“Pyrrhic Victory” reflects my interest in world music; in particular, I love the sound of Indian and Middle-Eastern music. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin did much to steer me in that direction with songs like “Within You, Without You” and “Kashmir”. “Pyrrhic Victory” owes a debt to both groups, especially Zeppelin.
It was written in early 2000, right after a painful romantic breakup. When I listen to it now, I am struck by how melodramatic the whole thing is. But such is young love and heartbreak.
Some time after the album was released, I learned—to my great embarrassment—that I had pronounced “Pyrrhic” incorrectly on the recording. It should be pronounced with a short rather than a long “i”. A not-uncommon mistake when one learns vocabulary from books rather than speech, but I always wanted to re-record the song, partly for that reason. I did eventually end up re-recording the whole song, not only because of the pronunciation gaffe, but because I felt the whole performance was not as powerful as it might be.
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