1 Meaning
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Helen and Cassandra Lyrics
According to the myths and legends
At the fringes of our memory
Paris stole the queen of Sparta
And carried her across the sea
As they fled, he never dreamt
That he held the world in his grip
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
From Mycenae comes Agamemnon
And the Greeks of the city-states
Laden with their bronzen weapons
They're waiting at the Trojan Gates
As the arrow flies and Achilles falls
Does she raise the wine to her lips
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
It's funny how the story lingers
It's probably a myth of course
A whisper in the ear of Homer
Perhaps there never was a horse
She could have turned the head of Paris
With the gentle sway of her hips
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Oh Cassandra, what did you know?
You who bring bad news wherever you go
You had the gift to see the future
From Apollo so it's said
And he made no one believe you
When you would not share his bed
Oh Cassandra, what did you see?
As you walked the lonely road of your certainty
Gazing at the ruined city
That your warnings could not save
Oh Cassandra, so still and so grave
Cassandra
The Bronze Age kingdoms tumble
The cities fade one by one
The walls of Mycenae crumble
The Dark Age has begun
And the truth is lost in the ancient dust
But the memory forever persists
Of Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
At the fringes of our memory
Paris stole the queen of Sparta
And carried her across the sea
As they fled, he never dreamt
That he held the world in his grip
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
And the Greeks of the city-states
Laden with their bronzen weapons
They're waiting at the Trojan Gates
As the arrow flies and Achilles falls
Does she raise the wine to her lips
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
It's probably a myth of course
A whisper in the ear of Homer
Perhaps there never was a horse
She could have turned the head of Paris
With the gentle sway of her hips
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
You who bring bad news wherever you go
You had the gift to see the future
From Apollo so it's said
And he made no one believe you
When you would not share his bed
As you walked the lonely road of your certainty
Gazing at the ruined city
That your warnings could not save
Oh Cassandra, so still and so grave
Cassandra
The cities fade one by one
The walls of Mycenae crumble
The Dark Age has begun
And the truth is lost in the ancient dust
But the memory forever persists
Of Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This song is one of those rare moments when an actual vibration from the past stirs within the listener. Anyone even remotely familiar with The Iliad or The Odyssey will take to this song and remember all the words almost immediately.
There are many things that stand out about this track and one is the odd way that the singer is telling about this epic tale in two parts as of each character in the title. He opens with the lead in that we are about to hear a tale that's at the fringes of our memory, i.e. we've all heard about it before. As he begins the first part, the character he introduces is Helen and he tells her tale. But he's singing about her in the third person as he lays out the events that lead up to the Trojan War and then ties it off in a sort of musing that perhaps none of it ever happened.
But when he introduces the second character from his title, he doesn't speak of her, he speaks to her. He's talking directly to her and asking her what she knew and what she saw. And it's in this part of the song that the music is changed just enough to match his more saddened tone. He sounds as if he's speaking or channeling such a mistreated character that his own voice is a bit more somber and compassionate. Then closes with how it's a long ago history, and everything that once was is now long gone in the ancient dust. That the ancient places are now ruins that we can touch but there's nothing there anymore to drive home the point of how tragic it is or was.
The singer is definitely sympathetic to the two women he features, seeing Cassandra as a tragic figure and Helen as someone who only wanted her lover and had no interest in being the central figure of that war. Also a tragic figure, of course.
But I have to say that the lyric does tend to be a bit clumsy in that Al Stewart could have written something in place of the famous line "The face that launched a thousand ships" as he rhymes that up with words that end more on the hard consonants and breaks the flow just a little, as they end the various lines that go into the famous line about the ships.
I honestly don't know why he couldn't have spent a bit more time on the lyrics since the rest of it flows and indeed the stanzas about Cassandra flow far more naturally. The story would not have changed at all if he left that line out completely. It wasn't needed as the line isn't even from any of Homer's writings. It's actually from Christopher Marlowe in a work called Doctor Faustus. Written sometime around 1590. Almost three millennia after the the events of the Trojan War. But Al Stewart is brilliant and I'm not dissing him at all!
[Edit: Typo.]