Lionheart

Robsturr was correct, this is about Roland's journey beneath Lud to save Jake in "the Wastelands" (book 3 in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series). It does reference the Greek mythological hero Ulysses, but I think the comparison is that Roland is on a very long quest filled with hazards, pitfalls, and unexpected tragedies (Roland's eternal search for the Dark Tower, versus Ulysses's misadventures in trying to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War).

In order for an analysis of this song to make sense, you need some background of the book. In "The Wastelands", Roland and his Ka-tet (a group of 3 people he is bound to by fate) are crossing a dilapidated bridge when a rogue known as usher kidnaps Jake to take him to a psychopathic warlord known as the Tick-Tock Man. The city they are in is just a shell of an old, technologically advanced city. A thousand years previously, a civil war broke out and over the eons the city fell into ruins. The Tick-Tock Man's lair is beneath the city, under tons of booby-trapped rubble. As Jake was being kidnapped by Gusher, his billybumbler pet Oy silently followed and was able to remember the location. Oy went back to Roland and got him to follow his lead to rescue Jake.

//Speak to me //It all would be easier //I want to talk to you This can be a reference to Roland wishing he could communicate more easily with Oy, but I think it's actually referencing Roland not being able to reach Jake with his Ka. Since they are bound in a Ka-tet, Roland normally has mild telepathic abilities with Jake, but Jake is so shaken up and afraid that his mind is closed and Roland can't pick up very much from him.

//Who is that? //Do I hear a whisper? //Or do I hear a cry? Roland is having a hard time reading Jake's mind, but he gets some snippets and worries that Jake is being harmed. Jake is taken to a room with double iron doors, and eventually ropalnd is able to make out Jake's voice from elsewhere in the tunnels.

//Across the brown land //The stumps of time This is referncing a concept in the series, that time and distance are no longer standard, but are getting more and more distorted as the Dark Tower is in a more precarious position. In the book, Jake has a Seiko sports watch. Once he crosses over his his reality into Roland's world, his watch stops working correctly. It reads impossile times, like 90'oclock on both Friday and Saturday, an example of how time is breaking down in Roland's world.

//Since moonlights fade //I'm empty - heal me Roland views Jake as a surrogate son, and his kidnapping has left the Gunslinger upset and worred.

//I'm in search of the Lion heart //I am ashamed //I myself can't make it Jake is the lionheart in this instance. Even though he is a kid, Roland see's the braveness in him. Roland can generally get himself out of almost any bad situation, but in this case there was no way he could have navigated the rigged tunnels without Oy.

//Drown Ulysses //Drown here in the silence //Cause down to Hades I've gone //But I cannot get out The boob-trapped and rubble stren tunnels of the ruined city are like hell (or Hades) to Roland. Physically, since it's literally an underworld, and metaphorically, because of the danger and the heartache Roland is in as he worres avout Jake. The "drowning in the slience" I think is the trepidation Roland feels in not being able to extend his ka and give Jake a message, or receive one from him.

//"Tic Tac" is the message //And the lunatic fears //He is no more Again, Jake is in the hands of the Tick-Tock Man, and Roland wonders if he has already killed Jake.

//I'm in search of the Lion heart //Nobody else //But the pure can save me Roland sees Jake as a form of redemption. As a Gunslinger, he oftentimes has to be unemotional and harm people. Roland finds Jake's childish purity a form of salvation for his soul.