Journey

New Journey material came to me in my sleep.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - 10:27 am - AmazingAdrian

I swear, something must be wrong with me. They did it again! Last time I had a dream in which Journey played a brand new song it was when Steve Augeri had been brought on board, and close to when Arrival came out. That song was a combination ballad/rocker, ironically about accepting change. (It played like a rocker but sang like a ballad. It was really neat.)

But let me tell you about my dream, because it was very untypical. It started when a local school somewhere was hosting a concert series, probably as a fund raiser of some kind, and Journey was one of the bands scheduled to play. I can't remember who the other bands were, although I do remember an announcement saying that The Scorpions had been added to the lineup. Anyways...So we were all in the school's auditorium listening to the bands as they came out on the stage. Huge speakers had been suspended from the ceiling to help the school have that arena sound. Well, after the first band played, some of the systems began to have technical problems, which gave everyone in the audience a time to go out into the hall and buy some food from some of the vendors that had been allowed to set up there. When it became time for Journey to play, there were more delays, and I remember Ross Valory running out with Deen Castronovo to plug back in some of the speakers, Ross actually climbing up to the ceiling to do it! Then, after another brief delay, the opening to Separate Ways started playing, but get this, it was Ross Valory who sang it! lol. After the song, he explained that Arnel was running a little late, as he was in the process of "trying to work something out with Neal", and they might play something new and wanted to record it. He was very gracious and had a small question and answer session with the audience, and asked him if he was still working on his solo album, to which he responded, "I've laid down a few tracks, but I'm still working on it."

Then Neal gave a signal from backstage and the guys all took their places. The music started and Arnel emerged from backstage, waving to the crowd. He threw back a beer and a handful of peanuts before he started singing a song he had just recently written with the band that they were vetting at the concert! It was called "Walking The Thin Red Line" and had guitar-work similar to "Never Walk Away" only the song was a little slower and overall more elegant, like their work on Trial By Fire. Some nice piano in it too from JC. The song was about a young couple facing the challenge of raising children during difficult times. I got through the first verse and part of the chorus before I woke up. I can even remember some of the lyrics!

"Walking The Thin Red Line"

"They just had a daughter together
(something something something) forever
(something something) all of life's whims
and she's forever his...."

"Walking The Thin Red Line...
caught up in hardship and sacrifice (?)..."

That's...all that I can remember. But holy crap, why is it my brain can come up with new songs for other bands, when I can't think of new songs at all when I am awake? Trust me, if I could I would be a musician by now. Judging by what I know of Arnel's writing style from The Zoo, the song seemed very typical of him, which was amazing.

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