The Wall (Kansas song)
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| "The Wall" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Kansas | |
| from the album Leftoverture | |
| Released | October 21, 1976 |
| Studio | Studio in the Country |
| Genre | Progressive rock |
| Length | 4:51 |
| Label | Kirshner |
| Songwriters | Kerry Livgren, Steve Walsh |
| Producers | Jeff Glixman, Kansas |
"The Wall" is a song written by Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh that was first released on Kansas' 1976 album Leftoverture. It was subsequently released on several of the band's live and compilation albums.
Music professor Mitchell Morris interprets "The Wall" and another song from Leftoverture, "Carry On Wayward Son", as examples of "turning the Romantic artist into a prophetic visionary who can be heard in terms of evangelical Protestantism.”[1] He says that "The song spends its time exploring a state just before spiritual rebirth, though certain of that rebirth instead of constructing dramatizations of the process itself [as 'Carry On Wayward Son' does]."[1] He says that in "The Wall" "a more communitarian vision [than in 'Carry On Wayward Son'] seems to be projected in both the lyrics and the music."[1]
Music journalist Gary Graff described "The Wall" as a power ballad.[2] "The Wall" consists of three verses.[1] According to Morris, the first verse "[sets] the visionary problem", the second verse "[amplifies] the emotional state of the lyrical first person" and the last verse "[predicts] the satisfactory resolution."[1] The song includes an instrumental intro, as well as instrumental sections between the last two verses and the end of the song.[1] Morris describes the chord progressions and figuration and being neo-baroque, helping to convey its "grandiose inspiration."[1]
