Song of the Year

If you’re like me and was lucky enough to grow up in the raging 80’s, then you’re probably all too familiar with one of Journey’s best hits, “Don’t Stop Believin”. This is dedicated to that song and its symbolic significance in my year of 2007.

I’ve been around this song since I was a little girl jamming with my dad while he played his favorite Journey album on his Pioneer turntables. Much of the popular songs from the 60’s up the 80’s are pleasantly nostalgic because of him.

I actually heard it again for the first time this year in one of the locally-loved pubs, The Meridian Room. It happened to be karaoke night and we’ve already sat through a couple of unnoticeable turns. The next guy gets on stage and doesn’t even get to the first verse of “Don’t Stop Believin” before the whole bar burst into whoops and delight. Everyone knew the intro by heart. It was like a religious experience. People were waving their hands in the air, dancing, singing at the top of their lungs to the words and drowning out the karaoke singer. Even the wait staff were dancing and joining in the chorus. I can’t recall the last time I was in a bar where every single person in the room was happy, smiling and enjoying themselves for 5 minutes straight, including myself. Who would have thought the 80’s could still be so much fun?

For some reason, that night and bonding experience left an impression on me. Thereafter, whenever I would hear that song I would be transported back to that happy place where all was right with the world and there was nothing but good feelings all around. Talk about association. “Don’t Stop Believin” became an overnight life motto for me. I’ve applied it to every area of my life this year: my career, my relationships and my self worth. And it has kept me going ever since.

I am just a small-town girl, after all. Living in a lonely world. I’ll take the midnight train to go anywhere.