Calypso by Suzanne Vega

Album: Solitude Standing (1987)

License This Song

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This was written by Suzanne Vega in 1978. In the song, Vega assumes the voice of the sea nymph Calypso, who saved the drowning Ulysses and waylays him on her island for 7 years as she is in love with him. Eventually Zeus sends Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, to tell Calypso to release Odysseus, which Calypso reluctantly does. The story is taken from Homer's Odyssey.
Suzanne Vega said of this song: "Calypso makes an appearance on the first page [of Homer's Odyssey] and I guess she never really comes back, and no one ever checks up on her to see how she's doing. It's very one sided, I remember feeling that. So this song is called Calypso and it's written from her point of view the night before he left."

Comments: 3

Miguel from Guadalajara, MexicoI love both songs (original and Luz Casal) and totally agree with Montse about the similarities through several lines of the lyrics (I'd say they were actually copied from Vega's song). But I I verfied and there is no credit for Vega, just David Summers (lead singer for the HOMBRES G spanish group) and Luz Casal.
Montse from Verdú, SpainAnother great Spanish songwriter, Luz Casal, wrote a song in Spanish about the same topic . The title of the song is "Te dejé marchar" ( I let you go ). You can find it in the album "V" ( released in 1989 ). Her voice is kind of rusty, poignant, but thoroughly wonderful.
Fred from Laurel, MdThis song and "Gypsy" from the same album, are two absolute gems from an otherwise merely great songwriter/performer! BTW, I also dig the completely different, but marvelous song of the same title by the late John Denver, about Jacques Cousteau's vessel, named after the sea nymph personified here. These are three songs I never tire of hearing. Could it be I'm a sucker for any song with the trigraph "yps" in the title? Is there a song out there somewhere with "apocalypse" in its name...?

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Don't Tell MeMadonna

Madonna's hit "Don't Tell Me" was written by her brother-in-law, Joe Henry, who has produced albums by Hugh Laurie and Bonnie Raitt.

WoodstockCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock" - the most popular song about the festival - but didn't attend the event because she was booked on The Dick Cavett Show.