JOURNEY: Open arms 7″ + Little Girl [Rare unreleased song] Check video

Description

In the US, Journey were the undisputed sultans of the surge-athon (this song reached No.2 over there). But with typical British reserve we found it difficult to embrace a band that advocated plenty of lovin’, touchin’ ’n’ squeezin’ among their fans. Open Arms has a theme : its schmaltz is offset by blistering, bleeding-heart vocals (in this case by the incomparable Steve Perry).

Choice lyric: ‘We sailed on together/We drifted apart/And here you are by my side’

Journey ‎– Open Arms
Label: CBS ‎– A 2057, CBS ‎– CBS A2057
Format: Vinyl, 7″, Single
Country: UK
Released: 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: Soft Rock, Classic Rock
Tracklist
A Open Arms 3:21
B Little Girl 5:48

“Open Arms” is a song originally recorded by American rock band Journey and written by Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain, two of the bands members. It is a ballad depicting the struggle of lovers who are trying to reconcile by starting anew with “open arms.” It has been covered by the American R&B singer Mariah Carey, Korean singer Younha, Taiwanese boyband 5566, country music singer Collin Raye, the R&B group Boyz II Men, and the American singer/songwriter Barry Manilow.

Journey version:
Journey recorded “Open Arms” for their seventh studio album, Escape, which was produced by Kevin Elson and Mike Stone. Jonathan Cain had begun writing the song while he was still a member of the rock group The Babys, but Babys vocalist John Waite turned down the melody as “sentimental rubbish.” Cain eventually finished the song with Steve Perry during the writing sessions for Escape, but it was almost left off the album; Journeys guitarist Neal Schon reportedly disliked the song because “it was so far removed from anything [Journey] had ever attempted to record before”. (drummer Steve Smith recalls that Schon noted that it “sounds kinda Mary Poppins”). Added to which the other members of the band were against the idea of performing ballads.
Steve Perry later recalled of the songs recording: “I had to keep my head down on the console when “Open Arms” was on. There is one line in the song that I always wanted to be a certain way. I have ideals about certain things. The line “wanting you near” I just wanted that line to go up and soar. I wanted it to be heartfelt. Every time it would come by I would just have to keep my head down and try to swallow the lump in my throat. I felt so proud of the song”.
In the Journey episode of VH1s Behind the Music, Perry recalls the recording sessions for the song becoming an ordeal; Schon taunted Perry and Cain in the studio. But when the band performed it in concert for the first time during their Escape Tour in the fall of 1981, the audience was thunderstruck, much to Schons disbelief. After two encores, the band left the stage and Schon suddenly said, “Man, that song really kicked ass!” Perry recalled being incensed at Schons hypocrisy. “I looked at him, and I wanted to kill him,” he later said.
During an episode of the radio show In the Studio with Redbeard devoted to the album Escape, Jonathan Cain said he was ill with a bad cold when he recorded the piano track to “Open Arms” and wanted to re-do the track. Everybody else disagreed and they used the track Cain recorded while “under the weather.”
“Open Arms” was used on the soundtrack to the animated Canadian film Heavy Metal (released to theatres in August 1981), and it was released as the third single from Escape in January 1982 in the United States. It was also featured on two occasions during scenes of the 1982 film The Last American Virgin. It became one of Journeys biggest singles there and the most successful of the five singles released from Escape (only one other, “Who’s Crying Now,” reached the top five). Although it never reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it stayed at number 2 for six weeks, and it was also a top ten hit on Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks. The single was less successful on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, only reaching the top forty.
The song and its status as a power ballad has been remembered years following its original release. One critic praised “Open Arms” as “a lyrical rock ballad and one of the bands best-written songs”, while the Associated Press wrote that the song was “fueled by Perrys operatic, high-flying vocal style.” It has also been referred to as a “wedding anthem” and VH1 placed the song at number 1 on their “25 Greatest Power Ballads” list. Allmusic said “One of rocks most beautiful ballads, “Open Arms” gleams with an honesty and feel only Steve Perry could muster,” and a review of a Journey concert in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution characterized the song as a “classic ballad.” Steve Perry told the Boston Globe, “I can’t tell you how many times I get a tap on the shoulder and somebody says…’This was my prom song’.”