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

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Mar 30th 2008 !⃝

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

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 12th 2007 !⃝

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

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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.
4. dourdan

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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.)
5. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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.)
6. helldawg66

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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.
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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
9. username

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   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)

Latest Articles

• 
  A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park
• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)