Questions and Answers: For the Streetlight People

Last updated on: August 19, 2018 at 10:05 pm by Esther O’Reilly

Questions and Answers: For the Streetlight People 2018-08-19T22:05:37-04:00 Esther O’Reilly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For those of you who are new to the site or can’t remember the last time I wrote an installment in this series, “Questions and Answers” explores the space where the secular touches the sacred in popular songwriting (emphasis on popular–no weird, obscure stuff here!) It is designed to help Christians think deeply about some of the most thoughtful lyrics that writers on both sides of the divide have contributed to the eternal questions: Why are we here? Who are we? What is love? Do we need to be saved? Can we be saved?

My first entry paired up a Journey song with a Steven Curtis Chapman song. Now, it seems I’m coming full circle, with another Journey song (“Don’t Stop Believin’ “) and another SCC song (“More to This Life”).

I know what you’re probably thinking (at least, if you grew up in the 80s). “Journey? Thoughtful and deep? Seriously?” This song in particular might raise such skeptical eyebrows, given its nauseating ubiquity at graduations, class reunions, and such like. It’s a fixture of American pop culture. There is no escape. (Hey, see what I did there? Escape, escape… okay never mind.) But believe it or not, I am serious. A careful listen to the lyrics apart from its fist-pumping tag will make you wonder how it ever became the go-to feel-good song for teenage America:

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people
Livin’ just to find emotion
Hidin’ somewhere in the night

Read the rest of it in full here, divorced from the music, and you’ll see that Steve Perry’s intended message was a much more tragic, more human one than the culture realized.

The word that rises to the fore when contemplating “Don’t Stop Believing” is “lostness.” Or randomness. Or purposelessness. The only “purpose” the characters have is summed up in the line “living just to find emotion.” They settle for the ultimately empty pleasure of a one-night stand on the principle that you might as well sleep with somebody when you have the chance. In that light, the oft-repeated tag “Don’t stop believing” almost takes on a desperate, secretly doubtful tone. It’s as if the narrator is repeating the inspiring phrase in a vain attempt to convince himself that as long as you’re “feeling stuff,” that’s all that matters. But what really lingers is the bleak pre-chorus: “Oh, the movie never ends. It goes on, and on, and on, and on….”

Steven Curtis Chapman’s “More to This Life” takes the position of an observer who is watching such people walk past him on the street with the exact same spirit: “Life just goes on.”

The old familiar story
Told in different ways,
Make the most of your own journey
From the cradle to the grave;
Dream your dreams tomorrow because today
Life must go on.

The second verse makes a bit of a shift and shows how even the outwardly respectable nominal Christians can suffer from the same gnawing dissatisfaction. He pictures a man who takes care of his family and even goes to church, yet “still feels a need to search.” It reminds us that lost people aren’t confined to the seedy boulevards. They may be sitting among us in the pews on Sunday morning, wearing a smile and a freshly-pressed suit.

Of course, the chorus doesn’t leave seekers in a state of limbo. It offers the answer. The virtue of Chapman’s lyrics is their simplicity. He does nothing more than sing the gospel, concisely and elegantly. “There’s more to this life… more than these eyes alone can see. And there’s more than this life alone can be.”

I will close with some insight from Christian folk singer Don Chaffer, reflecting on Steve Perry and this his most misunderstood song:

A friend of a friend supposedly sat down with Perry, and asked him why he’d dropped out of music. Steve said he’s been disappointed by how ironically his band’s been re-interpreted in today’s culture. He never meant anything as a joke, as overstatement, as bombast. He was dead serious, and if no one wants to take him and the music seriously, well then it’s too painful to try anymore. When you listen to “Don’t Stop Believin’,” you see what he’s saying: “Some’ll win/ Some will lose/ Some’re born to sing the blues… Don’t stop believin’/ Hold onto that feelin’.” If nothing else, that’s a work of utter honesty and sincerity. And his voice, for crying out loud, is full of pathos. I know. Journey. Dude, it’s just Journey. But, as my wife said, upon me telling her about how Steve Perry supposedly feels about his problem, she said, “Poor Steve Perry—bless his heart—everybody misunderstands him.” She was not, you see, being ironic. She was as serious as Steve was when he was telling us about the shadows, searching, up and down the boulevard.

There may be some here tonight who’ve never had the greatest need the human heart will ever know met in your life. The need for a relationship with God. The Bible says everything that was created was created by God and for God. I believe that means that the greatest purpose, the reason, the ultimate reason we’re on earth, is to have a relationship with God. And that relationship is possible because Jesus Christ came in this world, and he said “I have come so that you can have life.” He didn’t come to take the trouble out of life. He didn’t come to make all the problems disappear. He said “I have come, so that even in this world while you will have trouble, you can take heart, because I have overcome this world.” He said, “In me you’ll find peace. In me you’ll find life.” Jesus came so that we might have more to this life.
— Steven Curtis Chapman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG08tUJucQM

Faith and Culture

Music

Questions and Answers

Songs

Music Commentary

Previous Post

February 6, 2015

Matt Chandler's Powerful Pro-Life Statement

Next Post

February 12, 2015 CD Review: Ready to Sail, by The Erwins

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 3 star 3.5 star 4 star 4.5 star Anatomy of a Song Behind the Songs Blog Stuff Book Reviews CCM CCM vs. SG CD Reviews Christians in Entertainment Christmas Essential 12 Christmas Favorites Christmas Top Fives Concert Reviews Concerts Culture Devotional Thoughts Faith and Culture From the Vault Fun Gospel Singers Gospel Songs Great Music Guest Posts Harmony Master Classes History Holidays Humor Hymns Interviews Marriage in the Movies Monday Morning Humor Movie Reviews Movies Music NQC Odds and Ends Old Movies, New Eyes Old Southern Gospel News Old Stuff Open Threads Other Genres Perfect Tenor Performances Polls Questions and Answers Recently Added SG vs. The Rest of the World Sing It Again Songs Songwriting Southern Gospel Surprise Sunday The Definitive Hymns Theology Toe-to-Toe Top 10 Lists Top 5 Top 5 Lists Two Sisters Review Uncategorized Video Posts Youtube Finds

Select a Month August 2026 February 2025 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 October 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Paul shook a viper off his hand into the fire on the island of Cyprus.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE