| Calypso | |
| Cover: | Calypso_jd.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | John Denver |
| Album: | Windsong |
| A-Side: | I'm Sorry |
| B-Side: | Calypso |
| Released: | July 1975 |
| Genre: | Folk, country, soundscape |
| Length: | 3:36 |
| Label: | RCA Victor |
| Producer: | Milt Okun |
| Prev Title: | Thank God I'm a Country Boy |
| Prev Year: | 1975 |
| Title2: | I'm Sorry |
| Next Title: | Fly Away |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
"Calypso" is a song written by John Denver in 1975 as a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research ship, the Calypso. It was featured on Denver's 1975 album Windsong.
Released as the B-side of "I'm Sorry", "Calypso" received substantial airplay, enabling it to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] After "I'm Sorry" fell out of the #1 position, "Calypso" began receiving more airplay than "I'm Sorry," thus causing Billboard to list "Calypso" as the new A-side,[2] starting the week ending October 11, 1975.[3] Hence, "Calypso" is itself considered a #2 hit on the Hot 100.[4]
John Denver was a close friend of Cousteau. Calypso was the name of Cousteau's research boat that sailed around the world promoting ocean conservation.
This song features the sounds of ship bells, which is heard in the instrumental introductions before both two verses, in which Milton Okun's orchestral arrangement, featuring strings and winds, are heard impersonating the sounds of the oceans and seas.
A filk song exists in Star Trek fandom (and has been quoted in Chapter 8 of Diane Duane's Star Trek novel The Wounded Sky), based on John Denver's "Calypso," but adapted to the voyages of the Enterprise: "To sail on a dream in the sun-fretted darkness, to soar through the starlight unfrightened alone...."
Additionally, Tom Smith wrote parody lyrics for the song, which he titled "Callisto," referring to a sexual desire for Callisto, originally a villainess in the TV show and then one of Xena's enemies.[5] After Callisto was redeemed in the Xena stories, he wrote an extra verse and a variation on the refrain that attacked her for having stopped being evil.
In the episode titled "Molly's Out of Town" of Mike & Molly some of the characters sing "Calypso" while they are on the roof of a house.[6]
This song was generally used prior to the start of the whale shows at Marineland of The Pacific in Palos Verdes, California during the 1970s and 80s.
| Chart (1975) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] | 60 | |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[8] | 65 | |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] | 76 |