Sun sets in an ocean of brown farmland haze
Power lines draped across roads you could drive on for days
Well it's all too perfect
Time to look back at us now

Endless and empty like Kansas
Our cities of clouds
Flat on the table like Kansas

I lay down in sheets suddenly worn threadbare
Every wall I lean on transforms to sliding doors and thin air
Well I hope yours is kinder
Let go of this when you find her

Bury this hard
Down underneath your white canvas
Our houses of cards
Flat on the table like Kansas

It's not regret
Just an unexpected accounting of debts
Only now called
No it's not regret
Just remembrance is all
Of how close we had come
The war almost won
But I sent up our flag and moved on

You and I
Lost to the winter like Kansas
And all my goodbyes
Flat on the table like Kansas


Lyrics submitted by sheela_l

Kansas Lyrics as written by Vienna Teng

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

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Kansas song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    I heard that she thought of this song while driving through Kansas, (hence the first two lines).

    The narrator looks back at a relationship that was built up very strong with high dreams (cities of clouds), but came crashing down, (houses of cards flat on the table like Kansas). Now that that relationship is over, the narrator has nowhere to turn (every wall I lean on transforms into sliding doors and thin air). She lets him go, though it hurts. She wants his life to be better than hers at current (hope yours is kinder) and wants him to move on (let go of this when you find her).

    The saddest Vienna Teng song, yet so smooth and calming.

    dreamer16322on August 08, 2009   Link

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