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A Seattle Translation/Explanation Of The Lyrics to "Carry On My Wayward Son" By Kansas
<CHORUS>
"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"
***NOW, I WOULD SAY THAT THE FICTIONAL SUBJECT OF THIS SONG WAS HANGING OUT AT HIS PARENT'S HOUSE IN CHAMPAIGN ILLINOIS, WHICH ALSO SERVED AS A PRACTICE SPACE FOR HIS BAND, WHICH WE SHALL CALL "THE WAYWARD SONS"...AND HE WAS READING A COPY OF THE BRITISH PUBLICATION 'NEW MUSIC EXPRESS', WHICH TOLD HIM OF A NEW LAND OF MUSIC MADE JUST FOR HIM, CALLED SEATTLE WASHINGTON, WHERE HE COULD EXPRESS HIS ALTERNATIVE SOUL. WHEN HE GOT THERE, EVERYTHING WOULD BE ALRIGHT, AND HE AND HIS BAND WERE SURE TO GET A RECORD DEAL AFTER ALL HIS TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. THERE WOULD BE NO PAIN, SORROW, OR POVERTY...ONLY PARTIES AND FUN.***
"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 high"
***OK, SO WHEN THE BAND "THE WAYWARD SONS" CAME TO SEATTLE, IT WAS HARDER THAN THEY THOUGHT TO GET A RECORD DEAL, BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY BANDS, SO MANY PLACES TO PLAY, AND NOTHING ELSE TO DO AT THE TIME. SO, THE SUBJECT ENDS UP NOT LIKING HIS JOB THROWING FISH AT THE PIKE PLACE MARKET, AND HE SOON DEVELOPS A SERIOUS HEROIN HABIT.***
"Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say..."
***THOUGH THE SUBJECT KNEW THAT HE COULD PLAY HIS INSTRUMENT AND SING THE LYRICS TO "THE WAYWARD SONS" COMPLETE REPERTOIRE EVEN WHILE HIGH, HE KNEW THAT HE WAS IN TROUBLE, AND PUTTING HIS WHOLE BAND'S CAREER IN JEOPARDY WITH THE MONKEY ON HIS BACK. YET, SOMETHING DEEP INSIDE, OR EVEN MORE SPIRITUAL FROM AFAR, KEPT BECKONING HIM AND GUIDING HIM, WHEN HE HEARD THE VOICES SAY...***
<REPEAT CHORUS (SEE THE INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATION)>
"Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know"
***SO, THE WAYWARD SONS AT LEAST HAD SOME FRIENDS HERE, AND SOMEWHAT OF A DRAW. THE ROCKET, THE LOCAL PUBLICATION AT THE TIME, WAS GAME TO GIVE THEM A LITTLE PRESS, AND LUCKILY, IT WAS ENOUGH TO GET THEM A GIG AT "THE EVENT OF THE SEASON", WHICH WAS BUMBERSHOOT AT THE SEATTLE CENTER, IN THE FLAG PAVILLION. UNFORTUNATELY, HE SAID SOME UN-POLITICALLY CORRECT THINGS IN-BETWEEN SONGS DURING THEIR SET. THE ROCKET'S REVIEW OF THE SHOW CLAIMED THAT THE LEAD SINGER OF "THE WAYWARD SONS" WAS A "VERY STUPID MAN". THE SUBJECT TRIED TO COVER HIS ACTIONS BY SAYING THAT WHAT HE SAID WAS TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT...BUT BY THAT TIME, IT DIDN'T MATTER, BECAUSE THERE WAS ALREADY ANOTHER BAND IN TEXAS CALLED "THE WAYWARD SONS" WHO WERE BETTER, HAD MORE FANS, AND WERE SIGNED TO A GOOD INDEPENDENT LABEL.***
"On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say-"
***"THE WAYWARD SONS" SOON COULD ONLY GET GIGS IN THE TOWN OF BREMERTON, ON BAINBRIDGE ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF PUGET SOUND. THEIR NEWFOUND MECCA SEATTLE HAD ALL BUT GIVEN UP ON THEM COMPLETELY. THE REST OF THE BAND MEMBERS TALKED OF LEAVING THEIR SERIOUSLY ADDICTED-TO-HEROIN LEAD SINGER BEHIND AND GOING BACK HOME TO GET REAL JOBS... BUT DECIDED TO KICK HIM OUT INSTEAD. THEY MOVED TO TACOMA, CHANGED THEIR NAME TO "THE SPLENDOR", AND STARTED PLAYING THE "VANS TOUR" SKATE ROCK FESTIVAL REGULARLY. THEY WERE EVENTUALLY SIGNED TO INTERSCOPE RECORDS. OUR SAD, DOWNTRODDEN SUBJECT TRIED A SOLO CAREER...AND EVEN THOUGH NO ONE WANTED TO KNOW, HE KEPT ON TRYING...AND TRYING...***
<REPEAT CHORUS>
"No!"
<GUITAR SOLO>
***AT THIS POINT, OUR SUBJECT HAD KICKED HEROIN, AND WAS A SPONSOR TO OTHER WASHED-UP ROCK AND ROLL HOPEFULS IN SEATTLE. HE HAD FOUND HIS TRUE MISSION. HE MARRIED HIS GIRLFRIEND, WHO HAD ALSO KICKED JUNK, AND THEY BECAME DRUG COUNSELORS AT THE SAME YOUTH CLINIC. SADLY, TRAGEDY STUCK, WHEN HE FOUND OUT THAT HE HAD CANCER. THROUGH MONTHS AND MONTHS OF CHEMO TREATMENTS, AND EVEN BENEFIT SHOWS PUT ON BY HIS EX-BANDMATES NOW IN "THE SPLENDOR", THE DOCTORS TOLD HIM THAT HE DID NOT HAVE LONG TO LIVE.***
"Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
The center lights around your vanity
But surely heaven waits for you"
***ON HIS DEATHBED, WITH HIS PREGNANT WIFE BY HIS SIDE, HE REMEMBERED HIS LIFE AND HOW MEANINGFUL IT REALLY WAS IN THE END. HE FELT THAT HE COULD GO INTO THE LIGHT WITH EASE, KNOWING THAT THE NEW SPAWN COULD CARRY ON HIS ORIGINAL DREAM AND MISSION OF SPREADING THE MESSAGE OF ROCK TO THE MASSES. HIS WIFE EXCLAIMED "I'LL SEE YOU IN HEAVEN", AS HE DRIFTED INTO THE LIGHT.*******
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)
***THE NEW "WAYWARD SON" STARTED LIFE THE RIGHT WAY, LEARNED OF HIS FATHER'S MISTAKES AND HIS LATER TRIUMPHS...AND IT IS SAID THAT NOW, AT AGE 10, HE IS A STUDENT AT THE SEATTLE BRANCH OF 'THE PAUL GREEN SCHOOL OF ROCK MUSIC'. WAY TO GO, JUNIOR!!!***
"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"
***NOW, I WOULD SAY THAT THE FICTIONAL SUBJECT OF THIS SONG WAS HANGING OUT AT HIS PARENT'S HOUSE IN CHAMPAIGN ILLINOIS, WHICH ALSO SERVED AS A PRACTICE SPACE FOR HIS BAND, WHICH WE SHALL CALL "THE WAYWARD SONS"...AND HE WAS READING A COPY OF THE BRITISH PUBLICATION 'NEW MUSIC EXPRESS', WHICH TOLD HIM OF A NEW LAND OF MUSIC MADE JUST FOR HIM, CALLED SEATTLE WASHINGTON, WHERE HE COULD EXPRESS HIS ALTERNATIVE SOUL. WHEN HE GOT THERE, EVERYTHING WOULD BE ALRIGHT, AND HE AND HIS BAND WERE SURE TO GET A RECORD DEAL AFTER ALL HIS TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. THERE WOULD BE NO PAIN, SORROW, OR POVERTY...ONLY PARTIES AND FUN.***
"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 high"
***OK, SO WHEN THE BAND "THE WAYWARD SONS" CAME TO SEATTLE, IT WAS HARDER THAN THEY THOUGHT TO GET A RECORD DEAL, BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY BANDS, SO MANY PLACES TO PLAY, AND NOTHING ELSE TO DO AT THE TIME. SO, THE SUBJECT ENDS UP NOT LIKING HIS JOB THROWING FISH AT THE PIKE PLACE MARKET, AND HE SOON DEVELOPS A SERIOUS HEROIN HABIT.***
"Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say..."
***THOUGH THE SUBJECT KNEW THAT HE COULD PLAY HIS INSTRUMENT AND SING THE LYRICS TO "THE WAYWARD SONS" COMPLETE REPERTOIRE EVEN WHILE HIGH, HE KNEW THAT HE WAS IN TROUBLE, AND PUTTING HIS WHOLE BAND'S CAREER IN JEOPARDY WITH THE MONKEY ON HIS BACK. YET, SOMETHING DEEP INSIDE, OR EVEN MORE SPIRITUAL FROM AFAR, KEPT BECKONING HIM AND GUIDING HIM, WHEN HE HEARD THE VOICES SAY...***
<REPEAT CHORUS (SEE THE INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATION)>
"Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know"
***SO, THE WAYWARD SONS AT LEAST HAD SOME FRIENDS HERE, AND SOMEWHAT OF A DRAW. THE ROCKET, THE LOCAL PUBLICATION AT THE TIME, WAS GAME TO GIVE THEM A LITTLE PRESS, AND LUCKILY, IT WAS ENOUGH TO GET THEM A GIG AT "THE EVENT OF THE SEASON", WHICH WAS BUMBERSHOOT AT THE SEATTLE CENTER, IN THE FLAG PAVILLION. UNFORTUNATELY, HE SAID SOME UN-POLITICALLY CORRECT THINGS IN-BETWEEN SONGS DURING THEIR SET. THE ROCKET'S REVIEW OF THE SHOW CLAIMED THAT THE LEAD SINGER OF "THE WAYWARD SONS" WAS A "VERY STUPID MAN". THE SUBJECT TRIED TO COVER HIS ACTIONS BY SAYING THAT WHAT HE SAID WAS TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT...BUT BY THAT TIME, IT DIDN'T MATTER, BECAUSE THERE WAS ALREADY ANOTHER BAND IN TEXAS CALLED "THE WAYWARD SONS" WHO WERE BETTER, HAD MORE FANS, AND WERE SIGNED TO A GOOD INDEPENDENT LABEL.***
"On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say-"
***"THE WAYWARD SONS" SOON COULD ONLY GET GIGS IN THE TOWN OF BREMERTON, ON BAINBRIDGE ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF PUGET SOUND. THEIR NEWFOUND MECCA SEATTLE HAD ALL BUT GIVEN UP ON THEM COMPLETELY. THE REST OF THE BAND MEMBERS TALKED OF LEAVING THEIR SERIOUSLY ADDICTED-TO-HEROIN LEAD SINGER BEHIND AND GOING BACK HOME TO GET REAL JOBS... BUT DECIDED TO KICK HIM OUT INSTEAD. THEY MOVED TO TACOMA, CHANGED THEIR NAME TO "THE SPLENDOR", AND STARTED PLAYING THE "VANS TOUR" SKATE ROCK FESTIVAL REGULARLY. THEY WERE EVENTUALLY SIGNED TO INTERSCOPE RECORDS. OUR SAD, DOWNTRODDEN SUBJECT TRIED A SOLO CAREER...AND EVEN THOUGH NO ONE WANTED TO KNOW, HE KEPT ON TRYING...AND TRYING...***
<REPEAT CHORUS>
"No!"
<GUITAR SOLO>
***AT THIS POINT, OUR SUBJECT HAD KICKED HEROIN, AND WAS A SPONSOR TO OTHER WASHED-UP ROCK AND ROLL HOPEFULS IN SEATTLE. HE HAD FOUND HIS TRUE MISSION. HE MARRIED HIS GIRLFRIEND, WHO HAD ALSO KICKED JUNK, AND THEY BECAME DRUG COUNSELORS AT THE SAME YOUTH CLINIC. SADLY, TRAGEDY STUCK, WHEN HE FOUND OUT THAT HE HAD CANCER. THROUGH MONTHS AND MONTHS OF CHEMO TREATMENTS, AND EVEN BENEFIT SHOWS PUT ON BY HIS EX-BANDMATES NOW IN "THE SPLENDOR", THE DOCTORS TOLD HIM THAT HE DID NOT HAVE LONG TO LIVE.***
"Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
The center lights around your vanity
But surely heaven waits for you"
***ON HIS DEATHBED, WITH HIS PREGNANT WIFE BY HIS SIDE, HE REMEMBERED HIS LIFE AND HOW MEANINGFUL IT REALLY WAS IN THE END. HE FELT THAT HE COULD GO INTO THE LIGHT WITH EASE, KNOWING THAT THE NEW SPAWN COULD CARRY ON HIS ORIGINAL DREAM AND MISSION OF SPREADING THE MESSAGE OF ROCK TO THE MASSES. HIS WIFE EXCLAIMED "I'LL SEE YOU IN HEAVEN", AS HE DRIFTED INTO THE LIGHT.*******
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)
***THE NEW "WAYWARD SON" STARTED LIFE THE RIGHT WAY, LEARNED OF HIS FATHER'S MISTAKES AND HIS LATER TRIUMPHS...AND IT IS SAID THAT NOW, AT AGE 10, HE IS A STUDENT AT THE SEATTLE BRANCH OF 'THE PAUL GREEN SCHOOL OF ROCK MUSIC'. WAY TO GO, JUNIOR!!!***
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