They were working on a new album, recording tracks for what would become Leftoverture, and Livgren was doing most of the writing — band member Steve Walsh was on an empty streak, creatively — and one tune Livgren penned at the last minute caught everyone's ear, sort of. As Kansas guitarist Rich Williams told Ultimate Classic Rock, some members were less than thrilled. They didn't really want to learn yet another song before heading into the studio, but "Carry On Wayward Son" was something special from the beginning — in Williams' words, "'Whoa! This has got some promise to it!'"

With lines like, "Carry on, my wayward son / There'll be peace when you are done," fans may think the song is religious, possibly referring to "The Prodigal Son." However, according to Livgren, the track is actually about his life. Says Livgren, "It's an autobiographical song. Parallel to my musical career I've always been on a spiritual sojourn, looking for truth and meaning. It was a song of self-encouragement. I was telling myself to keep on looking and I would find what I sought." And so he did.

The song's popularity later got a boost by CW show Supernatural, which pretty much adopted "Carry On" as an unofficial theme song. Ehart shared, "And millions of these younger people that are watching the show hear the song. They go to YouTube, they go to Google, whatever, and listen to it, and start coming to our shows only knowing that song, and now starting to know other stuff about Kansas."