Dust in the Wind

Livgren began "Dust in the Wind" as a fingerpicking exercise. His wife, Vicci, liked the melody and urged him to write lyrics. He played it for the band expecting rejection, after they had rehearsed the other songs, and they fell into stunned silence before asking where it had been. Songfacts reports that he wrote it after reading Native American poetry that set him thinking about material success and mortality, and that he described its theme as the transitory nature of our physical lives. It was written under pressure to follow "Carry On Wayward Son", with Glixman asking for more songs.

It was recorded in 1977 at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville with Glixman producing. Walsh sang, according to Wikipedia after he had resigned, Livgren played acoustic guitar (a Martin D-28 borrowed from Williams), Williams added a second acoustic guitar, Steinhardt played violin and viola and Ehart played hand drums. The single came out in January 1978 on Kirshner with "Paradox" on the other side, at 3:27 against the album's 3:28.

It reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's highest, and number six on the adult contemporary chart, and in Canada number three. It was number 39 on the 1978 year-end chart, and is certified triple platinum in the United States, double platinum in Spain, and platinum in New Zealand. Covers include Sarah Brightman (1998), Eric Benet (1999), the Scorpions (2001), Bernie Williams (2003) and Corey Taylor with Bad Omens (2025); the Burmese composer Naing Myanmar used the melody for a protest song during the 1988 uprising. It has been used in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Old School, Highlander, Freaks and Geeks, Family Guy and Lucifer. Setlist.fm counts 1,128 performances, and the live versions appear on Two for the Show (6:19) and on Always Never the Same (1998) in a symphonic version.