Journey - Wheel in the Sky - Meaning of the song
This was the first Journey single with new lead vocalist Steve Perry, and not coincidentally, also their first single to chart. The group released three album before Perry came on board. They sold modestly, but the group was not a singles band - they had more of a progressive rock sound with the vocals and lyrics secondary to the music. Perry brought them concise songs with big hooks, but he also delivered a signature vocal sound, first heard on "Wheel In The Sky." The song reached just #57 US, but this was long before Journey was established on pop radio. The next two Infinity singles, "Anytime" and the Perry co-write "Lights," also reached the lower half of the Hot 100. The group built on this success to become stadium rock superstars in the '80s.
This started out as a poem called "Wheels In My Mind" by Diane Valory, the wife of Journey bassist Ross Valory. Robert Fleischman, the band's first vocalist, wrote new lyrics, and guitarist Neal Schon wrote the melody on acoustic guitar in the back seat of a station wagon while the band was driving between shows. It's one of the more philosophical Journey songs, telling the story of man trying desperately to return to his home. The verse lyrics are rather opaque, but the chorus offers an accessible metaphor for how life goes on no matter our personal struggles.
Wheel in the sky - Lyrics
Winter is here again oh Lord
Haven't been home in a year or more
I hope she holds on a little longer
Sent a letter on a long summer day
Made of silver, not of clay
Ooh, I've been runnin' down this dusty road
Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
I've been trying to make it home
Got to make it before too long
Ooh, I can't take this very much longer, no
I'm stranded in the sleet and rain
Don't think I'm ever gonna make it home again
The mornin' sun is risin', it's kissing the day
Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
My, my, my, my, my
For tomorrow
Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
Ooh, I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps me yearning
Ooh, I don't know, I don't know
Oh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
Ooh, I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
Ooh, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
Don't know where I'll be tomorrow
Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps turnin'
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'
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