More than four decades after co-writing one of the most recognizable rock songs in American history, Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain says "Don't Stop Believin'" was never just about chasing dreams - it was about faith.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, now 76, recently opened up about the song's deeper roots, tracing them back to a devastating tragedy from his childhood. At age 8, Cain survived the 1958 fire at Chicago's Our Lady of the Angels School, one of the deadliest school fires in American history, which killed 92 students and three nuns. In the aftermath, his father told him: "You were saved for music. I believe the Lord saved you for making music."
For years, Cain wrestled with grief and unanswered questions about why he survived. It wasn't until decades later, after a conversation with a pastor about how "great change requires great sacrifice," that he found peace with the tragedy - one that, he says, shaped the rest of his creative life.
That same conviction carried him through the writing of "Don't Stop Believin'" with Journey in 1981. "Only the hand of the Lord could take an accordion player from Chicago and put him in Steve Perry's living room to write that song," Cain said. "When we say, 'Hold on to that feeling,' that might just be the Holy Spirit."
Cain's faith has increasingly shaped his solo work in recent years, including his latest EP, which he describes as an extension of the same calling that first led him to write music decades ago. "I write what I see," he said. "I see faith in action, and I write about it."
