![]() Ronsha from New JerseyNo offense, but screw Supernatural - this song has always been amazing even before the show began.Hallam from Michigan, UsaWas Steve Walsh's a capella vocal intro on "Carry on Wayward Son" double-tracked? It gave Kansas the staying power it needed to keep producing records with Kirshner, and earned Kerry Livgren the reputation as one of the most respected musicians and lyricists in rock and roll. "Carry On" became the bands' first Top 40 hit (peaking at #11), and is often regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. ![]() The album, while met with mixed reviews by critics, was commercially successful, going platinum five times. For instance, the string part at the end of the second track, "The Wall", was an old song idea that was added on to the end of the song for the record. The album title comes from the idea that many of the songs are leftover songs from the band's past. In reality, the song was almost not included on the album, and thus contributes to the album's title of Leftoverture. ![]() However, the chorus expresses hope that everything will work out and that he must simply keep going. The piano interlude and accompanying verse express how happy the band's success had made him, as well as how sad and fearful he was that it might possibly be over ("I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high"). ![]() Sitting at his parent's home, in front of the family organ, Livgren composed the music for what would become "Carry On Wayward Son." In late 2011, Livgren stated in a short interview at his home that the lyrics were partially about himself and the struggles and pressures he was facing at the time when the band's career was on the line. Lead singer and keyboard player, Steve Walsh, began suffering from writer's block which hindered his songwriting contributions, and so it was left up to lead guitar player and lyricist, Kerry Livgren, to generate song ideas and lyrics. Overwhelmed and distressed with the predicament, the band returned to their hometown of Topeka, Kansas, to relax and begin writing for the next album. While he personally enjoyed the band, producer Don Kirshner gave Kansas one last chance: produce a hit record, or be dropped by the label. Kansas' previous record, Masque, was a commercial failure, and the progressive style of the band and their songs hindered their ability to get serious radio play. It proved to be prophetic.The album Leftoverture not only propelled Kansas to international stardom, it also saved the band for the time being. The positive note at the end, surely heaven waits for you, seemed strange and premature, but I felt impelled to include it in the lyrics. “I saw myself as the ‘Wayward Son,’ alienated from the ultimate reality, and yet striving to know it or him. “I felt a profound urge to ‘Carry On’ and continue the search,” said Livgren in a 1984 interview. ChristianityĪlthough Livgren became an evangelical Christian in 1980, he said the songs he wrote up until that point, including “Carry On Wayward Son” and the band’s 1977 hit “Dust in the Wind”-weren’t religious but centered more about “searching” for something. “Carry On Wayward Son” is also linked to their song “The Pinnacle,” the closing track on the band’s previous album Masque, as a continuation of the lyrics I stood where no man goes / Above the din I rose / Life is amusing though we are losing / Drowned in tears of awe. Though my mind could think, I still was a mad man Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion Once I rose above the noise and confusion
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