The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy by The Claypool Lennon Delirium

Riffindots
May 1, 2026
6:00 am

The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy by The Claypool Lennon Delirium

A Review of Sorts

The Theory

The Paper Clip Theory (introduced by Swedish Philosopher Nick Bostrom) posits that if AI had the seemingly benign task of manufacturing paper clips, it would eventually find ways to do so more efficiently. But this might not rule out depleting the earth of its resources that all living creatures depend on. Smash cut to the respective studios of Les Claypool (Sonoma County) and Sean Ono Lennon (Upstate New York). From their bases of operation, these two beautiful mutants, who form The Claypool Lennon Delerium, have been hard at work on a new album with this paradox as a departure point. It is called The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy.

Do you get concept albums? Is Harry Nilsson’s The Point! emblazoned into your grey matter because you listened to it over and over as a kid? Are you sick of hearing about AI? Are you worried about the Doomsday Clock being at 85 seconds to midnight? Are you empathetic? Do you like manatees? If you ticked yes to all of the above, then you have got to experience this 14-track odyssey!

The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy (TGPOATGEOE) is a parable of how weary we all are of billionaires who wreak havoc on our planet and how empathy has become a rare commodity. But only titans like the CLD are equipped to tackle this subject matter and shape it into an outlandish concept album. And you will surely come away thinking, “who’d have thought being so fucked could be so much fun?”

Jay Blakesburg

The Storyline

Our humble narrator, THE CLIPKEEPER, welcomes us to the once great town of Cliptopia. He recounts the story of introspective, turpentine-infused artist Hippard O. Campus Jr. Disappointed father and big bad business man, Hippard Sr., heads the evil corporation Clipnex, the purveyor of a sentient AI known as “Cliptron”. Its mission is to crank out, not just mounds of paperclips, but “clips” as in video clips. “Hipp” Jr. Meets Colonel O’Coren in the Troll Bait Café, where “trolls” congregate, stagnate and devour (video) clips. O’Coren tells Hippo Jr. that his father is behind all of this. He explains to the lad that it is time to open his eyes and look to a place beyond the sea where Clipnex has no stronghold.

Later, they find themselves at a wharf where they help a giant blue manatee dislodge a giant paperclip wedged clear up his honker. To return the favor, Hugh D. Manatee (OH, the HUGH MANATEE!!!) takes our antagonists to the Isle of Lucidity. They meet the Ministry of Manatees and they are introduced to the Great Parrot-Ox. (“He’s got a POINT there!!”). She imparts them with The Golden Egg of Empathy, the one thing that will restore love to the heart of this AI villain. They fly back to Cliptopia only to find the town suffocating in mounds and mounds of paperclip drifts. Our heroes confront Cliptron, but not without a struggle. At a pinnacle moment, an adorable Parrot-Ox is born and its winsomeness melts the Chrome Heart of Cliptron. Paperclip manufacturing comes to a halt, harmony in the Campus family is restored, and all is well. We should all be so lucky!!

The Music

The album’s quasi-opener is “WAP”, which stands for “what a predicament” (Ha! NOT the other WAP- for SHAME!!!! But what a great bait and switch search manouevre, nonetheless! Bravo, fellas!!) The song is bouncy and hoppy, and here Lennon expounds on our predicament.

Like a president caught in the shenanigans with the beauty queen

I’m guessing they may not be so innocent as they’ve had us believe

“What do you believe??” responds Claypool with the curiosity of Marriott/Lane et. al. in “Itchycoo Park”. But what DO you believe? You too consume so many clips, and so much information! CDL is holding up a giant mirror for us to look at OUR predicament! The song comes to a crescendo ushering in a multi-layered coda with hints as to what’s to come. You can even visualize choreography amidst a dystopian-looking set where giant dancing paperclips abound, info-junkies drool, and internet trolls move soullessly but rhythmically.

Claypool’s bass-playing, as always, is that heavy sensation of regaining higher Gs after you’ve plummeted 400 feet on an amusement park drop tower. Lennon’s guitar intro on “WAP” is strutty and it walks us right into the story. On “Mantra of The Manatees” he hauls out a screeching Adrian Belew guitar solo.

Floyd has for sure informed these animals! You’ll hear crazy diamond chord progressions and other Floydian “slips” throughout. “The Golden Egg of Empathy” could be “Have a Cigar”’s cousin. “Melody of Entropy” is also a tip of the hat. Right after a cosmically golden bendy intro, the lyrics commence with the word “Time” and here you also have the pacing of “Us and Them.”

Jay Blakesburg

Be sure to listen for other proggy punctiliousness on TGPOATGEOE. The track “Meat Machines” (which begins with the tragedy of Mozart’s “Requiem”) conjures images of mindless, soulless, powerless stamped beings, (or the Trolls if you follow the comic) capitulating on an inexorable conveyor belt. This very much aligns with “The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging” from another beloved prog opus The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. This track also features tingling synth arpeggios, similar to “Carpet Crawlers”.

The album is replete with assorted vocalizations. They can be melodic, angelic, or talk-boxy-fitting for all the characters in the ensemble. In “The Wake Up Call”, Claypool could have drawn from “Sinister Exaggerator”. In the track “Heart of Chrome”, Lennon’s vocals are wet and it sounds like he is singing in a dripping interplanetary cave like Ozzy in “Planet Caravan”. This track, by the way is the album’s calming salve.

As for lyrics, there is plenty of wordplay, doggerel, and delightfully confusing inversed phrasing. We witness an existential moment where Cliptron proclaims “AI think therefore AI am”, a play on the Cartesian maxim. “Simplest of Deeds” is a limerick about the kind act of wrangling a giant paperclip out of the nostril of a blue manatee. “Through The Horizon” has Haiku-ish metrical phrases, and they are voiced like someone at a poetry slam. There is desperation in them.

The End?

The album’s closer is “It’s a Wrap”. It seems like a bittersweet farewell to all the characters from TGPOATGEOE . The song starts off as a pleasant and textured pop tune with a steady tambourine escorting us along. The song title also happens to be Hippard O’Campus Jr.’s last words in Rich Ragsdale’s comic insert that goes with the album. But dear listeners, WE’RE not finished!!! There’s more! A new wormhole has opened up below us and now we’ve been sucked into an an “Autobahn” fugue state. Is this Cliptron shorting out or waking up the realities and the dangers of The Paperclip Theory? Is this the moment he succumbs to empathy? A new facet to this closing track takes over with with “Little Man”. Could this be the “Cello Cello Cello” moment where Clipitron atones for his wrong-doing? Maybe. But then the track becomes even more sinister, and sun sneaks back out because the happy first part of the song fades back in. Roll credits!

The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy hatches on May 1st. You can enjoy it on double gooey green vinyl. It comes with Ragsdale’s illustrated conspectus and lyric sheets. Right now, you can dive into the animated shorts of “The Golden Egg of Empathy,” “Meat Machines,” and “WAP” (not THAT “WAP”) which are directed by Rich Ragsdale. They’re fun, floppy and Freak Brothers-y. But warning, don’t end up at The Troll Bait Café, or you too could become a soulless meat machine, and you too could find yourself sucked into a clip delerium!