long live giles li

12-21-07

Don’t Stop Believing (that you can have a Filipino lead singer)

I got a lot of positive response to this entry I did for BPRLive.org three days ago, so in the spirit of laziness, I’m crossposting here.

Please read on.

Hands down, the greatest song of the melodramatic arena rock era that took place in the late 70s/early 80s was “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. I have a hard time believing anybody could disagree with this sentiment. There’s something for everyone: the boy meets girl under less-than-ideal circumstances story, the insightful observations about human nature, the repetition of the word “on.” I think people usually assume its some overly cheesy pop song with no meaning, but there’s poetry in them thar lyrics. Please check the following trio of haikus, taken directly from the song, and devoid of their original context and punctuation:

People living. Just
to find emotion hiding
somewhere in the night.

Just a city boy.
Born and raised in south Detroit.
He took the midnight.

For a smile, they can
share the night. It goes on and
on and on and on.

So perhaps Journey’s connection to Asian artistic forms led them to their most recent band-related decision, which was to bring on an actual Asian to front the band. Arnel Pineda – the lead vocalist for a bar band who covers Journey tunes in the Philippines – is their new lead singer. Holy shit!

Click here to read the rest of this post at BPRLive.org