Hollywood, and I had to pay the vet bill. And luckily they saved her life,” Cain reportedly told HuffPost at Build Series. “I had called (my dad) for some money, for another loan. And I hated calling my dad for a loan.

“I said, ‘Dad, should I just give up on this thing and come home? It seems like I might be pushing it back to Chicago.’ ‘No, no, don’t come home. Stick to your guns. Don’t stop believin’. I went, ‘OK.’ Everything he would say to me, somehow I would just doodle in my little notebook that I wrote songs in. That’s basically what happened. He had said to me, ‘Don’t stop believin’,’ and I took it to heart. He sent me the money, and great things started to happen.”

The song turned out to be one of the most famous in rock ‘n’ roll history.”


6 posted on 07/10/2026 12:23:47 PM PDT by ansel12
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To: crusty old prospector

I thought it was about Windsor, Ontario.


7 posted on 07/10/2026 12:24:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t think that’s allowed in the Bay area.


8 posted on 07/10/2026 12:35:28 PM PDT by sphinx
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To: frank ballenger

Interesting.

There goes my Cherenkov radiation theory.


9 posted on 07/10/2026 12:39:09 PM PDT by posterchild
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To: nickcarraway

If I ever hear that song again I might gouge my eyes out. Isn’t he married to that hideous Paula White?


10 posted on 07/10/2026 12:44:22 PM PDT by Hyman Roth
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To: frank ballenger

YW


11 posted on 07/10/2026 12:45:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Hyman Roth

She stopped believing.


12 posted on 07/10/2026 1:11:41 PM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: nickcarraway

Richard Goodall did really well with this song.


13 posted on 07/10/2026 1:14:27 PM PDT by Engraved-on-His-hands (If someone says that there are no absolutes, ask them if they are absolutely sure.)
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To: nickcarraway

From Wikipedia:

“Cain is a survivor of the Our Lady of the Angels School fire of 1958 in Chicago, which took the lives of 92 students and three nuns.”


14 posted on 07/10/2026 1:42:11 PM PDT by IncPen ("Inside of every progressive is a Totalitarian screaming to get out" ~ David Horowitz)
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To: nickcarraway

I detest that song with the white-hot power of a thousand suns.


15 posted on 07/10/2026 2:12:50 PM PDT by sauropod (Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you. John MacArthur Ne supra crepidam)
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To: nickcarraway

Well this person from Boston says the Holy Spirit is MORE than a Feeling.


16 posted on 07/10/2026 2:56:38 PM PDT by left that other site ( For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us Is.33:22)
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To: nickcarraway

The song that was playing when Tony Soprano got whacked.


17 posted on 07/10/2026 3:01:10 PM PDT by right way right (“May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope.)
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To: frank ballenger
Tommy’s boss was a gangster He wrote a book about it.

Me , the mob and the music.

18 posted on 07/10/2026 3:24:11 PM PDT by OldHarbor
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To: OldHarbor

News to me. The book Testimony by Robbie Robertson (of the Band) details his loyalty to his Cosa Nostra gangster Uncles Morrie and Natie Klegerman as he went to sit in the front rows of the public seating at the trial, to show them he cared and didn’t want them to feel all alone. They were siblings of his father Alexander, a gambler who died before Robbie was born. Robbie died August 9, 2023 at the age of 80.
$50 million net worth partly from song royalties and from Martin Scorsese film scores and music supervision. In posthumous book Insomnia about him and the director.


19 posted on 07/10/2026 7:53:56 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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