“Open Arms” is a song by American rock band Journey. It was released as a single from the Heavy Metal soundtrack and their 1981 album, Escape. Co-written by band members Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain, the song is a power ballad whose lyrics attempt to renew a drifting relationship. It is one of the band’s most recognizable radio hits and their biggest US Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching number two in February 1982.
When Jonathan Cain first presented “Open Arms” to the Babys, it was not received with, well, open arms. So he shelved it for another time.
“My understanding is that he had most of it sketched,” former Journey frontman Steve Perry later told Jeb Wright. The two had been discussing song ideas one day at Perry’s house, not long after Cain left the Babys for Journey.
As Cain recalls, Perry was interested in writing a different kind of material. “He was talking to me about his solo album and wanting to do ballads, wanting to do soaring melodies with ballads,” Cain said in 2019. “I said, ‘Steve, there’s no reason for you to go do a solo album. You know, you could do it here in Journey.'”
Cain went out to his car to retrieve his Wurlitzer piano, which had had brought along “just in case” and showed Perry the half-conceived song he originally offered to the Babys. It needed work: Cain had the melody down, but no lyrics. Perry, however, immediately recognized the song’s potential.
The rest is Rock N Roll history.
“Lying beside you
Here in the dark
Feeling your heartbeat with mine
Softly you whisper
You’re so sincere
How could our love be so blind?
We sailed on together
We drifted apart
And here you are
By my side
So now I come to you
With open arms
Nothing to hide
Believe what I say
So here I am
With open arms
Hoping you’ll see
What your love means to me
Open arms
Living without you
Living alone
This empty house seems so cold
Wanting to hold you
Wanting you near
How much I want to bring you home
But now that you’ve come back
Turned night into day
I need you to stay
So now I come to you
With open arms
Nothing to hide
Believe what I say
So here I am
With open arms
Hoping you’ll see
What your love means to me
Open arms”
Songwriters: Stephen Ray Perry / Jonathan Cain
sources
History of Sorts 
Reblogged this on History of Sorts.
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