Prog Tuesday: IAN ANDERSON “Pays Tribute” to Officer Rick Grimes
In April 2014, Ian Anderson released Homo Erraticus, the third album to feature Gerald Bostock, who first appeared in 1972′s Jethro Tull release Thick As A Brick, and then returned in Anderson‘s Thick As A Brick 2 in 2012.
The record received mostly positive reviews from media and fans, although there were some polarised opinions, especially when it comes to the record’s lyrical side, with claims that lyrics are not all that engaging.
As mentioned, Homo Erraticus is a concept album that continues on the story of Gerald Bostock of Thick As a Brick and its sequel. The concept is, according to the website, that the former child poet wrote the lyrics to the album after stumbling across a book that contains the complete history of England written by an amateur historian after a malarial fever dream that had him entering the lives of several figures in British history. The historian also received visions of the future that tell of how humanity will eventually run out of space and resources until an alien warning leads them to a brighter future.
Third song on the album, “Enter the Uninvited,” compares the European invasion of Romans, Saxons and Vikings to the omnipresent invasion of pop culture iconography, from current fast-food franchises to binge-watching TV. Part of the song’s lyrics list Star Trek, Baywatch, Friends, Sopranos, West Wing, Madmen, the Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead‘s star Andrew Lincoln, who portrays officer Rick Grimes on the show, is also Anderson‘s son-in-law, and the closing lyric of the song somewhat pays tribute to the popular show, reading:
Officer Rick will turn the trick and banish zombies from our heads.
Back in 2014, Anderson commented about the show: “The Walking Dead is in about 150 countries around the world and has adopted many, many languages. It serves as not only an icon of entertainment, but it can win hearts and minds alike. I actually have a couple references to The Walking Dead and other examples of American film and culture which seemed appropriate. It was a way for me to pay homage to what we produce, our contribution, which is the great elements of art and entertainment.“
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