Carry On My Wayward Son
Lyrics Analysis
Kansas
This song is a rock song by a group called Kansas. This song is about a search, a search for heaven. This song came to Livgren, the band guitarist as he became a Christian in 1980. He explains: "I felt a profound urge to 'Carry On' and continue the search. I saw myself as the 'Wayward Son". A "wayward son" is a person who is lost but might be searching for something.
Rhymes
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about, I'm like a ship on the ocean
Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Metaphors
Carry on my wayward son
(repeated 4 times more)
I set a course for winds of fortune
Biblical/ Religious Allusion
Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man
There'll be peace when you are done
(repeated 4 times)
On a stormy sea
surely heaven waits for you
I was soaring ever higher (Greek: Icarus)
But I flew too high (Greek: Icarus)
The Meaning of the Song Revealed in the 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
Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
surely heaven waits for you
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry (don't you cry no more)
It talks about Jesus still working for you and you trying to find the path to him.