(AUTHOR’S NOTE: This post is all in fun and by no means meant to undermine the sanctity or reverence of America’s national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”)
2020 has been a rough year for everyone in the US. Well, for the entire world actually, but especially for America. Americans have found ourselves at an inflection point socially and politically. We’ve had to face some hard truths about our individual selves, ourselves as Americans, and our country as a whole. All while trying to navigate a deadly pandemic that is worse within our borders than anywhere else in the world. Quite a tough, exhausting place to be in, and we are experiencing extreme emotional fatigue because of it.
A new year is coming in just a few weeks, though. New chances, resolution commitments, and opportunities are on America’s horizon. Though the sun is not quite peaking over the skyline just yet, the sky is starting to slightly glow. That glow has begun to give us hope. A sincere, almost desperate hope convincing ourselves everything is going to be ok, because it HAS TO be ok, and that things will be good again in the very near future (it’s too crushing to think about the alternative). Hope, not just for a new calendar year so that we can tear off the page of 2020 tossing it behind us, but for a new chapter in our national history, and our individual lives.
That bright and healthy future is not guaranteed, though. Nothing in life ever is, but we can choose to face towards that new and brighter future. It’s just within our reach, if we believe in it, and ourselves, hard enough.
So for that reason, I’m going to make a bold proposal of a new national anthem for 2021, America; Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”.
Hear me out. I suggest this, not only because of the songs’ message, but because of who Journey is. A quintessential American bar band that made it to the big-time, pioneering the “power ballad” along the way, and who kept going after years of infighting. Even when their star singer, Steve Perry, with one of the most unique, powerful and valued singing voices in history, left the group, the rest of the band still made a path for themselves.
(Side note: I’d like to pause and ask that we all marvel at what has to be the best mullet in rock and roll history, and very well may be the best mullet of all time. When Perry cut it off, it was akin to Trebek shaving off his iconic mustache.)
Though top 10, but ranked on the charts far behind their other string of hits at the time, the song they are most known for is “Don’t Stop Believin’”. It only reached number 9 on the Billboard charts when it was released in 1981. However, it’s a song that has become part of the American lexicon of music and pop culture, far more than their other singles, and can’t be avoided. You’ve heard it whether you like the band or not, and you immediately recognize it within the first notes of the opening piano keystrokes, whether you like the song or not. It’s a perfectly crafted song that is founded in rock, has the power of a stadium arm-waving-sing-along anthem, but doesn’t stay in its lane as to the demographics that hear it, feel it, and love it.
Aside from the fact it can be heard on radio U.S.A. any time of day every day, and is played at sporting events nationwide, the song has some unique accolades in its history. It is in the top 10 most popular karaoke songs of all time, and is the highest selling digital single of the 20th century with over 7 million downloads, not to mention the boost it gave the album it’s featured on, Escape, achieving a rare 12x platinum status worldwide. It’s also the unofficial “official” Detroit Red Wings win song, and it was showcased in a key scene of the insanely popular “The Sopranos” series driving up downloads and physical sales even more.
“Don’t Stop Believin’” may very well be the most inspirational popular song ever, and
there is a reason for that consideration. All of the lyrics are part of the American conversation DNA, just as much as death, property, and taxes are. It poetically describes American life, its possibilities for something better, the daily struggle to find the door of opportunity, and the courage to knock on it in hopes it will open and lead to something good and new. That is something we can all relate to.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
“Just a small town girl
Living 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”
You may not be from a small town, or “south Detroit” (which actually doesn’t exist), but everyone can relate to the idea of seeking one’s own path, or a change in life, shedding the skin of the past, and taking the metaphorical “midnight train goin’ anywhere” in the hopes of something new, or the very personal mission of finding yourself and creating your own place in this world.
Next:
“A singer in a smoky room
The 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
Living just to find emotion
Hiding somewhere in the night”
This describes the love and acceptance we all seek, or even just settling for a passing connection with another human being, no matter how brief. Because of the 2020 pandemic with social distancing becoming our necessary lifestyle, this particular lyric means something intrinsically more today. Collectively, we have realized we need those physical connections that we previously took for granted. As humans we are hardwired to have them. Connecting and syncing is part of our condition, even if it’s just for a brief shared smile, an entire night, or a whole lifetime together, in order to validate our humanity, and keep our loneliness at bay.
Then:
“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”
Here, the lyrics talk about that American opportunity I spoke of, forged partly by hard work, plus relying on the hope of chance. Also, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose when we try. Life goes on, “and on, and on and on”, no matter the gambles’ outcome. Tomorrow is a new day with more possibilities that are unique to those 24 hours just like each roll of the dice on the table is unique. Take the chances of those opportunities if you recognize them when the game goes your way! You may not roll that combination of lucky numbers again.
The final verse, as the song crescendos, “Don’t stop believin’! Hold onto that feeling!” Perry pleas for us to hold onto hope and the belief in a better tomorrow, a better life, a better self!
Then, just like our real national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”, “Don’t Stop Believin’” ends on an inspirational high note that reaches for the heavens, which very few of us mortals can hit. (No denials, please. You know you’ve tried it when alone in the car. We all have. And I’ll bet many a glass has shattered during karaoke nights across America because of this song.)
Fellow patriots, let’s honor the 40th anniversary of this American mega-anthem collectively as a nation, believe in a new, better life together, and move beyond 2020. The next time you sing this song at karaoke night post-pandemic, hear it on the radio while running errands, or stream it on the “yacht rock” channel of your Spotify playlist, I propose you place your hand over your heart, let Journey take you on that rhythmic anthemic patriotic ride, and belt out the ending chorus at the top of your lungs elevating your voice, emotion, and soul to the stratosphere as you ponder the very possible future of the American experience:
“Don’t stop believin,
Hold onto that feelin’,
Street lights, people…woah-oh-ohhhhh!”
Allow those words, their meaning, and music notes to fill your heart with American pride, honor, and hope, while remembering, no matter how tough things seem, or how thick life gets, “don’t stop believin’” that a better day is coming soon.
