My Take on The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey has arrived. I haven’t seen it yet but I certainly plan to do so. Homer’s Odyssey has always been one of my favorite pieces of classical literature, beginning with an illustrated children’s version I first read when I was ten years old. Since that time I’ve probably read the story in various translations a dozen times. As you’ll see from the photo below, I keep a copy of it, and its companion, The Iliad, on my shelves next to my volumes of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Essential reading, at least in my home.

Some time ago, a younger and far more ambitious version of me decided to write and compose a song cycle based on The Odyssey. It’s one of my more esoteric efforts, equally inspired by the original tale as well as that epic slog of modernist literature, James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the spoken word songwriting of performance artist Laurie Anderson. Here’s my official description of the work.

Either a lo-fi concept album or a set of songs from a non-performed performance piece. Very loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey. Composed during a time when I was also working as a sound tech and theatrical sound designer. A mixture of musical influences including Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Philip Glass, Brian Eno, and Leonard Cohen. Recorded in my apartment using a Korg Poly-61 synthesizer, a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder, a Shure SM58 microphone, and a motley assortment of percussion instruments.

The central conceit of my story involved a man and a woman living together in a large city. They become estranged, then separate and reunite over the course of one long night. The title I came up with was Tides of the Heart. Here’s the opening song, On the Strand.

I should point out that the original versions of The Odyssey were performed by Homer in a song-like recitation, part of the rhapsode tradition. I like to think my own spoken-word/musical take on the story honors that tradition. In theory, anyway. In practice, I’ll leave it up to you to decide. To my ears it retains an offbeat, shambolic charm. A bit noisy in places, but with some lyrical heft and musicality. My favorite individual songs are Blue Sweater, Build a Home and Venus if you want to skip to the “hits”.

You can listen to Tides of the Heart in its entirety below.