R.I.P. Martin Sharp

One of the original founders of the controversial Oz magazine from the '60's and designer of the Disraeli Gears LP cover - amongst others - Martin Sharp was also Eric Clapton's flatmate and he wrote the lyrics to Tales of Brave Ulysses, which EC then put the music to:

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, 

But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun. 

And the colours of the sea bind your eyes with trembling mermaids, 

And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses, 

How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing, 

For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips. 

And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise, 

And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea. 

And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body, 

Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind. 

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers, 

And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter. 

Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell, 

And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands 

With tales of brave Ulysses, how his naked ears were tortured 

By the sirens sweetly singing. 

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers, 

And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.