The Sound of Musicals

Earlier this year I expressed my exuberance for the new Fox series, Glee. It's hard to figure out what I like most -- drama kids singing Journey, or Jane Lynch doing what she does best -- but if any of you missed the season pilot and premiere last spring, you can head on over to Portland Center Stage tonight for a Glee Party and screening on the mainstage. The Fox marketing machine has even provided PCS with a pizza allowance, so come join in the fun. Tonight (Monday) at 6PM.

I have a "friend" who has always mis-sung a certain lyric in Don't Stop Believin'. Unacceptable, since the song has recently become the most downloaded iTune of all time. So in case you are watching and planning to sing a long with the show's finale tonight, study up:

Just a small town girl
Livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train
Goin' anywhere

Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train
Goin' anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching
In the night
Streetlights, people
Livin' just to find emotion
Hidin', somewhere in the night

Workin' hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice
Just one more time

Some will win
Some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

(Chorus)

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to the feelin'
Streetlights, people
Don't stop believin'
Hold on
Streetlights, people

Now apparently Detroit doesn't really have a south side (that would be Windsor, Ontario) and that irked more than a few Michiganites? Michiganians? Michiganders, but Steve Perry usually changed the lyric anyway to whatever city the band was playing in that night. The amazing rock anthem-slash-pop-ballad wasn't always a #1 hit, though. Among the first writing collaborations between singer Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain, it was released on Journey's 1981 album "Escape," which in turn was named for an Atari video game of the same name. Don't Stop Believin' peaked at No. 9, while Who's Crying Now and Open Arms both rose higher on the charts that year. But DSB has had a much longer afterlife, resurging several times in the '90s and 00's including (most recently before Glee) as the centerpiece to the final scene from The Sopranos.

So let's just sing it correctly, shall we?