Song #63: "Lights"--Journey (1978)

This is the story of a song that, when originally released to radio, really didn't fare that well. In fact, it peaked at all of #68 on the Hot 100.

Journey would find its breakout single a year later with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'", and, as the group continued to churn out hit after hit into the 1980's, today's tune found new life, especially on AOR radio stations, and that's how I discovered it, too.

Hearing this song immediately transports me back to the Summer of 1982 and a vacation to see family in North Carolina. I always loved going down there to visit my grandparents and other relatives. I was different. To me, four days with Grannie and Granddaddy Frank shelling peas and snapping beans on the front porch and walking through the garden was fun, and therapeutic. If able to, I would snap my fingers and go back there right now.

Over the past 15-20 years, surprisingly, lots of AC radio stations have played this song rather regularly. It must have "tested" well.  :)

Enjoy Journey's tribute to San Francisco (but was originally meant to salute Los Angeles), and my favorite Journey song.  :)