Is Streets really Jon story?
Although Streets appears to be autobiographical, its is a work of fiction. Seeing that Jon struggled with many of the same problems as DT, his lyrics seem all too real at many points. Streets was never meant be an autobiography though. In fact, it was written in 1979 and stored in a drawer at Paul O’Neill’s home until Criss Oliva found it and suggested it be Savatage’s next album. Incidentally, Jon’s favorite Savatage tune of all time isn’t “Somewhere In Time” or “Believe” as has long been thought. It’s “Tonight He Grins Again.” Q: Is it true that Paul wrote the entire story and music prior to meeting Savatage. A: Although Paul began work on the basic storyline years before Streets was recorded, the album was the joint work of Jon, Paul and Criss. There has been much dispute over the years of how Streets actually came to be. Paul presented the idea to Savatage, and they loved it. So in 1990-91 the band wrote the album based on Pauls story line. Contrary to popular belief, Paul did not
