Thought he could turn back the waves; couldn't turn back the waves. Couldn't actually turn back very much, because if you were king a thousand years ago, while it still took hours and hours and weeks and weeks to traverse your own country, there wasn't much you were in charge of.
Pensaba que podía cambiar el sentido de las olas. No pudo. En realidad no pudo hacer cambiar el sentido de casi nada, porque si eras rey hace mil años, mientras tardabas horas y horas y semanas y más semanas en atravesar tu propio país, no te hacías cargo de mucho.