ok but can we talk about the lyrics in I Cant Help But Wonder?
there are SO many little details in the lyrics of this song that I havenāt seen anyone point out and I need to write them down to stop me from going insane.
First cool thing, notice the difference in phrasing
Telemachus: āI cant help but wonderā Odysseus: āI can only wonderā
Itās small but SUPER substantial. The wording of ācanāt helpā usually suggests hesitance, like he shouldnāt be wondering but canāt stop himself. And this makes sense, Telemachus spent his whole life with about his dad, and likely had to condition himself to not think about him much to deal with the fact.
Odysseusās ācan onlyā on the other hand is much more eager, as if he wishes that he could do more but canāt. And again, this is in line with his character. For the past 20 years heās wanted nothing more than to reconnect with his family and finally meet his son. He doesnāt know anything about Telemachus, but desperately wants to.
Second, when Ody is talking about the impossible things that he said heād do for Telemachus, these are all things that heās ALREADY DONE for him.
āUsed to say Iād make the storm clouds cry for youā āUsed to say Iād capture wind and sky for youā
the ācapture wind and skyā obviously refers to the windbag that Aeolus gave him
the āmake the storm clouds cryā is a bit more of a stretch but I think it still works. Poseidon was the one who sent out the huge storm and is the god of the sea, so for all intents and purposes, HE IS the storm clouds. And Ody most definitely made him cryā¦
So Odysseus isnāt just being dramatic with the impossible things heād do, these are things that he was very literally willing to do for his son, which goes to show how much he loves Telemachus without even meeting him yet.
