Caught Between Scylla and Charybdis: ‘The Odyssey’ in 3 Classic Rock Songs

Christopher Nolan, in his modern film adaptation of Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, has accepted the challenge of bringing a sprawling and complex tale to the big screen. Homer’s poem, all 12,000-plus lines of it, is a foundational literary work of Western culture. And it has stirred many more than Nolan, lit majors, or the classicists.

Rock musicians, too, have found inspiration in Odysseus—the poem’s tricky and morally ambiguous hero. So let’s see how rock legends have tackled the ancient saga of The Odyssey.

“Tales Of Brave Ulysses” by Cream

Eric Clapton’s psychedelic supergroup recount the adventures of Ulysses over a wah-wah-soaked blues jam. Martin Sharp had given Clapton a poem, which the guitarist adapted to a riff he was working on. “And the colours of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids / And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses,” sings Jack Bruce, using Odysseus’s Latinized name.

How his naked ears were tortured,
By the sirens sweetly singing.
For the sparkling waves are calling you,
To kiss their white-laced lips.

“Wrapped Around Your Finger” by The Police

If one were caught between a rock and a hard place, imagine that rock also held a sea monster. Sting writes about a struggle for power, and begins the song with a reference to Homer’s monsters: “You consider me the young apprentice / Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis.” The sailors must navigate opposing dangers. And in “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, Sting flips the power structure in his favor—the servant becoming the master.

“Freewill” by Rush

In “Freewill”, Rush’s front man Geddy Lee sings about taking the reins of one’s own life. This isn’t lotusland, Lee says. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew discover a magical place inhabited by lotus-eaters. The idyllic land may be blissful. But the sailors also refuse to work once addicted to the fruit. Back to Rush, Lee sings about those who feel constrained by a supposed predetermined fate: “The cards were stacked against them / They weren’t born in lotusland.” The psychedelic plant offers an illusion, though depending on circumstances, one could say the same about the concept of free will.

Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns