This was the Journey I really liked…before a member left (Gregg Rolie) and one was added (Jonathan Cain)…and they became more radio-friendly with Escape. It comes down to my personal tastes. Gregg Rolie played a B4 organ and sounded great and Cain played an 80’s Casio (just kidding but…) synth…it changed the music completely…but it did make them more accessible to the masses…so yea I’m in the minority.
This song was on the album Infinity. Personally…my favorite Journey album is Departure. The three I listen to are Infinity, Evolution, and Departure. The albums before were prog albums and the ones after…more 80’s radio pop. With those three albums, they were more of a rock band.
The origin of this song is interesting. It started off as a poem by Diane Valory, the wife of Journey bassist Ross Valory. The band’s first vocalist, Robert Fleischman, 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.
This song was the first single to chart for the band. Before this album, they were more of a progressive band. With this single and the next two albums, they started building themselves up in the charts to lay the groundwork for superstardom in the eighties.
The song peaked at #57 on the Billboard 100 and #45 in Canada in 1978.
Wheel In The Sky
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 morning sun is risin’
It’s kissin’ 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’, whoa, whoa, whoa
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 yearnin’
Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know where
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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