John Denver (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997),
born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., was an American singer-songwriter, actor, activist, and poet. "Calypso" is a song written by John Denver in 1975 as a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his research ship Calypso. The 45 rpm single (backed with the song "I'm Sorry") reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending September 27, 1975. The song was featured on Denver's 1975 album Windsong. John Denver was a close friend of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and though he wrote and composed another song about him, he died shortly before the song was planned to be recorded. 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. http://www.johndenver.com/ | Jacques-Yves Cousteau( 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the aqua-lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. He was also known as "le Commandant Cousteau" or "Captain Cousteau".
In 1950, he founded the French Oceanographic Campaigns (FOC), and leased a ship called Calypso from Thomas Loel Guinness for a symbolic one franc a year. Cousteau refitted the Calypso as a mobile laboratory for field research and as his principal vessel for diving and filming. He also carried out underwater archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean, in particular at Grand-Congloué (1952). The Calypso was the first ship on which captain Jacques Cousteau and his crew were sailing the oceans to learn more about the life in the oceans. In 1975 John made the Emmy-winning TV-show 'An evening with John Denver'. There is more information about the Cousteau society at http://webedi.edi.fr/cousteau/ |