My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
And I waken to the dawn
A long time ago
I watched him struggle with the sea
I knew that he was drowning
And I brought him into me
Now today
Come morning light
He sails away
After one last night
I let him go.

My name is Calypso
My garden overflows
Thick and wild and hidden
Is the sweetness there that grows
My hair it blows long
As I sing into the wind
My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
I tell of nights
Where I could taste the salt on his skin

Salt of the waves
And of tears
And though he,pulled away
I kept him here for years
I let him go

My name is Calypso
I have let him go
In the dawn he sails away
To be gone forever more
And the waves will take him in again
But he'll know their ways now
I will stand upon the shore
With a clean heart

And my song in the wind
The sand will sting my feet
And the sky will burn
It's a lonely time ahead
I do not ask him to return
I let him go
I let him go


Lyrics submitted by Novartza, edited by 49ersnut

Calypso Lyrics as written by Suzanne Vega

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Calypso song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    I was visiting Rome the year "solitude standing" was first releasead, "Luka" was the hit, and Vega began touring. While walking through the Sistine Chapel with some friends, a group of guys approached us and we struck up a conversation. They were a mix of bandmates and soundguys touring with Suzanne, and they invited us to her show that night with guest passes. I was able to sit beside one of the soundguys for the duration of the show. All this background to share this: I had not heard Calypso until this concert. When she began playing the song, the soundguy volunteered, "this song was written from the perspective of Calypso" because Suzanne felt that the poems in the Odyssey always reflected the male point of view, and not the women, and she wanted to represent how the woman, in this case Calypso, might have felt. There you have it from the horse's mouth. This song-that night- sparked in me a subsequent passion for mythology. While we can interpret it for our own needs, in this case I know the intent of Vega matches up exactly with "kezz's" input. I'll add that while studying the Odyssey in college, my mythology professor added that while keeping Odysseus captive all those years, her last desperate attempt to keep him on the island was by changing herself into the image of Penelope, the beloved wife Odysseus pined for. Yet, this too failed, and that is when in her heart Calypso knew she had to "let him go."

    naughteragainon May 20, 2007   Link

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