Was anyone else oblivious to Kansas's Christian-themed lyrics back in the day?

This ties in to the recent thread about paying close attention lyrical messages...

Back in the late 80's I used to write for a Progressive Rock magazine. I presented a piece on Kansas that touched on all the things I loved about Kansas, tight musicianship, great singing, majestic songwriting, etc. I submitted the piece to the editor who proceed to add an addendum to my article that mentioned the band's Christian-themed lyrics. I had been a pretty big Kansas fan since around 1977 or so and devoured every LP through the band's last one in 1983, but was totally unaware of the strong spiritual themes in KL's lyrics.

Am I the only one?

 

In fact, Kerry Livgren had Contemporary Christian hits as a solo artist back in the day as well.

 

I'd classify "Dust in the Wind" as anthem for Atheists, and "The Wall" sounds to me much more Buddhist in outlook than Christian. So as someone who never dipped into Kansas past the "greatest hits", the Christian link was lost on me as well.

 

I never heard of this....any examples?

 

It wasn't anything unusual. There is a lot of Christian influence in rock era music. It just wasn't blatant and in your face all the time.
Bands and individual artists in bands expressing some religious point of view is only a natural situation of music, it is part of their lives just like sex and relationships, cars, looking at the sky, and whatever other subject matter songwriters are inspired by.

 

Kerry Livgren became an evangelical Christian in 1980. He says of his songwriting in the '70s, "I was only expressing my own searching for something," adding, "If you look at my lyrics, even 'Dust in the Wind' is a song about the transitory nature of our physical lives. That falls under the umbrella heading of God." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=380

 

Since I rarely pay attention to the lyrics, I had no idea.

 

That's quite the revisionist point of view Kerry's got there.

 

Spiritual, yes. Christian, not until 1980. However, Monolith from '79, is right on the edge.

 

Yeah, don't know, I was never good at lyrics, I'm a guitar player so lyrics were always secondary. I went to an all boys high school taught by a religious order and we used to meditate to Dust In The Wind. So thats my connection to the song.

 

I guess the folks in charge didn't listen to the lyrics either.

 

The best known Kansas song that's overtly Christian is probably "Hold On." Otherwise, the most evangelical songs were largely on the band's least popular albums. "Play the Game Tonight" happened during that period but that's a more ambiguous song.

 

"Dust in the wind" is a fairly common theme throughout the bible.

 

Absolutely. "All we are is dust in the wind" clearly relates to the Christian belief that this life is finite, and at the end of the day, all that is physical is transitory. Then there's the afterlife. Seems pretty crystal clear to me.

 

You can say that the early songs were about searching for answers and the later ones were about finding them. Of course not everyone in the band agreed with the answers.

 

Back then I didn't, now I do. It's only a few songs an album.

 

The futility of Earthly existence is not a theme unique to Christian belief. I'd even venture to say that it's basic common sense. A theme that IS unique to Christianity, that Jesus is a conduit to eternal life, is nowhere to be found, or even hinted at, in "Dust in the Wind".

 

Maybe he was in more of an old testament mood that day.

 

True, if you chose to look at the lyrics in a vacuum, but considering the Christian values of the author, it is clear that there is more in the words than what you describe. These lyrics, given what we know of those who wrote them, clearly refer to the transitory nature of this life, and allude to something more, which we can assume relates to Christian beliefs, since Livgren said so himself, and probably knows what his intentions were.

I close my eyes only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind

Now, don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind (all we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind (everything is dust in the wind), everything is dust in the wind (the wind)

 

Since I rarely paid attention to Kansas, I had no idea either...

 

I find the song just an obvious observation about the nature of our existence in this life but nothing spiritual about. There's no pointing to Christ in the song about how we can have eternal life once we pass the physical bonds of this existence.

 

Genesis 3:19 (King James Version): "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

We really are "Dust In The Wind".

 

I got into them, after trading tickets from a cancelled / snowed out Dickey Betts, Dave Mason show, for a Kansas show in a 2500 seat hall. This was 1976, and we referred to them as " Art Rock."
As I always did after a concert that impressed me, I bought their back catalog the next day. That of course, was only 3 albums, plus the then current Leftoverture.
Being a disciple of Mark Farner, I was fine with songs that preached, and besides, I really enjoyed every aspect of the songs.
Lamplight Symphony, Icarus : Borne On Wings Of Steel, Cheyenne Anthem, and on, and on.
I had also moved from Chicago, to just outside Nashville, where Christianity was a part of breathing, so no, nothing jumped out at me. Just good songs that I really enjoyed.

 

Yes - this is what God told Adam and Eve after they sinned. But still I don't find the lyrics 'spiritual' in the sense that the music is telling you to believe or trust in Christ.

God told Adam and Eve what would happen to them (in the future) becuse of their sin but this isn't spiritual necessarily - just fact as far as I can tell. So therefore Dust In The Wind isn't spiritual - just fact - that our bodies decompose to dust and all that we make here in this life turns to dust/deteriorates.

 

Have you heard the one about Carry On My Wayward Son is a religious song? That one gets bandied about too. I don't see it. I think people look for things that they want to find and say it's so - but that doesn't make it necessarily true.

Now the author of the song might've had a different idea and I would have to defer to his intention but for me if I read the lyrics and it doesn't sound like the lyrics I'd hear in church or would hear a praise group sing - then I guess I'd have to say the message isn't very clear or is at the least too obscure for people to understand outright.