Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a 1974 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The novel is set in a futuristic dystopia where the United States has become a police state in the aftermath of a Second American Civil War. The story follows genetically enhanced pop singer and television star Jason Taverner who wakes up in a world where he has never existed.

The book was nominated for a Nebula Award in 1974

Title

The title is a reference to "Flow, my tears", an ayre by the 16th century composer John Dowland, setting to music a poem by an anonymous author (possibly Dowland himself). Quotations from the piece begin every major section of the novel, and Dowland's work is referenced in several of Dick's works. The poem begins:

The novel is parodied as The Android Cried Me a River in Dick's later novel VALIS.

Author's interpretation

In his undelivered speech "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later," Dick recounts how in describing an incident at the end of the book (end of chapter 27) to an Episcopalian priest, the priest noted its striking similarity to a scene in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible. In Dick's book, the police chief, Felix Buckman, meets a black stranger at an all-night gas station, and uncharacteristically makes an emotional connection with him. After handing the stranger a drawing of a heart pierced by an arrow, Buckman flies away, but he quickly returns and hugs the stranger, and they strike up a friendly conversation. In Acts Chapter 8, the disciple Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch (a black man) sitting in a chariot, to whom he explains a passage from the Book of Isaiah, and then converts him to Christianity.

Dick further notes that eight years after writing the book, he himself uncharacteristically came to the aid of a black stranger who had run out of gas. After giving the man some money and then driving away, he returned to help the man reach a gas station. Dick was then struck by the similarity between this incident and that described in his book. and the Evidence Room in Los Angeles. The Evidence Room production received positive reviews including one from the Los Angeles Times which stated that "the piece is vintage Dick, fluctuating between the inventive and the paranoiac."

Film

On February 1, 2004, Variety announced that Utopia Pictures & Television had acquired the rights to produce adaptations of three of Dick's novels: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth. In 2007, The Halcyon Company acquired the first-look rights to Dick's works, and in May 2009 they announced that after Terminator Salvation (2009), they would next adapt Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.

The book is referenced in the 2001 film Waking Life and in Richard Kelly's 2006 film Southland Tales, in which an underground revolutionary dressed as a police officer (played by Jon Lovitz) says, "Flow my tears" as he shoots two rivals. Also, two of the main characters are Roland and Ronald Taverner.

Music

Gary Numan referenced the novel in the 1978 song "Listen to the Sirens" from the debut Tubeway Army album. The song opens with the lyric, ""Flow My Tears", the new police song"."

The Human League utilised a character named Jason Taverner as the host of their elusive 1979 demo tape, which has since become known by fans as the Taverner Tape. Taverner introduces each of the songs and mentions that he hosts his own network TV show.

American grindcore band Discordance Axis, released a song by the same name on their 1997 album Jouhou. Discordance Axis were influenced by cyberpunk and science fiction.

Avant-Pop collective MMC Ensemble, references the novel on their first release, Twin Lovers within the songs "Montgomery L. Hopkins", "Jason Taverner Does Not Exist", "Sixes", "Watts Proper", and "Twin Lovers".

The American indie rock band Built to Spill released a song, "Nowhere Nothin' Fuckup" on their 1993 album Ultimate Alternative Wavers. The song on the album has the same name as protagonist Jason Taverner's hit played repeatedly on the jukebox by character Anne Dominic in the coffee shop in the novel.

American bass guitar player Stu Hamm released a Philip K. Dick themed solo album in 1998 titled Radio Free Albemuth featuring the song "Flow My Tears".

In 2019, American electronic musician Adderall Canyonly released a concept album based off the novel, intended as a literary soundtrack.

References

  • Summary at official PKD website
  • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said cover art gallery
  • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said reviewed at The SF Site
  • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said at Worlds Without End