Kansas: Dust in the Wind Meaning

Song Released: 1978

Dust in the Wind Lyrics

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...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 1st 2009 !⃝

   hi Derk here "London,,its a great song, i love the scorpions video,i guess what the song suggests is exactly what we are, i don't see any mystical message, basically we,re here for a short time and can hang on to nothing and become the title,,, depressing anit! i think there is more, all our parts atoms water etc are reused inc animals insects etc (fact)so i suppose this is a form of scientific reancarnation.may be this was meant by dust in the wind.
2. axedaddy

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   Jan 16th 2009 !⃝

   My opinion is this song is just his humble interpretation of what life is, and that we throw too much meaning on it. Maybe we are just a small part of a much bigger system and our lives are just an insignificant although necessary part of that system (pardon me for sounding all matrix'y).
   
   "All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity."
   
   This line really interests me cause I have the same thing happen. I think he has dreams that come true. Its difficult to explain but is an amazing phenomenon that happens to some people. Things that he's dreamed in the past have actually happened and he finds it curious.
   
   By the way if your wondering, Im a university educated person. A musician. A father and husband. Dont believe in god but think theres more to things than meets the eye. Very interested in the concept of time and simultaneous events. Id love to talk to Einstein.
3. anonymous

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   Oct 15th 2008 !⃝

   This was in fact prior to the horror that was Livgren's conversion to Christianity. At this point all of his songs were still amazing. It wasn't until after Monolith that you can see an incredible decline in musical complexity.
   
   The premise of this song is as it's title implies. It merely addresses the futility of human life, the search for the assumed reason for being. When we are gone the traces of our existence will slowly erode with the passing of time until it is as if we never were.
   
   The song seems almost from the point of view of a an immortal being (NOT necessarily a god) as more time passes longer moments seem shorter in comparison with the total span you have experienced. The passing of time is portrayed on a larger scale; in perspective with the immense reaches of time itself, the span of human life or of the species itself is so infinitely small as to be hardly noticed as he "closes his eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone."
4. anonymous

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   Sep 21st 2008 !⃝

   My interpretation of this song is that it's not about whether your worthless or trying to be somebody it's about living. If you don't live your life then you will never achieve anything and if you do it won't be original and you won't have succeeded in anything. The world never stops and so shouldn't people, it's all about living for the moment.
5. Lucid_Daydreaming

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   Dec 8th 2007 !⃝

   "I close my eyes. Only for a moment and the moment's gone.
   All my dreams.. Flash before my eyes of curiosity."
   
   Time doesn't exist, it's simultaneous. Our minds set barriers to keep us from noticing that.
   
   "Same old song Just a drop of water in an endless sea All we do Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see"
   
   Same again, our lives are that of a drop of water returning to the sea. When everything is connected, is this how it tries to justify it's existence?
   
   "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"
   
   Don't worry about how long you're going to be around. Killing yourself over building a future ends the same as if you tried to enjoy life. So the choice is yours.
6. crutchead

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   Feb 14th 2006 !⃝

   This song seems to reflect thematically what the book of Ecclesiastes is trying to convey. It pictures the fact that nothing in this world lasts forever.
   
   I've heard sometime ago that the song is one among those that encourages suicide and that it've been responsible for contributing to that for a number of people who've killed themselves right after hearing a song - such as ROD STEWART's "Scarred and Scared"...
   
   What bothered me a lot about the song are the lines: "Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky" ~ which seem to be the very line that encourage the very idea regarding the song.
   
   I agree with the second post on many points. I don’t think that Kerry Livgren is already a christian though when he wrote this one, I believe this song’s written during his pre-Christian years by the time when this song came out, that in being the lead-member for KANSAS – he stretched that Christian influence further to the band’s music when he became an avowed Christian– until he finally left and came up with his own solo project, the band AD.
   
   For Livgren's obvious drive for KANSAS bearing the Christian
   ethos- check the album VINYL CONFESSIONS.
   
   Going back to that line again – looking at it closely, it speaks rather of the very matter that we DO really need a higher being for what is worth in this passing life, which pits it likely to suggest that Livgren is already exploring theology during the point when he wrote the song.
   
   Furthermore, I found that Livgren’s first effort with his outfit AD – the album ART OF THE STATE to be one of the finest Lp’s ever recorded, production-wise; and I do recall that it’s one among the first albums that educated me of sorts regarding textures in stereophonic effects and stuff… And on another note, this song in particular is the first that I’ve ever listened to with authentic appreciation by the time when the song just came out – I was just about only 6 years old at that time; along with ZEP’s ‘Stairway’, and the BEATLES’ Sgt. Pepper album in its entirety and EAGLES’ Hotel California, whilst our old man tries to bombard our household with Perez Frado and Ray Conniff.
7. SpikeRulesHell

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   Feb 10th 2006 !⃝

   I believe this song's message is that we are meaningless, but not worthless (yes, there is a difference). If you are meaningless, nothing you do matters (all we do crumbles to the ground...). If you are worthless, you-as a person-don't matter. And, of course, we are humans, so we don't want to believe this (...though we refuse to see).
   
   Alternatively, it could mean that we are individually meaningless but together we are not (another one of those come together songs). I don't really believe this, but hey, it could be it.
8. blackrapture

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   Oct 20th 2005 !⃝

   I strongly disagree that this is about being worthless. I think that in this song Kerry Livgren is trying to convey that there is something more valuable than this world and all its repetition. Kerry Livgren has stated to be of the "Christian" faith and this song would greatly comply to that. When he says " all we are is dust in the wind"
   
   I think he is refering to the verse in the bible where God says " from dust you have come, to dust you shall return". We are in essence dust in the wind. We can't hold on to moments in this life, in this world. We need something divine to save us from being a drop in the sea. He wrote this song in honesty. We are dust in the wind and we can choose to try and buy a minute-which always results in failure- or we can find faith and trade in our lost longing for hope and reward in heaven.
   
   This is my personal opinion of what his intentions were in writing this song based on my knowledge of who he is as a person. In no way have I tried to express my own beliefs through this interpretation I am simply observing what I think is truth.
9. username

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   Jul 9th 2005 !⃝

   Not a very uplifting tune. This song is basically an annoying reminder that nothing we do matters. We are just a drop of water in an endless sea. The world is so vast and has so many people with their own opinions, acomplishments, mistakes, sob stories, success stories. Then all those people die, and the people that knew them and miss them die. It's all a vicious cycle. I think they're wrong though. If nothing really matters, how have we come so far in government, technology, and civilization? I guess it all depends on how you look at it. A very deep song... I feel worthless now...

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