Kansas - Song for America Lyrics

Artist: Kansas

Album: Song For America

  • Songwriters: Kerry Livgren

Virgin land of forest green
Dark and stormy plains, here all life abounds
Sunlit valley, mountain fields
Unseen in the rain, here all life abounds

No man rules this land
No human hand has soiled this paradise
Waiting patiently, so much to see
So rich in Earth's delights

Painted desert, sequined sky
Stars that fill the night, here all life abounds
Rivers flowing to the sea
Sunshine pure and bright, here all life abounds

No man rules this land
No human hand has soiled this paradise
Waiting patiently, so much to see
So rich in Earth's delights

So the maiden lies in waiting
For the sails to reach the shore
Land of beauty and abundance
Innocent, opened wide your door

Wanderers found the waiting treasure
Full of gifts beyond their measure
Milk and honey for our pleasure

Across the sea there came a multitude
Sailing ships upon the wave
Filled with visions of Utopia
And the freedom that they crave

Ravage, plunder, see no wonder
Rape and kill and tear asunder
Chop the forest, plow it under

Highways scar the mountainsides
Buildings to the sky, people all around
Houses stand in endless rows
Sea to shining sea, people all around

So we rule this land
And here we stand upon our paradise
Dreaming of a place
Our weary race is ready to arise


Official Artist-Approved Licensed Lyrics from Gracenote.
Copyright © Don Kirshner/blackwood Music Pub
Lyrics Terms of Use

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What does this song mean to you?

  • ttpope_colo

    The Summit & Epitome of European settlers to North America, is presented and represented, all the negative aspects of Anglo-Saxon's resettling with a sea of humanity. The "Go West Young Man" as shown in the sheer numbers.

    Does this "Epic of Proportions" tale of history speak of how it might have been? Or, is this a sonnet of inevitability?

    Were these "Visions of Utopia", really just visions of "Europea" in North America? Or did these things have to happen in a "fateful" sort of way?

    You be the judge!

    To me, "Song for America" is a rhapsody of music theory.
    With it's peaks and valleys, changing tempos & time signatures, Song for America embodies the richness of a time in North America and the not-too-soon coming "Gilded Age". It may also be considered to contain a 'warning' message of what may come.

    A Classic, for sure!!