Originally written on May, 16th, 2020.
The song “Dust in the Wind” was written in 1977 by Kerry Livgren for Kansas’ album Point of Know Return. Actually, it wasn’t quite the case that he wrote the song specifically for the album; his wife heard him playing a guitar exercise and nudged him to write lyrics for it and show it to his bandmates. He was reluctant because he felt the song didn’t fit with what the band was doing at all.
As the band was about to finish recording the album, the producer felt something was missing and asked the band members if they had any more songs tucked away. Livgren played “Dust in the Wind,” albeit hesitantly. To his surprise, the other band members were thrilled, and the song made it onto the album. It is true that the song is not at all typical for the band Kansas. It is therefore somewhat embarrassing that this is the song people remember when the band is mentioned.
The song’s philosophical lyrics deal with human existence and the fact that all our life struggles are quite insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Worldly wealth changes nothing because it all goes the same way. Every person who lives will eventually die, and what they leave behind becomes nothing. Just like dust blowing away in the wind.
The song is simple but mesmerizing. Kansas performed the song with two guitars, a violin, and a viola. The arrangement played here is a fingerstyle arrangement for one guitar, created by Sungha Jung. The chords are simple, and I picked them up quickly, but it took longer to get the speed up in the plucking hand. Actually, I haven’t mastered the song properly yet. The barre chord in the solo section keeps tripping me up.
