"Lights" is a song recorded by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

and written by

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...

and

Neal Schon Neal ( Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...

, released in 1978.

Background and writing

The song is about Journey's city of origin,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, although it was actually written in and originally intended to be about

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. It was one of Steve Perry's first Journey songs, and was recorded soon after joining the band. In an interview, Perry said, "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." Released as a single in 1978, it was originally only a minor hit, reaching number 68 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at the time. It has, however, become more popular over the years and is now one of Journey's most popular and easily recognizable songs and is often played in Classic Hits/Oldies radio stations. It is frequently played at

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

baseball games (including versions led by Perry himself at Game 2 of the 2010 World Series, Games 1 and 2 of the 2012 World Series, and Games 4 and 5 of the

2014 World Series The 2014 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2014 season. The 110th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants and the Ameri ...

) and the cross-bay Oakland Athletics after-game fireworks starts. The song is now usually played at

Levi's Stadium Levi's Stadium is an American football stadium located in Santa Clara, California, just outside San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the National Football League (NFL)'s San Francisco 49ers since 2014. T ...

when the NFL

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

win a home game. It is sometimes used in promos for the Golden State Warriors. Journey released a live version of the song in 1993 for the '' Time³'' box set. This recording reached #30 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song was the last to be played during the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

era of KFRC 610, a legendary San Francisco station, before the flip to a nostalgia/adult standards format in 1986.

KIII KIII (channel 3) is a television station in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on South Padre Island Drive ( SH 358) in Corpus Christi, and its transmitter is loca ...

of Corpus Christi, Texas used this song during their sign offs in the late 1980s.

Reception

'' Cash Box'' praised the "searching guitar work" and "excellent lead and backing vocals."

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– guitars, backing vocals *

Gregg Rolie Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His A ...

– keyboards, backing vocals * Ross Valory – bass guitar, backing vocals * Aynsley Dunbar – drums

References

{{authority control 1978 singles Rock ballads Journey (band) songs Songs written by Steve Perry Songs written by Neal Schon San Francisco Giants Song recordings produced by Roy Thomas Baker Songs about San Francisco 1993 singles Live singles Columbia Records singles 1978 songs