Journey – Wheel in the Sky

About The Song

“Wheel in the Sky” spun onto U.S. radio on January 19, 1978, as the lead single from Journey’s fourth album, Infinity. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker for Columbia, it introduced a leaner, harder-edged Journey to the Top 40: a chiming, minor-key riff; a steady, mid-tempo drive; and Steve Perry’s soaring tenor cutting through the mix. The 7-inch paired the track with the B-side “Can Do,” setting the tone for a new chapter just as the band was pivoting from its fusion roots to arena-bound rock.

The song’s origins predate Perry’s arrival. Bassist Ross Valory’s wife, Diane, wrote a poem called “Wheels in My Mind” while her husband was on the road; temporary frontman Robert Fleischman worked with Neal Schon to shape it into a rock lyric. By the time Infinity sessions began in late 1977, Perry had replaced Fleischman as lead singer, but Fleischman retained co-writing credit alongside Schon and Diane Valory. It’s a snapshot of a band mid-transition—new voice, new direction, and a song that bridged both eras.

On record, the arrangement is tight and uncluttered. Schon’s opening guitar figure sets a restless mood before the band drops into a steady pocket with Gregg Rolie’s organ and piano shading the harmony, Ross Valory anchoring the low end, and Aynsley Dunbar’s drums keeping a no-nonsense pulse. Baker’s production favors dry impact over studio gloss, letting the vocal ride on top and the chorus bloom without burying the rhythm guitars.

Lyrically, the narrator is a traveler between seasons and cities—“I’ve been gone, gone so long”—holding onto the hope that someone back home will “hold on a little bit longer.” The title image is both cosmic and practical: a “wheel” that keeps turning as days pass, with the singer unsure where he’ll be tomorrow. It’s a classic road-song stance, but the writing stays plainspoken, which makes the hook feel inevitable when it hits.

Context on the album explains its impact. Infinity (released January 30, 1978) was Journey’s first LP with Perry and the last with Dunbar, and Baker’s stacked-harmonies approach helped crystallize a more mainstream sound. Sequenced mid-album, “Wheel in the Sky” sits alongside “Lights,” “Feeling That Way/Anytime,” and “Patiently,” signaling how the band would balance melody and muscle across the set.

Radio treated it like a calling card. In the U.S., “Wheel in the Sky” became Journey’s first song to reach the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 57 in 1978; in Canada it climbed to No. 45. Trade reviews praised the “tight lick guitar work” and the strong lead and backing vocals. Modest numbers on paper, perhaps—but crucial in practice, because the single announced Journey’s new identity to pop audiences months before the band’s true chart run accelerated in the early ’80s.

Decades on, the track endures because it captures momentum without bombast. The parts are simple—riff, pocket, voice—but they add up to a feeling of motion you can still hear on modern speakers. As the hinge between the pre-Perry era and the multiplatinum years to come, “Wheel in the Sky” remains a quintessential Journey moment: restlessness sharpened into a hook you can’t help but sing.

Video

Lyric

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 mornin’ sun is risin’, it’s kissing 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’

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 yearning
Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know

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’