Sometimes a band needs to step outside its comfort zone, especially when they’re in possession of a fantastic song that might not fit their usual style. Kansas wisely followed that path with “Dust in the Wind,” a song somewhat uncharacteristic of their usual approach, but one that became their biggest hit.
What is the song about? What inspired it? And why did the song’s writer hesitate to bring it to the band’s attention? Let’s find out all the details about one of classic rock’s most beloved ballads, “Dust in the Wind.”
We’re Definitely in Kansas
You get three guesses where the band Kansas originated, and the first two don’t count. Yes, that’s right, they hailed from Topeka, but they arrived on the scene on their self-titled 1974 debut album with a sound a bit more complex than the state-based name might suggest. They combined elements of prog rock and hard rock and made great headphone music.
But all you need to do is check out some of the song titles from that first record (“Belexes,” “Journey from Mariabronn,” “Death of Mother Nature Suite”) and the lengths of some of those tracks (three of eight were over seven minutes), and you can probably tell Kansas was perfect for freeform FM radio programmers. But they weren’t quite right for the pop charts.
Yet, lo and behold, their 1976 album Leftoverture produced “Carry on My Wayward Sun,” which with its striking a cappella opening and contained-but-crunching guitar attack, battered its way into the Top 20. That opened the doors for Kansas to strike again. But first, one of their founders and chief writers had to get over his reticence to present a song to the rest of the group.
Shaking Out the “Dust”
Kerry Livgren was one of the original members of the group that eventually morphed into Kansas, and he was responsible for a good chunk of their songwriting. Because he was more used to playing electric guitar, he decided to polish up his acoustic techniques. To do that, he came up with a picking exercise and attached some chord changes to it. His wife, happening by as he was playing, said he should turn it into a song.
As for the lyrics, Livgren explained to Guitar World how they came to be:
“I was reading a book of American Indian poetry at the time, and happened to come across this line: ‘All we are is dust in the wind.’ It really struck me and stuck with me. I was humming that line along with this fingerpicking exercise, and 15 minutes later I had a song. I put it down on a little four-track analog tape recorder and took it to a rehearsal.”
Livgren then reluctantly played the rest of the band the song when they asked if they had anything to fill out what would become their 1977 album Point of Know Return. He was hesitant because the quiet, acoustic “Dust in the Wind” was so different from what the band usually produced. But the others quickly heard the striking beauty of the song, and there was no doubt they’d be recording it.
What is the Meaning of “Dust in the Wind”?
“Dust in the Wind” is a meditation on the ephemeral nature of life. While Livgren’s lyrics (as sung by lead singer Steve Walsh) focus on the negative connotations of that notion, which is understandable considering the downcast tone of the music, the unspoken message is you have to make the most of what time you have.
The song begins by focusing on the micro: I close my eyes / Only for a moment and the moment’s gone. Those moments add up to a lifetime that speeds away from us: All we do / Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. And any efforts to stop the process are folly: It slips away / And all your money won’t another minute buy.
Which leads to the inevitable conclusion: All we are is dust in the wind. Not exactly uplifting, but insightful. And, at the time, not exactly typical of Kansas. But, as it turned out, as successful as anything they ever released.
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