When Journey released “Lovin,’ Touchin,’ Squeezin'” as a single 35 years ago in 1979, the band’s highest-ever charting song had been “Wheel in the Sky” from the year before — which stalled out at No. 57. This Evolution track, based on a true story of youthful heartbreak from Steve Perry and featuring a nifty stuttering rhythm, would become a then-best-ever No. 16 hit for Journey — pushing them into the Top 20 on the Billboard album charts for the first time, as well.
It seems Perry caught a glimpse of his girlfriend giving another man a lingering goodbye kiss before he raced away in a sports car. That moved him to compose “Lovin’, Touchin’ Squeezin’,” which — despite its soaring nah-nah conclusion — served as a kind of “love justice,” Perry said in the Time3 collection’s liner notes.
But really, it could have been renamed “Lovin, Touchin,’ Jammin,'” since it came together — as many did with the late-1970s lineup also featuring Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie — through a loose in-studio collaboration. In a twist, however, Journey’s long-time bassist Ross Valory didn’t start out at his traditional spot.
“That rhythm is a simple 12/8 blues shuffle, a very traditional old-school blues feel,” then-Journey drummer Steve Smith tells us, in an exclusive Something Else! Sitdown. “The song developed as a jam started by Steve Perry playing the bass. Actually, that song is reminiscent of a Sam Cooke song called “Nothing Can Change This Love”; Steve was very influenced by the great Sam Cooke. When Journey worked on writing new songs, it was a collaborative effort. The band wrote collectively in a rehearsal room, and the music would develop in a jam session-style situation. Most of Journey’s music was developed collectively at first, and then fine-tuned into songs.”
The success of “Lovin’, Touchin’ Squeezin'” would prove difficult to replicate, however, in the coming years. In fact, Journey wouldn’t crack the Top 20 again until 1981, with the No. 4 hit “Who’s Crying Now.” Of course, that opened the floodgates — as a retooled Journey built around Rolie-replacement Jonathan Cain reeled off six such hits in a row through 1983.
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