My Personal Best 10 [Journey] – #4 “Separate Ways” — A Roar from the Abyss: The Beautifully Resolute Art of Holding On!

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No. 4 is “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”

No. 4 is “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)”.
The unusually strong “gravity” and “sense of urgency” of this song are truly remarkable.

Opening the 1983 album “Frontiers,” this song struck us youth at the time with the impact of a sharp blade. If Journey up to that point had been a symbol of “light,” what this song depicted was the deep darkness called “severance” at the moment love ends. And it wasn’t just crouching in sorrow; it was a “song of parting” accompanied by an overwhelming energy, like standing firm in that darkness and screaming into the storm.

Listening to this song again now, I want to dissect this masterpiece from two angles, beyond mere nostalgia: the true nature of the “coolness” I felt in my youth, and the “unresolved feelings” I’ve come to know after a long working life.

Free Translation

Though we are apart, my feelings for you have not faded.
Though torn apart by fate to walk separate ways,
I believe true love will find you someday and break the chains that bind you.
Even if someone else hurts you,
my love will always keep wishing for your happiness.

First, please listen to the official audio

Credits
Title: Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
Artist: Journey
Songwriters: Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain
Album: Frontiers (1983)
Label: Columbia Records
Commentary
A signature song from the 1983 album "Frontiers," a power ballad singing of lingering affection for a lost love and the prayer that "someday true love will save you."

Credits
Title: Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
Artist: Journey
Songwriters: Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain
Album: Frontiers (1983)
Label: Columbia Records
Commentary
The official music video produced in 1983, a visual work for the hit song representing the album "Frontiers."
As it is published on Journey's official YouTube channel, it is the authentic official HD music video.

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Credits
Title: Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) [Live in Manila]
Artist: Journey
Songwriters: Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain
Featured in: Live in Manila
Label: Columbia Records
Commentary
Official live footage recorded at the Manila, Philippines concert, a representative performance of Journey during the Arnel Pineda era. As it is released from the band's official channel "Journey," it can be considered an official live video.

Before introducing the song, this might be a bit long, but I’d like to add some commentary on the third video.
This video is an official live performance published from Journey’s official channel.

Singing passionately in this 2009 Manila, Philippines performance is the current lead vocalist, Arnel Pineda. The story of how Journey’s vocalist changed to him is highly famous as a “modern Cinderella story” in the music industry.

I would like to look back on that dramatic sequence of events.

[The Departure of a Legendary Vocalist and the Band’s Struggle]

Supporting Journey’s golden era (late 1970s to 80s) and releasing numerous masterpieces to the world, the legendary vocalist Steve Perry officially left the band in 1998 due to a hip injury and disagreements with members over touring.

[The Long Struggle Without a Frontman]

After that, talented singers like Steve Augeri and Jeff Scott Soto took over the vocals, but departures continued due to vocal cord issues and other reasons, leaving the band unable to secure a definitive frontman for a long time.

[The “Miraculous Discovery” on the Internet That Changed Their Destiny]

Leader and guitarist Neal Schon, who had been eagerly searching for a new lead vocalist online, accidentally came across a live video of an unknown Filipino cover band called “The Zoo” on YouTube one day. The person singing Journey’s songs perfectly there was Arnel Pineda.

[From a “Cruel Prank?” to a Massive Promotion]

Shocked by how incredibly similar Arnel’s voice was to Steve Perry in his prime, and by his overwhelming vocal volume and expressiveness, Neal Schon directly contacted him himself (Arnel apparently didn’t believe it at first, thinking it was a cruel prank).

After that, Arnel was invited to an audition in the US, perfectly proved his ability, and was handpicked as Journey’s official lead vocalist at the end of 2007.
Exactly as seen in the third YouTube video, there is almost no sense of incongruity compared to Steve Perry’s singing!! Truly amazing!

[The Miraculous True Story Turned Movie, and a Tearful Triumphal Return Home]

This miraculous true story of an unknown cover band vocalist becoming the frontman of the world-famous rock band he was a huge fan of, triggered by YouTube, was later made into a documentary film titled “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey.”

The “Live In Manila” footage introduced this time is a highly emotional and enthusiastic live performance when he made a triumphant return to his home country of the Philippines as Journey’s vocalist, making it a performance with special significance in the history of the band and Arnel.
(That’s the end of Arnel’s story)

Jonathan Cain’s “Warning Sound” Heralding an Emotional Fissure

There are songs where the atmosphere of the room changes completely the moment the intro plays. This “Separate Ways” is surely at the top of that list.

That heavy, aggressive synthesizer riff pounded out by Jonathan Cain. That is not just a melodic introduction. It is like an “earthquake early warning” suddenly echoing through a peaceful daily life, or the very sound of a definitive “crack” opening up between two people who were supposed to love each other.

Every time I hear this intro, my heart races with the premonition that an incredible drama is about to begin. The sound flowing from my student days’ audio set was a rugged, rough thing, distinctly different from the “refinement” Journey had possessed up until then.

Neal Schon’s guitar is solid and sharp, as if blocking the escape route for emotions, and Steve Smith’s drums strike a perfectly accurate beat, as if carving out the cruelty of fate. The sense of confinement created by this “wall of sound” auditorily perfects the reality of the “inescapable parting” depicted in the lyrics. In the 80s, the golden age of bright pop music, I can only take my hat off to their skill in establishing such “serious tension” as a massive hit song.

The Despairing Distance of “Worlds Apart” Depicted in the Lyrics

The title “Separate Ways”. Translated literally, it’s merely a “fork in the road”, but the subtitle “Worlds Apart” tells the true essence of this song. “The worlds we live in have separated”, “An isolated world”. That means a sense of despair where hearts have diverged to a realm where they will never intersect again, far beyond just physical distance.

The phrase “Here we stand” that Steve Perry spins at the beginning. Could there be a quieter, yet crueler recognition of reality? The two seem to be standing in the same place, but in truth, they are already in places far too distant. Hearts torn in two, spending sleepless nights, the feeling of even the ground beneath one’s feet crumbling away.

What the opening lyrics depict is the “sense of loss of reality” that visits in the early stages of a broken heart. In my younger days, I viewed these lyrics as a dramatic tragedy, like a scene from a movie.

I might have even held a detached admiration, thinking, “Is the moment love ends really this intense?” However, over a long life, having experienced the end of various human relationships throughout my active career—not limited to romance, but including fallouts with trusted colleagues and partings with organizations—the reality of the expression “Losing ground” almost makes me hold my breath.

“If he ever hurts you” — A Love Bordering on a Curse

When decoding this song from a “reminiscence-driven” perspective, what sparks the most debate, and what draws me in the most, is that fiercely intense passage in the chorus.

“If he ever hurts you”
“True love won’t desert you”

At first glance, it looks like the “ultimate tolerance” of worrying about the departing woman’s future and spreading one’s arms to say she can come back anytime. However, looking closely, doesn’t a man’s fundamental pride and inerasable attachment flicker in and out of sight here?

“The new guy you chose definitely can’t make you happy.”
“I’m the only one in the world who can truly love you.”

I can’t help but feel it contains a kind of prophecy akin to a “curse.” If standard adult manners dictate saying “be happy” when parting, what is being sung here is an unashamed self-assertion: “Don’t forget me,” “I’m right here.”

But that is exactly why this song is real. In a world overflowing with heartbreak songs decorated with pleasantries, the energy to so boldly rename “lingering attachment” as “love” and scream it out. Perhaps it was a rampage born of youth, or perhaps it was an expression permitted only to a rare vocalist like Steve Perry.

Looking back on my own past, I can’t say there weren’t nights when I didn’t say it aloud, but silently cursed at a departing back, “I hope you regret this someday.” This song beautifully and loudly affirms such “dark emotions” that exist in everyone’s heart but are usually kept under a lid. It tells us, “It’s okay to hold on,” “Even if you can’t forget, that is True Love.”

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The Lovable “Incongruity” and Overwhelming Passion Left by That MV

The Shock of “Air Instruments,” or the Birth of a Legend

When talking about “Separate Ways,” we can never avoid the existence of that overly famous music video (MV). (This is the second YouTube video.)
The early 80s, when MTV took the music scene by storm, and visuals and music became completely integrated for consumption. In a way, the MV for this song left just as intense a scar on our memories as the song itself.

Set on a bleak wharf in New Orleans, for some reason all the members are empty-handed, without instruments, doing a far too innovative performance of “pretending to play (air playing).” Particularly, the scene where keyboardist Jonathan Cain frenziedly plays a mysterious wooden pallet leaned against a wall as if it were a keyboard, or the intensely passionate, piercing gaze vocalist Steve Perry shoots at the camera. Since back then, these have been targets of jabs like “uncool” or “why didn’t they hold instruments?”, and even in later years, they became the subject of affectionate teasing in various media.

Strangely, however, watching that video again after more than 40 years, one realizes that their very “disregard for appearances” shows a bizarre synchronization with the “desperation” this song possesses.

No leeway to act cool. Even the effort to prepare instruments is frustrating. I just want to express this fierce emotion overflowing from within with my whole body right now—. That seemingly comical “air performance” was not a calculated, cool production, but perhaps a pure explosion of the rock spirit gushing from inside them. Their expressions on the screen are so dead serious that it makes you want to interpret it that way.

The Catharsis Born of Screaming — Steve Perry’s True Worth

In the bridge section as the song moves from the middle to the latter half, the tune shows an even more dramatic and sorrowful development.

Repeated in the lyrics: “Troubled times,” “Caught between confusion and pain.” What is depicted here is no longer just a parting with one woman, but the absurd agony inherent in life itself.

When love ends, everyone questions themselves, “Were all those promises in vain?”, and is struck by a deep sense of emptiness. The sharp phrases rhyming “pain” and “vain,” repeated over and over like an incantation in the lyrics, seem to sonically express emotions that have lost their way, crashing into a concrete wall repeatedly and amplifying while tearing oneself apart.

And Steve Perry’s vocals in this part reach a truly divine tension. His voice carries a desperation close to a scream and a stinging impatience, yet without ever cracking, it echoes endlessly high and powerfully, tearing through space. It is exactly this “perfectly controlled scream” that completely stirs up the dregs settled at the bottom of the listener’s heart, leading to an overwhelming catharsis (purification).

Back during my working days, when I was fighting while nearly being crushed daily in the rough seas of society. When thrown right into the middle of “confusion and pain,” rather than a gentle ballad that softly consoles you, intense rock that “converts the pain itself into massive energy and screams it out” like this song was far more of a salvation for my soul. There certainly were nights when I felt that way.

Why No. 4? — The Power to Turn “Parting” into Fuel for Living

The True Meaning Hidden in “You’ll never walk alone”

Near the end of the song, after an explosion of stormy emotions, Perry finally sings out: “You’ll never walk alone.” And then, he finally delivers the words of parting, “Take care, my love.”

A sudden shift from the raw love-hate relationship that could be seen as “attachment” analyzed in the first half, to a state almost like a “prayer”—denying the other’s loneliness and watching over them from afar at the very end. The drop and contradiction of these intense emotions.

“Physical distance (Worlds Apart) does not completely sever the connection of the heart.” Even if we must walk separate paths, the memories of souls once deeply intertwined will not vanish. This song teaches us that there are nights when you simply cannot move forward without believing that.

The band Journey has far more melodious and beautiful ballads, and many more cheerful, universally loved pop hits. Yet, the reason I chose this “Separate Ways” for the 4th place in my “Selfish Best 10″—a high rank closing in on the top 3. It is because this song is overflowing with the “energy of destruction and rebirth.”

Now approaching the latter half of life, looking back, we truly have experienced many “partings.” That includes not only parting with loved ones, but also with work we poured our passion into, former comrades-in-arms, the atmosphere of the good old days, or farewells to our young, reckless “past selves.”

This song never permits us to merely weep and shed tears over such “things being lost” or “time slipping through our fingers.” Instead, it demands that we strike that heavy synthesizer powerfully, strum the solid guitar, and scream with our heads held high, “But I am still standing right here!”

“Parting (Separate)” is not just a bad ending. It is a “potent fuel” to survive our respective new paths in solitude.

Such a powerful, and slightly selfish male message, a superbly hard masterpiece that still echoes straight to the bottom of my stomach today. That is “Separate Ways.”