Recording - April 2020 - 69

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must go. Sometimes you have a lyric, and now
you've got to go the opposite way, so you've got
to get somebody that can say, "This is a lyric like
'Faithfully.'" The lyrics came first. But I knew it
had to be a strong, simple melody, and that's
how it ended up, because the words were
simple.
Did you know it was gonna be a huge hit ... on any
of your songs?
Okay, true story. "Faithfully" was a demo that I
recorded at Good Night L.A., next to Sound
City, for Keith Olson. And he gave me a cassette
of me singing "Faithfully." And he calls me two
months later and he said, "I played that song

It's a simple Hank
Williams country song.
Hank Williams could
have sung it. [He sings it
like Hank Williams.] But
with Perry, he would
take things and make
them just special,
because he had that
kind of voice.
I remember the video for
that song. You are sitting Cain explains how his lyric writing approach can be influenced by the singer's "character."
in front of a mirror in a dressing room on the road, forever yours faithfully, Journey." God has a
sense of humor.
with a picture of your girlfriend or your wife on
there. It was a heart-melter-for the ladies.
Don't miss Part 4 of this interview in next month's
My favorite moment of that chapter of my life
TAXI Insider.
was when our fans came in and said, "We are

"Steve and I had such synergy. It was
almost like Lennon and McCartney.
When I look at these Beatles things
on Netflix, and I watch the way they
were in the studio, we had that
same thing."
-Jonathan Cain
'Faithfully' for the girls in Heart, and they were
crying, Jon. They were weeping." And I said, "Is
my voice that bad?" "No, Jon, they loved that
song."
So Perry says to me, "I'm gonna make a solo
album; I know you have a song." So I said,
"Well, I'll play you something." It was
"Faithfully," and he said, "I really want to cut
this on my solo album." But I took the cassette
tape-"Give me that. Only on a Journey record.
No, you are not going to sing this on your solo
record. But I just want to show you that I have a
song."
And then 1983 rolled around. I had this
cassette, and the producer Mike Stone calls me
the last day of recording and says, "I know you
have a ballad." So in comes the cassette out of
my pocket again in the player, and Perry looks
at me like [he growls]. "I'll sing it, Jon, on one
condition-you are not in the room, because
you are too close to this song. You've got to let
me play with it." "Gladly, Steve. I'm gone." So I
disappeared and it just turned into the most
incredible performance I think I've ever heard
him sing. I came in on a Friday morning and I
sat there and wept. I was just a mess. It was so
good.
It's an iconic song. I mean, every aspect of it. First
of all, the construction of it is strange. You wait
forever to get to the chorus, and when you do, it
pays off...
RECORDING April 2020

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Recording - April 2020

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