Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son Meaning

Song Released: 1976

Carry on Wayward Son Lyrics

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 11th 2008 !⃝

   I think this has to do with the people in war.and the people who have a bad life filled with sadness,and about the people that realize the things we're doing to ruin this world, and the voices the hear when they dream is a sign from their conscience telling them it's gonna be alright. also that it represents the human being's quest for wealth. They fight their feelings to find out the wonders of life.
   "On a stormy sea of moving emotion
   Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
   I set a course for winds of fortune "
   
   and that's what I think the song means
2. anonymous

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   Mar 30th 2008 !⃝

   It's a song made by the guitarist because he wanted to allude from another Kansas song.
3. Surfer_Coyote

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   Oct 12th 2007 !⃝

   It's about a man on the brink of suicide.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 17th 2007 !⃝

   I've always believed this song was about a man who thought he knew what his life was about but something happened (still fuzzy on that part) and his whole belief system was thrown into doubt and he is "lost" and doesn't know how to make it better, but though he's going through emotional turmoil something keeps making him believe that things will get better and life will go on.
5. dourdan

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   Jul 17th 2007 !⃝

   To me it feels like the character is trying to find faith in god; or some sort of higher power to lead him out of his time of misery (I first heard this on the Anchorman trailer but as time I went on .. and my life became just as screwed up... It always gave me hope.)
6. anonymous

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   Jun 24th 2007 !⃝

   I always assumed that Wayward Son was based on the ancient Myth of Daedalus and Icarus. It's about a father and son who build wings out of feathers and wax in order to escape from the Labyrinth. Icarus, the son, flies to close to the sun, the wax melts and he plummets into the ocean and dies. (I was soaring ever higher, but I flew to high.)
7. helldawg66

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   Apr 21st 2007 !⃝

   This song is about a person who is entirely lost mentally. They are unsure of theirself, and don't know what is going on in the world around them. In the song, the person who is unsure is being told not to worry and that everything will be fine.
8. anonymous

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   Feb 13th 2007 !⃝

   I heard that the writer wrote this for his brother who became a heavy drinker after he came home from a war(i'm not sure which one) and caught his wife cheating on him
9. anonymous

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   Jan 19th 2006 !⃝

   I think this song is about a man's son who is lost.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. username

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    Jul 10th 2005 !⃝

    This is loaded with biblical metaphors, including the lifting of a sinner's (wayward) burdens by God: "Lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more; there'll be peace when you are done." (thanks, chas - tampa, FL)