信念永在 (1981)

"Don't Stop Believin'" is a song by American rock band Journey. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the group's seventh studio album, Escape (1981), released through Columbia Records. "Don't Stop Believin'" shares writing credits between the band's vocalist Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon, and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. It is a mid-tempo rock anthem and power ballad.

At the dawn of the 1980s, Journey was becoming one of the most successful rock acts of the era. The band added Cain on keyboards before entering the studio to record Escape. Cain had kept the song title from encouragement his father gave him as a struggling musician living on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. The song is unusual in that its chorus does not arrive until the song is nearly finished; its structure consists of two pre-choruses and three verses before it arrives at its central hook. The band recorded the song in one take at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.

A top-10 hit in North America in 1981, "Don't Stop Believin'" became the group's signature song and has continued to endure over the years. Decades after its release, in 2012 it became the best-selling digital track from the twentieth century, with over seven million downloads by 2017. Critics acclaimed its anthemic qualities; music magazine Rolling Stone ranked it among its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2022, the single was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Cover versions have included the cast of the American comedy-drama Glee in 2009, which outperformed the original internationally.

Background

By 1980, the Californian rock outfit Journey was on its way to becoming one of the most successful acts of the era. After discarding its roots in progressive rock, the group hired vocalist Steve Perry and smoothed out its sound. The band had notched several domestic top-25 hits with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" and "Any Way You Want It". Original keyboardist Gregg Rolie, with the group since its progressive days, amicably departed in 1980, leaving the foursome without one of its signature elements. Rolie recommended the band invite Jonathan Cain of British rockers the Babys to be his permanent replacement, who accepted and joined the band as it prepared to record its next album, Escape (1981).

To prepare for writing its next effort, Journey rented a warehouse in Oakland, California, where they worked daily to complete arrangements and develop new ideas. Cain came up with the song's title and hook; it stemmed from something his father had frequently told him back when he had been a struggling musician living on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. At that time Cain was unsuccessful and ready to give up, and each time he would call home in despair, his father would tell him, "Don't stop believing or you're done, dude." Guitarist Neal Schon invented the song's distinctive bass line, and Perry suggested Cain write a driving synthesizer piece to complement that bass line. Drummer Steve Smith added a standard rock backbeat behind that, and instructed Schon to play 16th note arpeggios over the rest of the instrumentation, as though he were a "train" guiding the song in its direction.

This motif lyrically inspired the song as well. Cain and Perry thought the imagery brought to mind a story of two people leaving behind past lives in their hometown and boarding a midnight train to anywhere else. Perry liked the concept that the characters be a girl from a small town and a boy raised in the city. "We felt that every young person has a dream and sometimes where you grow up isn't where you're destined to be," Cain said. They copied the day's progress to cassette tapes and took them home for further review. Smith felt a regular rock beat wouldn't suit the entire song, so he supplemented it with melodic, syncopated additions on the tom-toms and ride cymbal bell, increasing its complexity as the song builds. The song was built backwards, as the title hook was the only lyric the band had developed initially.

The band recorded the song at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Perry had a cold on the day of recording and was unable to make it, so its instrumental was tracked without him. The musicians found the song's tempo and varying sections difficult to record, especially Cain and bassist Ross Valory's intro. Co-producer Mike Stone turned on a verbal click track for the group to practise to; after about twenty minutes, they turned the machine off and recorded the song live in one take. Perry rejoined Journey the next week and also completed his vocals mainly in one take. Altogether, the song and its corresponding album came together under its budget and in about two months. Cain was grateful that Perry gave his ideas equal weight given his status as a new member of the band.