Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain have an ongoing legal dispute — Schon accuses Cain of not being transparent with Journey’s finances, while Cain claims these are lies. It seems like there is a yet-another controversy involving the two. Neal recently took to his Twitter to share Jonathan Cain’s performance of ‘Don’t Stop Believin” and targeted the musician’s story of how the song was written.
Five years ago, Jonathan Cain joined the Jim Bakker Show as a guest and sat at the piano to perform the Journey hit ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.’ Before he started singing the lyrics, Cain told the story of the incident that inspired the song. According to the musician, his father told him never to stop believing and to stay in Hollywood, although he didn’t have a penny. So, Cain implied the song was written after his talk with his father.
“When I was starving in Hollywood,” Jonathan Cain recalled before performing the track, “I asked if I should come home, because frankly, rock and roll was kicking my butt in Hollywood. My father said, ‘Son, I’ve always had a vision for your career. Don’t you come to Chicago, you stay there. Lord’s got plans for you, don’t stop believing.’”
The musician continued, “I said, ‘Okay, dad, I won’t stop.’ It’s a good thing that I had the best old man in the world who never stopped believing in me. And I have got the greatest God in the world who never stopped believing in me.”
Recently, Neal Schon came across the video of this performance and noticed Jonathan Cain’s speech. He posted the video on Twitter and only wrote ‘What the f*ck?’ in the caption. Apparently, Schon was displeased that Cain was playing the song with Jim Bakker and Paula White beside him and implying it was about religion. Due to Bakker and White’s support for Trump, fans also reacted negatively to the video. However, fans of Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain had something to say about this.
One of Schon’s followers argued that ‘Don’t Stop Believin” was Cain’s song, as he wrote most of its lyrics before joining Journey. So, he claimed Cain had every right to sing the song anytime he wanted. Another fan posted a tweet and said Steve Perry wrote most of the lyrics and helped Cain turn it into a song. Upon seeing this, the fan continued supporting their claim by saying Jonathan had the whole song, Steve helped polish it, and Neal did zip.
“Dude, you’ve got your head planted,” tweeted Neal Schon upon seeing this debate. “I wrote the B sections, all counter bass parts. Zip it.” Following that, another fan tweeted Schon and accused him of hypocrisy, as he had previously posted another performance of the song with Trump supporters singing along to it, saying it was a great PR. “I was being sarcastic,” said Neal, “It’s not good to mix music with politics. You lose, period. Journey is for the world, not just a portion many don’t agree with.”
One of the fans argued that Jonathan Cain had only revealed what inspired him to write this song. They then asked whether Neal played ‘Don’t Stop Believin” at America’s Got Talent. “Yes,” Schon confirmed, “And [it was a] great exposure for us to sing the song. Not about any one religion or politics.”
So, it appears like Neal Schon believes ‘Don’t Stop Believin” is neither about politics nor religion; it’s a song fans from all corners of the world can relate to. While his followers agreed with him on this aspect, many suggested that Cain was only revealing what inspired him in the video, and he was the one who wrote ‘Don’t Stop Believin.’ Jonathan Cain hasn’t made a statement about Schon’s remarks yet, and whether this issue will ignite another feud between them remains unknown.
https://t.co/SVIox1VKwv wtf !
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) November 23, 2022
Dude you’ve got your head planted. I wrote the B sections all counter bass parts. Zip it 🤐🤡
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) December 6, 2022
Was being sarcastic it not good to mix music with politics. You lose period. Journey is for the world not just a portion that many don’t agree with.
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) December 6, 2022
Yes and great exposure for us sing the song. No about any one religion or political
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) December 6, 2022
