The song was the first collaboration between guitarist Eric Clapton and artist Martin Sharp. Clapton composed the music, which was inspired by the Lovin' Spoonful's 1966 hit "Summer in the City". Sharp had originally written a poem which evolved into the song's lyrics after meeting Clapton.

The song was released as the B-side to the "Strange Brew" single in June 1967, several months ahead of the group's second album, Disraeli Gears, which also included both songs. AllMusic critic Matthew Greenwald calls it "One of a few overtly psychedelic songs to have aged gracefully ... Lyrically, it's a relatively factual and colorful rendering of the great Greek tragedy Ulysses".

In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton recalls writing "Tales of Brave Ulysses":

When [first meeting Sharp] he heard that I was a musician, he told me he had written a poem that he thought would make good lyrics for a song. As it happens, I had in my mind at that moment an idea inspired by a favorite [sic] song of mine by the Lovin' Spoonful called "Summer in the City," so I asked him to show me the words. He wrote them down on a napkin and gave them to me ... These became the lyrics of the song "Tales of Brave Ulysses".

The song uses a "C/B flat/F chord pattern", which Greenwald describes as "simple but effective".Jack Bruce, on bass, also provides the vocal, and Ginger Baker is on drums.

Cream recorded the song at Atlantic Studios in New York City in May 1967, during the sessions for Disraeli Gears. Atlantic brought in engineer Tom Dowd and producer Felix Pappalardi to work with Cream on their next album. For the recording, Clapton used a wah-wah pedal guitar effects unit for the first time.

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