From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1978 single by Journey
"
Lights
" is a song recorded by American
rock
band
Journey
and written by
Steve Perry
and
Neal Schon
, released in 1978.
Background and writing
[
edit
]
The song is about Journey's city of origin,
San Francisco
, although it was actually written in and originally intended to be about
Los Angeles
. It was one of Steve Perry's first Journey songs, and was recorded soon after joining the band. In an interview, Perry said, "I had the song written in Los Angeles almost completely except for the bridge and it was written about Los Angeles. It was 'when the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on LA.' I didn't like the way it sounded at the time. And so I just had it sitting back in the corner. Then life changed my plans once again, and I was now facing joining Journey. I love San Francisco, the bay, and the whole thing. 'The bay' fit so nice, 'When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay.' It was one of those early-morning-going-across-the-bridge things, when the sun was coming up and the lights were going down. It was perfect."
[3]
Released as a single in 1978, it was originally only a minor hit, reaching number 68 on the
Billboard
Hot 100
at the time.
[4]
It has, however, become more popular over the years and is now one of Journey's most popular and easily recognizable songs and is often played in Classic Hits/Oldies radio stations. It is frequently played at
San Francisco Giants
baseball games (including versions led by Perry himself at Game 2 of the
2010 World Series
,
[5]
Games 1
[6]
and 2
[7]
of the
2012 World Series
, and Games 4 and 5 of the
2014 World Series
[8]
) and the cross-bay
Oakland Athletics
after-game fireworks starts. The song is now usually played at
Levi's Stadium
when the
NFL
San Francisco 49ers
win a home game. It is sometimes used in
promos
for the
Golden State Warriors
. The song was also played right before the start of game 4 of the
1989 World Series
on ABC.
Journey released a live version of the song in 1993 for the
Time³
box set. This recording reached #30 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
[9]
The song was the last to be played during the
Top 40
era of
KFRC 610
, a legendary San Francisco station, before the flip to a
nostalgia/adult standards
format in 1986.
[10]
KIII
of
Corpus Christi, Texas
used this song during their sign offs in the late 1980s.
Reception
[
edit
]
Cash Box
praised the "searching guitar work" and "excellent lead and backing vocals."
[11]
Record World
said that it "has an easy '50s rock beat and an outstanding lead vocal" and that "the sweet high harmony hook is compelling."
[12]
Personnel
[
edit
]
Certifications
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Strong, Martin Charles (1995).
The Great Rock Discography
. p. 445.
ISBN
9780862415419
.
- ^
"AM Gold: The Best Seventies Soft-Rock Gems"
.
Rolling Stone
. June 11, 2014
. Retrieved
September 15,
2017
.
- ^
"Steve Perry "Off The Record" w/Joe Benson, December 2000"
.
Steveperryfanclub.homestead.com
. Retrieved
2016-10-13
.
- ^
"Lights by Journey Songfacts"
.
Songfacts.com
. Retrieved
2016-10-13
.
- ^
"43,000+ Giants Fans singing Journey's "Lights" with Steve Perry in the audience. Someone on Yahoo..."
McCovey Chronicles. 2010-10-29
. Retrieved
2016-10-13
.
- ^
"SF Giants 8th Inning Sing-A-Long 2012 World Series Game 1"
.
Firstpost
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-01-23
. Retrieved
2016-10-13
.
- ^
"Tigers vs. Giants | 10/25/12 | MLB.com"
.
Sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com
. 2016-01-20
. Retrieved
2016-10-13
.
- ^
Rohan, Tim (2014-10-26).
"With Giants in Series, One Rock Song Goes On and On and On and On"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
2019-04-08
.
- ^
Whitburn, Joel
(1993).
Top Adult Contemporary: 1961?1993
. Record Research. p. 126.
- ^
"Bay Area Radio Museum and Hall of Fame | San Francisco"
.
Sfradiomuseum.com
. 1939-03-14
. Retrieved
2016-10-13
.
- ^
"CashBox Singles Reviews"
(PDF)
.
Cash Box
. August 5, 1978. p. 18
. Retrieved
2022-01-01
.
- ^
"Record World Single Picks"
(PDF)
.
Record World
. August 12, 1978. p. 24
. Retrieved
2023-02-13
.
- ^
"American single certifications ? Journey ? Lights"
.
Recording Industry Association of America
. Retrieved
January 26,
2024
.
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