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"Calypso" is a well-known song written by John Denver in 1975 as a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research ship Calypso. Released as the b-side of "I'm Sorry", Calypso received substantial airplay, yet it only charted as a tag-along b-side (aka FLIP) on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 11, 1975. The song was featured on Denver's 1975 album Windsong.

John Denver was a close friend of Jacques-Yves Cousteau; and though Denver wrote and composed another song about him. Calypso is the name of Jacques Cousteau's famous research boat that sailed around the world for oceanic conservation; it sank and was refloated shortly before Cousteau himself died.

Cultural references

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, a villainess in the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess and one of Xena's enemies.

Chart performance

References

1. http://www.tomsmithonline.com/lyrics/callisto.htm

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• 1975 singles
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• Songs written by John Denver
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