journey songs when the lights

• Artists add

43 Comments

Lyrics submitted by WhT LytEniN

Lights Lyrics as written by Neal Joseph Schon Stephen Ray Perry

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

• Highest Rated
• Most Recent
• Oldest First

i always associated it with Green BAY, seeing as how it says city by the BAY duhh -Kevin

• 1 Reply Log in to reply

yes! thank you fellow wisconsin person of awesomeness!<br /> <br /> lol, but seriously, thanks to you i will now and forever be reminded of the great state of wisconsin.

Journey's best.

go ahead. argue.

and, yes, it is about San Fran, but I'd like to think it's about my home town, sea-town.

and computwiz - Journey is not a singer. journey is a band. Steve Perry is a singer. for a band. called journey. shoots

• No Replies Log in to reply

I used to listen to this song every mourning on the ride to my daycare. And to me it's about Seattle. Thats my city, but now it had a greater meaning when I was all the way out in butt fucking Iraq fight a war. I come back in August 2003. Hey friends does that give a good enough instight for a great song.

This is a great song...one of my favorites. Joyrney is a good band. And with regards to that Los Angeles comment...I, too, must laugh. Everybody knows that San Francisco is the city by the bay.

@zacster He said it's definitely about LA but had to change the name when he got called to join the band. He wrote this song before he joined Journey<br /> <br /> hollywoodreporter.com/news/journeys-steve-perry-joins-eels-711540

actually, compuwiz is kinda right...Steve Perry originally wrote this song about LA, then had to change it when he joined Journey to make it about San Fran cuz that's where the rest of Journey was from...i got your back compuwiz!!

hell yeah CT man. I have great memories of hearing this song on the radio while driving up I-91 throught hartford. Not a city by the bay in any means, but its still a good feeling.

YES THIS SONG IS ABOUT SAN FRANSICO, NOT LOS ANGELES! A really great memory I have of this song is when I was a kid me and my family flew to San Fransico. It was at like 2:00 in the morning when the plane was about the hit the runway, and they played this song during the landing process. Since the airport is right in the bay, MAN the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge lit up with this song playing was so beatuiful, and at the same time so emontional. Passengers were crying, it definatley is something I will remember for ever. This song always cheers me up because it makes me think of that time. Steve Perry has a powerful, and heart touching voice.

This would be a great story, if you could actually see the GG bridge from the Airport!

The fact that one single radio standard Journey song could incite such heated debate is a major source of entertainment for me at this moment.

Sure, I am easily amused. Just as Compuwiz19 is positively weird. Whats next? The assertion by FaRvELvR1992 that its about green bay? Oh, wait. wouldnt want to give anyone any ideas...

Probably my favorite Journey song (just an inch above Separate Ways).

I always love thinking about how with a few judicious changes to the lyrics, it could really be a song about wanting to go home to any city. Yeah, I know it's about San Francisco, but it's nice to imagine it could be about Tampa, New York City, or even Hell, Michigan if one felt like it. That's how universal the sensibility it invokes is.

Even though this is about San Francisco, it was written in Los Angeles, where the band had relocated. Steve Perry explained in an interview with Joe Benson of Arrow 93.1 FM: "I had the song written in Los Angeles almost completely except for the bridge and it was written about Los Angeles. It was 'when the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on LA.' I didn't like the way it sounded at the time. And so I just had it sitting back in the corner. Then life changed my plans once again, and I was now facing joining Journey. I love San Francisco, the bay and the whole thing. 'The bay' fit so nice, 'When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay.' It was one of those early morning going across the bridge things when the sun was coming up and the lights were going down. It was perfect."

'City by the Bay' IS synonymous with San Francisco(Bay Area) and that's where Steve is from but this song can be interpreted as anyone's 'city by the bay'.

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

• Artists - J
• Journey's Greatest Hits
• Lights Lyrics
• Artists - S
• Speedy Ortiz

More Featured Meanings

Most popular lyric tags

More journey lyrics.

• Don't Stop Believin' Lyrics
• Faithfully Lyrics
• Wheel in the Sky Lyrics
• Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) Lyrics
• Open Arms Lyrics

"Lights" lyrics

• Journey Lyrics

• ABBREVIATIONS
• BIOGRAPHIES
• CALCULATORS
• CONVERSIONS
• DEFINITIONS

      PDF       Playlist    

About Lights

"Lights" is a song recorded by American rock band Journey and written by Steve Perry and Neal Schon, released in 1978.

 The easy, fast & fun way to learn how to sing: 30DaySinger.com

 watch: new singing lesson videos can make anyone a great singer.

Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana and Frumious Bandersnatch. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded. During that period, the band released a series of hit songs, including 1981's "Don't Stop Believin'", which became in 2009 the top-selling catalog track in iTunes history. Its parent studio album, Escape, the band's eighth and most successful, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and yielded another of their most popular singles, "Open Arms". Its 1983 follow-up, Frontiers, was almost as successful in the United States, reaching No. 2 and spawning several successful singles; it broadened the band's ap… more »

Follow 17 fans

Sheet Music       PDF     Playlist  

Written by: Stephen Ray Perry, Neal Joseph Schon

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

12 facts about this song

Discuss the lights lyrics with the community:.

Report Comment

We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.

You need to be logged in to favorite .

Create a new account.

Your name: * Required

Your email address: * Required

Pick a user name: * Required

Username: * Required

Password: * Required

Forgot your password?    Retrieve it

Use the citation below to add these lyrics to your bibliography:

Style: MLA Chicago APA

"Lights Lyrics." Lyrics.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. < https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/824692/Journey/Lights >.

Missing lyrics by Journey?

Know any other songs by journey don't keep it to yourself, image credit, the web's largest resource for, music, songs & lyrics, a member of the stands4 network, watch the song video, top hot 100 songs 1978, billboard #68, more tracks from the album.

• #1 Majestic
• #2 Where Were You
• #3 Just the Same Way
• #4 Line of Fire
• #6 Stay Awhile
• #7 Too Late
• #8 Dixie Highway
• #9 Feeling That Way
• #10 Anytime
• #11 Do You Recall
• #12 Walks Like a Lady
• #13 La Do Da
• #14 Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
• #15 Wheel in the Sky
• #16 Any Way You Want It
• #17 The Party's over (Hopelessly in Love)

Browse Lyrics.com

Our awesome collection of, promoted songs.

Get promoted 

Are you a music master?

What is the key of bohemian rhapsody, free, no signup required :, add to chrome, add to firefox, don't miss journey's, upcoming events.

On Radio Right Now

Powered by OnRad.io

Think you know music? Test your MusicIQ here!

Movies soundtrack

• The Hunger Games Catching Fire
• Maze Runner The Scorch Trials
• Rescue Dawn
• Spring Breakers

"For over a minute, the whole track goes on a time-stretch journey": 5 tracks that make creative use of time-stretching

By the ’90s it might have seemed to some like all of the possibilities for subverting playback had been done… or were they?

The option to change pitch and time independently in the form of time-stretching and pitch-shifting was a game-changing development for music production. Even so, early options had major limitations, including short sampling time, slow offline processing and unpredictable sonic outcomes. 

Still, one person’s junk is another’s gold, and this didn’t stop cutting edge producers embracing them warts and all. Over time, processing quality improved and shifted from digital hardware to software, but this just created another wave of opportunity for the creatively inclined. Let’s take a look at a few tracks that make creative use of these effects.

1. Metal Heads – Terminator

Early drum & bass was renowned for its sped up loops and vocals combined with makeshift repitched keyboard samples, and this track by Metal Heads ( Goldie , DJ Freebase and Markus Rutherford) is a perfect example. But it’s the drum loop that interests us, in particular the sections at about 2.35 and 3.10.

Out of nowhere, the loop changes pitch without changing tempo. Nowadays, we’d think of this as pitch-shifting, and the way in which the pitch creeps up has all the hallmarks of the classic Eventide H3000 Ultra Harmonizer effect, which is what we understand was used. However, we’ve included the track as it spawned many similar sounds that used sampler time-stretch algorithms rather than pitch-shifting.

2. 4hero – Journey From the Light EP

Electronic group 4hero started out making breakbeat and techno but soon shifted gear and became trailblazers in the newly burgeoning rave scene. At the time this 1993 EP was released, it was categorised as darkcore (a precursor to jungle and drum & bass). It’s the title track that’s of interest to us and the various sections that have been time-stretched. 

From the outset you get a grainy vocal effect that has the hallmark sound of early time-stretching and this reappears later in the track as well. But by far the most prominent bit of processing is the main beat loop. At about 1.40 and 3.40, sequential bars are treated to three different pitch settings, creating an upward motion to the loop. The bass continues to play alongside this, but the loop is mixed loud and proud, so the ringy sound of the processed loop achieves maximum impact.  

3. Fatboy Slim – The Rockafeller Skank

Musical magpie Norman Cook really hit his stride with his second Fatboy Slim album. Not content with pinching a hefty serving of Northern Soul classic Sliced Tomatoes, borrowing a Duane Eddy guitar riff and reconfiguring the vocals of rapper Lord Finesse, Norm set about building a middle section the likes of which had never been heard in mainstream music. 

Get the MusicRadar Newsletter

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.

For over a minute, the whole track goes on a time-stretch journey, gradually grinding to a halt before rejoining the main chorus for its final fling. Perfectly suited to the track and era.

4. Double 99 – RipGroove

This classic speed garage tune from 1997 still regularly lists in all-time UK garage top tens. In keeping with the times, it’s a sample-heavy affair that lifts elements from a number of tracks, layering them over a driving dub bassline and skippy beats. But it’s the distinctive vocals that really mark it out, comprising a looped snippet of Tina Moore and some obscure time-stretched vocals, courtesy of reggae artist Top Cat. 

The latter had already been sampled for drum & bass track Wheel Up by DJ Gunshot and it’s actually the remix of that track, Wheel ‘N’ Deal, that provides the time-stretched vocal on RipGroove. 

5. Sub Focus, Dimension – Ready To Fly

Time-stretching continues to crop up in contemporary music and producer Sub Focus is no stranger to it, having rehashed the RipGroove Top Cat vocal for his 2013 track Original. However, it’s not the act of making vocals longer but making them shorter that features in this 2022 track. Starting with a demo vocal that was recorded at a much slower tempo, the vocal was time-compressed to fit the much faster 174bpm tempo. 

Happy that it worked, the vocal was then re-recorded properly, but to retain the sped-up effect, this was once again done at the slower tempo. The final vocal was then time-compressed and given a final tweak in Melodyne to adjust wobbly bits. On this track, and all the ones mentioned, artists’ shaped time to their creative whims, and helped normalise time-based effects as intrinsic facets of modern music production. 

"Lair is your door to familiar, abominable, and alien worlds": Is AberrantDSP's Lair the weirdest reverb plugin we've ever seen?

Time-stretching, tape stops and transition effects: 10 tips for bending time in your tracks

"A small guitar – with useful depths": Gretsch Jim Dandy Deltoluxe Parlor acoustic guitar

Most Popular