Cream: 'Tales of Brave Ulysses'

This song by Cream was released in 1967 as the B side to Strange Brew and on their Disraeli Gears album, and it is marvelously evocative. Told, one assumes, by a modern-day English Odysseus in the Greek islands, the object of his desires is identified with Aphrodite. Australian pop artist Martin Sharp wrote the lyrics and designed this album cover.

Of course Aphrodite would not have been Odysseus' first choice. She was responsible for the fiasco known as The Judgment of Paris, involving Helen of Sparta, and the siege of Troy. The lyrics:

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.

And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.

And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.

And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses; how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

The other great song inspired by the Odyssey is Steely Dan's Home at Last from 1977's classic album Aja.

Home at Last

I know this super highway
This bright familiar sun
I guess that I'm the lucky one
Who wrote that tired sea song
Set on this peaceful shore
You think you've heard this one before

Well the danger on the rocks is surely past
Still I remain tied to the mast
Could it be that I have found my home at last
Home at last

She serves the smooth retsina
She keeps me safe and warm
It's just the calm before the storm
Call in my reservation
So long hey thanks my friend
I guess I'll try my luck again

Well the danger on the rocks is surely past
Still I remain tied to the mast
Could it be that I have found my home at last
Home at last