Lay Your Weary Head To Rest

The song ‘Carry on My Wayward Son’ by the rock band Kansas was written by Kerry Livgren for their 1976 album ‘Leftoverture’. It has become the theme song for the television series ‘Supernatural’ and many people have so strongly associated it with the series that the meaning of the song has been linked to the show. But obviously the song was written long before ‘Supernatural’ was created.

So what does the song really mean? The chorus of the song is meant to be a conversation between Daedalus and his son, Icarus. In Greek mythology Daedalus was a master craftsman who was imprisoned on the island Crete together with his son, Icarus.Daedalus then crafted wings from feathers and wax for the two of them with which he was hoping that they could escape. He warned Icarus to not fly too low, close to the sea, because the moisture would dampen the feathers. He also told him not to fly too close to the sun, because it would melt the wax.

But Icarus, excited by the possibility of flight, soared too high and came too close to the sun. The wax melted and he tumbled to a death of drowning in the ocean. The chorus of the song is Daedalus’ response to the freedom Icarus gained in dying: “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”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.