“A Master Shake, Meatwad, a floating head, and now you’re dead,” Patti Smith sings on her latest song Aqua Teen Dream. It sounds completely surreal, but makes a lot more sense in context: the punk priestess wrote this 90-second piano ballad as a heartfelt farewell to cult animated sitcom Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which comes to an end this Sunday after a 13 season run on Cartoon Network. Since 2000 the brilliantly offbeat series has followed the often bizarre adventures of three life-like fast food items: Master Shake, Meatwad and Frylock, the “floating head” Smith refers to.
Aqua Teen Dream serves as a whimsical diversion for the iconic singer before she begins an eventful fall. Starting in September, she’ll play live shows across Europe and North America to mark the 40th anniversary of her classic 1975 debut album, Horses, including a pair of dates at London’s Roundhouse on October 30 and 31. Earlier that month she’ll release her second memoir M Train, the follow-up to 2010’s award-winning Just Kids, which is now being made into a Showtime TV series by The Aviator screenwriter John Logan, with help from Smith herself.