Kansas - Carry on My Wayward Son - Lyrics Meaning

Written by guitarist Kerry Livgren it was released for their 1976 album "Leftoverture" Hitting charts internationally, it quickly become one of their most popular songs played throughout TV series and films makes a great addition to their albums.

The lyrics -"There'll be peace when you are done" tend to lead people into thinking this is all about war but it is also a battle within himself, "Masquerading as a man with a reason" - he's struggling to hold onto the belief that his side or his choice is correct, and that there is a reason for the violence, he start to doubt this justification, he battles within himself.

"Surely heaven waits for you" - someday he will leave the horror of battle to a more pleasant place, maybe by death, or it could again be the product of the belief that what he is doing is right and he will make it to heaven.

He hears the voices in his dreams suggesting he is still haunted by his pasts, feeling remorse for killing or contributing to what he now thinks as wrong, he's cynical of the glorification of war and expresses his contempt with it.