Yes, it seems that this song was based on The Odyssey.
As far as the "where the sky loves the sea" line, I took that as merely referring to the horizon and the call of touching the "distant beaches."
Then there's the line: "And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body, Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind." I've always heard that for each new piece of information your brain retains, a new wrinkle is formed. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but with that in mind it seemed to me that Aphrodite here "drowns you in her body" or makes love to this man and while doing so it is ultimately becoming a memory that will stay with him forever.
And of course Aphrodite is the goddess of love, who when she was born rose naked from the sea atop a scallop shell. "and she rides a crimson shell"
The lyrics are inspired by Homer's Odyssey, an account of the adventures undertaken by Ulysses. This can be seen in the song's reference to "naked ears ... tortured by the sirens sweetly singing," an event from Homer's epic. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, lyricist Martin Sharp explained that he had recently returned from Ibiza, which was the source of many of the images in the song (e.g. "tiny purple fishes run laughing through her fingers") and the general feeling of having left an idyll to return to...
The lyrics are inspired by Homer's Odyssey, an account of the adventures undertaken by Ulysses. This can be seen in the song's reference to "naked ears ... tortured by the sirens sweetly singing," an event from Homer's epic. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, lyricist Martin Sharp explained that he had recently returned from Ibiza, which was the source of many of the images in the song (e.g. "tiny purple fishes run laughing through her fingers") and the general feeling of having left an idyll to return to "the hard lands of the winter"; Clapton stated in the same show that he had been independently writing a tune based on the Loving Spoonful's "Summer in the City", and when Sharp gave him the words (on the back of a bar napkin) they fit the tune.
People keep citing Homer and The odyssey but I don't think anyone has actually read it. Odysseus is headed home to Greece after the Trojan War -- which in the song is more England of the winter -- and the story is his adventures almost not making it, what he encounters -- like the Cyclops or Circe and the Sirens, the last referenced in the song. When they sing beguiling him to drown himself in the sea, white laced lips and girls brown body etc. in the song, he has to be tied to the mast and his...
People keep citing Homer and The odyssey but I don't think anyone has actually read it. Odysseus is headed home to Greece after the Trojan War -- which in the song is more England of the winter -- and the story is his adventures almost not making it, what he encounters -- like the Cyclops or Circe and the Sirens, the last referenced in the song. When they sing beguiling him to drown himself in the sea, white laced lips and girls brown body etc. in the song, he has to be tied to the mast and his (naked) ears covered up. I forget how Aphrodite is involved here directly but she is one of the cause of The Trojan War (when Helen beats her for Paris's acclaim as the most beautiful) and she is born on foam out of the sea in a shell -- see Boticelli's Birth of Venus -- she's the goddess of love and foam is semen, fertility, the sea is life here -- tiny fishes -- as well as drowning and death, temptation and orgasm, since also the sirens and Circe are other than Penelope, the whole frame tale Odysseus going home to his wife (a whole other story once he gets there). Anyway, I think the song great, the imagary right and not overdone, great song.
Yes, it seems that this song was based on The Odyssey.
As far as the "where the sky loves the sea" line, I took that as merely referring to the horizon and the call of touching the "distant beaches."
Then there's the line: "And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body, Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind." I've always heard that for each new piece of information your brain retains, a new wrinkle is formed. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but with that in mind it seemed to me that Aphrodite here "drowns you in her body" or makes love to this man and while doing so it is ultimately becoming a memory that will stay with him forever.
And of course Aphrodite is the goddess of love, who when she was born rose naked from the sea atop a scallop shell. "and she rides a crimson shell"
the wpediers say:
the wpediers say:
The lyrics are inspired by Homer's Odyssey, an account of the adventures undertaken by Ulysses. This can be seen in the song's reference to "naked ears ... tortured by the sirens sweetly singing," an event from Homer's epic. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, lyricist Martin Sharp explained that he had recently returned from Ibiza, which was the source of many of the images in the song (e.g. "tiny purple fishes run laughing through her fingers") and the general feeling of having left an idyll to return to...
The lyrics are inspired by Homer's Odyssey, an account of the adventures undertaken by Ulysses. This can be seen in the song's reference to "naked ears ... tortured by the sirens sweetly singing," an event from Homer's epic. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, lyricist Martin Sharp explained that he had recently returned from Ibiza, which was the source of many of the images in the song (e.g. "tiny purple fishes run laughing through her fingers") and the general feeling of having left an idyll to return to "the hard lands of the winter"; Clapton stated in the same show that he had been independently writing a tune based on the Loving Spoonful's "Summer in the City", and when Sharp gave him the words (on the back of a bar napkin) they fit the tune.
People keep citing Homer and The odyssey but I don't think anyone has actually read it. Odysseus is headed home to Greece after the Trojan War -- which in the song is more England of the winter -- and the story is his adventures almost not making it, what he encounters -- like the Cyclops or Circe and the Sirens, the last referenced in the song. When they sing beguiling him to drown himself in the sea, white laced lips and girls brown body etc. in the song, he has to be tied to the mast and his...
People keep citing Homer and The odyssey but I don't think anyone has actually read it. Odysseus is headed home to Greece after the Trojan War -- which in the song is more England of the winter -- and the story is his adventures almost not making it, what he encounters -- like the Cyclops or Circe and the Sirens, the last referenced in the song. When they sing beguiling him to drown himself in the sea, white laced lips and girls brown body etc. in the song, he has to be tied to the mast and his (naked) ears covered up. I forget how Aphrodite is involved here directly but she is one of the cause of The Trojan War (when Helen beats her for Paris's acclaim as the most beautiful) and she is born on foam out of the sea in a shell -- see Boticelli's Birth of Venus -- she's the goddess of love and foam is semen, fertility, the sea is life here -- tiny fishes -- as well as drowning and death, temptation and orgasm, since also the sirens and Circe are other than Penelope, the whole frame tale Odysseus going home to his wife (a whole other story once he gets there). Anyway, I think the song great, the imagary right and not overdone, great song.