In the mid 1970s, Kansas founding member Kerry Livgren was brushing up on his acoustic guitar skills when he unexpectedly wrote a song.
The song, “Dust in the Wind,” appeared on the 1977 album Point of Know Return and would go on to become the progressive rock band’s biggest hit. It was Kansas’s only U.S. Top 10 single, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1978.
In an interview with Hawaii radio host Dave Lawrence, Livgren, now 76, shared details on the “interesting, almost humorous history” of the song.
“Actually, I was trying to improve my skills as an acoustic guitarist, I've always been an electric player,” he revealed. “And I came up with this finger exercise, which was basically ‘Dust in the Wind.’
He noted that his wife's persistence was a key factor in his penning the future hit. "I was sitting in my music room practicing, and my wife kept walking by the room, and she'd stick her head in the door and she'd go, 'You better do something with that.’ And I said, ‘Honey, this is just an exercise, this is not going anywhere, this is just something to improve my skill,'" he shared. "And she kept bugging me, and finally she said, you know, ‘Put some words to that, sing a melody because I'm telling you, you really got something there.’”
Livgren recalled that he had been reading a book of Native American poetry at the time as well as a Bible passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes about vanity, which “just seemed to go with that melodic line.”
“So I threw it together and came in the last day of rehearsal," he continued. "And the guys were all there, and you know, Kansas is this big progressive heavy rocking band. And I walk in with this acoustic guitar and say, ‘Okay, Vicci, you know, my wife says I need to play this for you guys.’ And so I sit down, and I played the song for them on acoustic guitar, and I sang it, which if anything, was going to kill the song that would. And I looked up when I was done, and the guys were all just kind of had this blank look on their faces. And they said, 'Where has that been?’"
"I said, 'What do you mean, you like that thing?'” Livgren recalled.
The guitarist and songwriter added that he “literally wrote the string arrangement” for the song in a motel room down the road from the recording studio
In a separate interview, Livgren told Guitar World’s Acoustic Nation that “Dust in the Wind” was written in record time—once he decided to make a song out of it.
“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,’” he shared. “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.”
“When I played it for the band, there was stunned silence,” he shared.
The band members couldn't believe what they heard
Kansas drummer Phil Erhart said the other band members were taken aback by the beautiful song.
“We were working on the songs for Point Of Know Return and [Kerry] said, ‘Guys, I’ve brought a song and it’s kind of different. It doesn’t have any drums or bass,’” Erhart told Classic Rock magazine in 2018. "He had this little reel-to-reel that he’d recorded it on. We listened to it and all of us were just blown away. Kerry goes, ‘You mean you guys like it?’
“I remember either Rich [Williams, guitarist] or Steve [Walsh, lead singer/organist] going, ‘Man, that’s a hit! That’s the kind of song you’d hear on the radio.’ I’ll never forget how surprised Kerry was by the reaction,” he added.
The Kansas drummer also said, “I’d put ‘Dust In The Wind’ up there with any of the greatest ballads that have ever been written.”
?SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox?
Hence then, the article about 70s rock legend was shocked by his accidental hit 50 years ago was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( '70s Rock Legend Was Shocked By His Accidental Hit 50 Years Ago )
Also on site :
- Nuclear neighbors and a two‑front threat: Why India needs a rocket force
- 2010s Rock Band Announces Tour for 10th Anniversary of Debut Album
- Greenland hit by power outage, strong winds in wake of US tensions easing