Kansas

"Carry On Wayward Son" is a hit progressive rock single recorded by Kansas and written by Kerry Livgren for their 1976 album Leftoverture. In 1977, the song peaked at #11 on the Billboard pop singles chart, becoming their first Top 40 hit. Because of its lyrics, the song is often misnamed as "Carry On My Wayward Son". The 7" single has been certified Gold by the RIAA. This version was a much shorter version of the song, edited down to 3' 26", a version that was also the band's only single to chart in the UK, reaching the top 60 there. It was also the first 12" single released anywhere by the band when it was released in the UK in that format, thought it was still the edited version. All initial releases of the single had a B-side of "Questions of My Childhood," continuing the tradition of Kansas and many other bands with multiple songwriters of putting a song by band's other primary writer on the B-side of any single. This song is 96th on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs. This was written by Kansas guitarist Kerry Livgren. According to Livgren, the song was not written to express anything specifically religious, though it certainly expresses spiritual searching and other ideas. People have attributed all sorts of alternative meanings to it, but he suggests taking the song as it is. For more info on Carry On Wayward Son see http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2452.