I’m not sure why, but some songs really get to me. No matter what my mood is, the minute I hear them, I just get very emotional. I’m not sure exactly why. I heard this song while I was grocery shopping with my mom. I was in a decent mood, not agitated, sad or even discouraged in any way. I was actually quite content. I wasn’t happy really, just content. Know what I mean?

So this song comes on while I was in the store, I’ve heard it many times before, it came out in the 80’s. I almost immediately had a strong sense of sadness sweep over me the minute it started to play. This song has always gotten to me. It always made me emotional, just very sad. It’s a sadness that I can actually feel physically, I’m not sure exactly how to describe it.

I made a mental note that I was going to look it up when I got home…. I shazamm’ed it…. Thank God for modern tech!! After reading about it on Wikipedia, I discovered that the first person to hear the song (besides the band) was Kenny Sykaluk , who was 16 years old and had terminal cystic fibrosis. His mother had written to the band telling them of her son’s terminal condition. After the band found out, they immediately rushed to his bedside and gave him a walkman with the song on it. They also gave him a football helmet signed by the San Francisco 49er’s. He died the next day.

The wikipedia article mentioned that Jonathan Cain (a band member) was deeply touched by meeting this young man and had to leave the room. He discussed it as well on Journey – Behind the Music and got very emotional.

So anyway, I had no idea of the story behind the song….. Google and Wikipedia didn’t exist when I first heard of it in the 80’s. But it always made me very sad. When I think about it, a lot of their songs make me sad….

When I’m shopping, I would just rather hear silence than low tempo, mellow or sad music…. what about yourself? Does certain music have an effect on you, whether it’s good or bad? It sure does me, always has.