Jul 29

Jul 29 Don't Stop Believin', by Journey

When Chemo gets brutal, belief in its efficacy is everything!

So, this song came at day five of my friend’s chemo treatment, when its brutal side effects were really starting to take their toll (see my About page for more info). The simple message from this song was therefore to keep on believing that it would all be worth it, that the treatment would work, and that health and happiness would return. It’s a rock classic, but could easily have made it into the ‘Lift My Spirits’ category too. I’ve linked to the original version by Journey, but there is also an incredible piano version by Jarrod Radnich, which I’ve provided a YouTube link for as well. I tried to learn to play this (very badly!!) and it actually drew blood there are so many piano slides (glissandos) in the Radnich version!

How do they do that?

What is it that makes this such a feel good song? As always it’s hard to pinpoint one particular thing, but I’m going to focus on the repeating 8 bar chord sequence, which drives the music both rhythmically and harmonically. We hear it as piano solo at the beginning of the piece, but it is more than simply an introduction; it is the structure, the continuity, the essence of hope within the music itself. The opening chords are played as bare fifths, which means that the middle note of the chord is missing. Why is that significant? Well, it’s the third note of the scale (middle note of a basic chord) that tells you if it’s a major chord (sounds happy) or a minor chord (sounds sad). So we have this ambiguity of not being sure if we’re in a happy or sad mood, combined with lyrics that initially talk of loneliness but with the anticipation of a journey (the midnight train). In the final beat of the first bar we get our middle note of the chord - briefly - forming a major chord before returning to ambiguous bare fifths. Then again a major chord - briefly - in the final beat of the second bar, ambiguous in the 3rd bar, positively major throughout the fourth. Bar 5 and 6 are a repeat of 1 and 2, then we go full on minor key in bar 7 and full on major key in bar 8. The effect of all of this is to tell a story of perhaps not being in a completely happy place just now, but with glimpses of how it may be so and having continuous hope. As the listener, that hope feels justified as we hit the chorus, fully in a major key, and the title lyrics, “don’t stop believin’”. Works for me every time!

Hope you enjoy it or feel inspired to listen to something new today.

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