anonymous August 19th, 2007 12:30AM  

Everyone goes through rough times. nobody has a smile on their face 24/7. people get depressed. and sometimes we feel like there's no way out, or we're doomed for life. while being depressed, maybe sometimes people are afraid of being hopeful again, only to be let down. They may think its doing more harm than good to dream of better days. but this song is telling us to 'hold on to that feeling' because life is never short of opportunities to find happiness. There's other people surrounding us, and love can be found in the most unexpected places. There's so many places that happiness can be found, too. They can range from a town on the countryside, the big city, in a deserted area, or even around the corner of where our home is. don't stop believing because this world contains a lot of sadness, but also an infinite amount of opportunities, happiness, and love.

Surfer_Coyote October 12th, 2007 12:45AM  

It's about people down on their luck, but the singer is crying out to them to "Don't stop believing", things will get better if you want them to. There is definitely references to addicts, hookers, and gamblers.

anonymous August 26th, 2008 07:57PM  

I think this song is telling a story of different people and what there gonna do with there lives. This song is great song, its one of those songs that pops up somewhere and everyone starts singing! :)

anonymous January 8th, 2009 04:59AM  

I personally find this song to be EXTREMELY uplifting and inspirational. I believe that the message behind the song is exectly what the title says, and something that we all have to remember: No matter how bad things may get, DON'T. STOP. BELIEVING.

anonymous June 5th, 2009 11:45AM  

I’m pretty sure this is about prostitution. If you think about the lyrics they say “the smell of wine and cheap perfume. For a smile they can share the night it goes on and on and on and on”. Well you would assume that prostitutes don’t wear expensive perfume. Also if you were to walk up to a hooker and smile then that’s basically all you need to have her come with you. Also they say it goes on and on because once a hooker becomes a hooker then they usually stay that way. Also they mention strangers waiting up and down the road. That means that the hookers are standing along the road and you don’t know them.

anonymous June 8th, 2009 06:46PM  

Steve Perry's inspiration for "Don't Stop Believing" came from the observations he made during Journey's Escape tour, from his hotel balcony in downtown Detroit at 2:00 in the morning. Too hyped up after a show to sleep, Steve looked down and watched the activity below. The city was quiet, yet people were out in the streets; like a man on the corner, a group of young men throwing something back and forth, echoes of conversation piercing the still post-midnight air. Steve later told his band mate Jonathan Cain that he saw those in the streets at that hour as "Streetlight People"

anonymous September 3rd, 2009 09:23PM  

This song is about how people go through their lives in good and in bad- and how even people who only work in the streetlight- and among prostitutes and gamblers- can still find love and hope- so they shouldn't stop believing

anonymous September 19th, 2009 06:32PM  

Two persons run away from home to search for happiness in life - a smalltown girl and a city boy. The city boy eventually buys a prostitute - the small town girl. We can draw the conclusion that they have both miserably failed in their quest (but may have found faked love) It is an awful truth, beautifully accompanied to the electric riff at "Workin' hard to get my fill..." They (and all street people) are in the end encouraged to don't stop believing, and hold on to that feeling, though.

anonymous October 7th, 2009 12:37AM  

This is a powerful song that is wonderfully vague. It is the tapestry of life, good or bad. Open your eyes to what’s out there but don’t let what’s out there hold you back.

The first two verses are about a boy & girl (it can happen to anyone) who ramble “anywhere” searching for something missing in their life. The beauty of the first verse is either or both people could also be trying to escaping from something. The train suggests both sought to move fast and far. It’s midnight and so you’d think that if they had a car, it would be easier to drive. No, the train was by choice or lack of alternatives. What goes through each one’s head on that silver bullet. Are they staring blindly out a window, are they sad, hopeful, numb?

The singer in a smoke’ room that is dominated more by wine and cheap perfume suggests a club of sorts. (This is not a brothel: There is a singer, wine and the flow of lyrics does not take us there … yet). This is a club where “they” (boy & girl) can spend a night (time, not necessarily more) and get to (or from) what they sought when entering the midnight train. It’s easy to picture romance, but neither love nor sex are mentioned. Perhaps it is simply to seek companionship or escape. Nothing happens unless one (or both) pays (“for a smile”) by reaching out to a stranger in a strange land. This is no small cost: We can assume neither is local to the club and neither know if the other one is a local to the area. With a singer on stage, neither knows if the other is here for the show, with someone else (friends or lover) or even interested in “sharing the night”. There is a fusion of horizons between lyrics and listener where the listener interprets. Best of all, we don’t even know if boy and girl “share the night”! The chemistry is there but is that enough? We've all gone home from the midnight hour regretting not having paid the smile. Pan the camera out and these are just two of many (It goes on and on and on …)

The third verse expands on the theme of anyone, anywhere, and in the dark of night. This is to be a world of the ones that are restless and cannot or will not sleep. Like the boy and girl, there are numerous strangers along the avenue of life, waiting to run to or run from “it”. Their long, searching shadows reinforce anonymity. These strangers are abundant, seeking, yet void of detection. Is this a gentle hand saying that it’s okay to be behind one of these shadows (you are one of many) or a call to join their ranks (leave the small town or city)? Perhaps it’s an urging to seek out the shadows, for these night dwellers (living in the hour of the streetlight) also seek emotion (like the boy and girl). Again we can imagine the scale of emotions that rule the midnight hour ranging from romance to rage to depression and so on.

The singer (Perry?) steps into the fourth verse and, yes, even he seeks a thrill. The thrill is the midnight train that takes the streetlight person to (or from) his/her emotional destination. Do not be lulled into thinking that the thrill is positive. The players in this game will do anything (hop on any train) to get the emotion. The reference to rolling dice slices open the underbelly of this world and shatters illusions of a universe comprised of country girl meeting city boy. This is a subterranean layer that lurks below the verse-three avenue. It smacks of uncontrolled servitude to gambling, drugs, prostitution or any other extreme. This is life and we are all in the game. The outcome may be black or white but there are other sad variations. There are no happy endings and no clean finish. Pan the camera out again and there is a history to this film that was here before us and will be here long after we are gone (it goes on and on and on …).

As we shrink in horror (or weep or rebel or vent or delight, etc.) at the realization of this sad story that is life, the song commands us to not forget the boy and girl. Ride the train and seek the emotion. Take a chance and live with no regrets.


Those are my two thoughts. It’s midnight & I’m late for a train,
Independent Thinker

anonymous October 8th, 2009 06:45AM  

First, I don't think it's about hookers. :)

It's about living life and finding true love in the city. Perry's talking about our simple city life: we work hard, we take a chance on finding love, we bear the disappointments - and we don't stop believing.

How many of us have gone out night after night, jaded by a singer in a smokey room, enduring the wine and cheap perfume, rolling those dice, searching, hoping for that true one, only to end up alone under the streetlights thinking that some win and some lose, and perhaps you're the one born to sing the blues?

And The City? It doesn't care. It has no 'happily ever after.' for us. It's a movie that'll never end; it just goes on and on.

Walking alone under those street lights, our shadows searching in the night, it does feel like we're living just to find emotion. There really is no other reason to go on. It's love - or nothing. And in the city, we barely believe we can find it. We can barely hold on to that feeling.

Perry offers us a small comfort:
Don't stop believing.
Hold on to that feeling.

So, streetlight people, you lonely city-boys and small-town girls: you would have never met if not for the city, if not for that urge to take that midnight train to anywhere. Sure it seems like you met just looking for a thrill, giving those easy smiles, perhaps sharing the night, but it's okay - you were just searching for that feeling. Don't fret. Just remember,

Don't stop believing
Hold on to that feeling
Streetlight people, hold on...

by docmeson

anonymous October 22nd, 2009 10:43PM  

Every young person has a dream and sometimes where you grow up isn't where you're destined to be. -Jonathan Cain

anonymous November 15th, 2009 09:35PM  

i really just think its about not giving up on something you want. "some will win some will lose" even if you lose one just keep trying.