Inspiration Behind Separate Ways:
Divorce was rare when I grew up as a teenager listening to Journey. Yet when guitarist Neal Schon and Bassist Ross Valory both went through painful divorces, these experiences shaped Journey’s Worlds Apart album. Song writers Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain were moved to find something positive amidst these tumultuous relationships. Steve and Jonathan wrote Separate Ways while on tour as a means to bring healing to their friends.
Biblical Application:
Some Pharisees came to him (Jesus) to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate,” Matthew 19:3-6.
Exegesis of Separate Ways:
Here we stand
Worlds apart, hearts broken in two, two, two
Sleepless nights
Losing ground, I’m reachin’ for you, you, you
The we in the opening stanza refers to marriages of Neal and Ross. What these 2 couples once had has now vanished. Broken hearts and sleepless nights are all the remains, wondering what went wrong. Despite feeling worlds apart, hope for restoration has not been lost.
Feelin’ that it’s gone
Could change your mind
If we can’t go on
To survive the tide, love divides
Too many adults fall into the feeling of love without fully understanding what love in the context of marriage requires. This is what likely led to this desperate situation. Once a partner’s mind is made up to leave a marriage, it’s only a matter of time. Love doesn’t divide; it’s the decision to give up on love, your marriage vows, which ultimately results in divorce.
Someday, love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched and went our separate ways
When love returns to an individual who has been divorced, doubt symbolizes chains which may prevent this person from wanting to enter another relationship. When you are with someone new, your mind may still be with the person you divorced. Meanwhile, emotional soul ties with former relationships don’t just suddenly go away. The apostle Paul explains this special bond in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.
If he ever hurts you
True love won’t desert you
You know I still love you
Though we touched and went our separate ways
Despite the divorces of these 2 band members, they want their former wife to be treated right. Biblical love won’t desert you, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Troubled times
Caught between confusion and pain, pain, pain
Distant eyes
Promises we made were in vain, in vain, in vain
This stanza highlights the events which lead to divorce. Difficult times, confusion, pain, growing apart and promises that weren’t kept.
If you must go, I wish you love
You’ll never walk alone
Take care my love
Miss you, love
A prayer for the future, wishing the best if this relationship can’t be saved.
Someday, love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched and went our separate ways
This chorus points to the healing process after any divorce.
If he ever hurts you
True love won’t desert you
You know I still love you
Though we touched and went our separate ways
Wanting the best for someone who no longer wants you requires humility.
Oh
Someday, love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
Those chains can also refer to an addiction or bad habit which lead to the demise of this relationship.
If he ever hurts you
True love won’t desert you
You know I still love you
As DC Talk once sang, love is a verb, not just a word.
I still love you, girl
I really love you, girl
A fond farewell, perhaps hoping for a second chance.
And if he ever hurts you
True love won’t desert you
No
No
If adults would stop talking by spending more time demonstrating acts of life, this world would have a lot less divorces and more thriving marriages.
Final Thoughts:
While in high school and college, I didn’t know what love was. Like many boys my age, I told several girls that I loved them. Subsequently, when I met my wife Leanne, I told her that I would never verbalize the word love until I was willing to marry her. Before I proposed. I began reading books on love where I was introduced to the concept of developing the will to love. Once I took ownership of the will to love, this unswerving desire has resulted in 30 years of marriage.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 