The Greek mythological character Hercules was driven mad by his stepmother Juno and killed his wife. In order to regain his honor, the Oracle of Delphi instructed him to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, for twelve years, and was given twelve extraordinarily difficult tasks to complete during his time of servitude.

Rods and cones are the two types of photoreceptors found in the retina that enable vision. The rods enable us to differentiate between light and darkness but cannot distinguish color. The cones enable us to see in color but are less sensitive to light.

The Elysian Fields, or simply Elysium, were the Greek equivalent of heaven.

Someone who "can't see the forest for the trees" is too wrapped up in details to acknowledge the greater picture; i.e. someone may recognize a group of trees but not recognize it as a forest. The expression dates to at least the 16th century and was originally "cannot see the wood for the trees".

Supposedly a way of speaking to the dead, the Ouija board as we know it was invented in the late 19th century based on this type of board frequently used in seances. The creator of the most famous design, William Fuld, named his company, and the board, after what he claimed was the Egyptian word for good luck. The board itself consists of the 26 letters of the alphabet (in two rows of 13 letters), the numbers 0 through 9, and the words "Yes", "No", and "Goodbye". All members of the seance are supposed to put their fingers on a small piece called a planchette, and ask a question. The response will supposedly come by the piece moving under its own power to spell out the message, although the next line in the song says "although it's my finger that moves the piece", i.e. he is controlling what the Ouija board answers.

It was common in the more dangerous days of seafaring for a captain to literally tie himself to the helm, or steering apparatus, to keep himself from being washed overboard during a storm.

A similarly-worded reference can be found in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Wreck of the Hesperus". It tells the story of a sailor who takes his daughter along on a voyage, only to sail directly into the face of a hurricane. In order to protect her, he ties her to the mast, and tries to sail on through the storm. When it finally dies down, these two stanzas follow; the first quote is from the daughter:

"O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may it be?"
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.

Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,
With his face turned to the skies,
The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow
On his fixed and glassy eyes.