#3 Sturgill Simpson — Turtles All The Way Down (2014)

Everyone likes turtles.

Far from predatory, but like the owl, turtles have found themselves the random beneficiary of positive character stereotypes: wisdom, courage and persistence. While foxes got a bad rap, turtles truly are amazing creatures. There is something mystic, but veiled, about them.

Turtles in Music and the Metaphysical

Metaphysical turtle symbolism made it’s way into American music long before the release of Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in 2014. Perhaps not the first, but most effective use as a symbol, came from The Grateful Dead’s 1977 masterpiece Terrapin Station. It’s probable that Simpson heard the song, and judging by his music, was inspired by the Dead. The musical ancestor of “Turtles” features two delightful turtles harmlessly delighting in bluegrass music. Yet, upon further contemplation, Terrapin Station it presents layers of deep meaning, but that’s for another article.

Sonic Buddhism-laden turtle symbolism didn’t fizz out there. Here, we explore the next best example, from Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds.

Turtles All the Way Down

Here, Simpson’s turtles don’t serve as symbolic representations of us at our most free, but the catalyst of an argument holding that everything is infinite. It’s been shared a million times over, but the famous ‘turtles’ story, really an anecdote, is key to understanding the song (and maybe the universe).

After a lecture on cosmology and the structure of the solar system, James was accosted by a little old lady: “your theory that the sun is the centre of the solar system, and the earth is a ball which rotates around it has a very convincing ring to it, Mr. James, but it’s wrong” she said. “I’ve got a better theory,” said the little old lady.

“And what is that, madam?” inquired James politely.

“That we live on a crust of earth which is on the back of a giant turtle.” Not wishing to demolish this absurd little theory by bringing to bear the masses of scientific evidence he had at his command, James decided to gently dissuade his opponent by making her see some of the inadequacies of her position.

“If your theory is correct, madam,” he asked, “what does this turtle stand on?

“You’re a very clever man, Mr. James, and that’s a very good question,” replied the little old lady, “but I have an answer to it. And it’s this: The first turtle stands on the back of a second, far larger, turtle, who stands directly under him.”

“But what does this second turtle stand on?” persisted James patiently.

To this, the little old lady crowed triumphantly, “It’s no use, Mr. James — it’s turtles all the way down.”

— J. R. Ross, Constraints on Variables in Syntax, 1967

Without question, Simpson is impressively well-read. This can be surmised from his references and approach to the subject matter, but most importantly, from the new meaning he mines from the materials he’s collected. This anecdote obviously made an impact on Simpson, but why?

Simpson doesn’t try and play God on this track, he simply plays himself. This connection to the beyond, the source of greater meaning, however, was achieved with the help of psychedelics:

“I’ve seen Jesus play with flames in a lake of fire that I was standing in.

The first verse is an offering of examples of the near-unbelievable things he’s experienced, until you realized he’d gotten there with drugs. Through a series of deeply personal psychedelic experiences, good and bad, Simpson establishes his philosophic credibility. As the song progresses, lines akin to passages from Aldous Huxley’s Doors of Perception give way to a valley of vacant ambiguity and infinite possibilities gives way to a shift in tone. Just when you think he’s going to give us the secret to a meaningful life, he skirts out of it with a trick answer: everything is as full as it can be of nothing, and any meaning must come from you.

The listener quickly realizes that Sturgill isn’t bragging, he’s offering valuable advice, take it or leave it. He’s tried it all, good, bad and ugly, and in attempt to save you some time, calls the metaphysical exactly how he sees it upon sober reflection of those experiences. He attempts to save the listener from years of aimless soul-searching and countless bad trips by letting them in on a secret: “it’s turtles all the way down the line.”

Meaning

So, why turtles?

I’ve heard other animals substituted, such as the Buddhist proverb featuring an infinite stack of lions, yet, the selection of turtle is most appropriate. Turtles endure, they survive in an environment they can’t much control, and seem to maintain a good attitude about this most of the time. Despite living in an environment in littered and polluted chaos, many turtles just keep moving, one could say, “all the way down the line.”

Mythological Dogma?

The most controversial section is Sturgill’s comments on religion:

So don’t waste your mind on nursery rhymes
Or fairy tales of blood and wine
It’s turtles all the way down the line

At first, I read this as a black and white statement. Now, I feel more like Simpson was keeping in line with the theme of the song. There is no chant, or figure, that will save you because there isn’t anything to be saved from. We don’t know why we are here or where we will go, but we know it’s complicated, and there are no shortcuts.

So to each their own ’til we go home
To other realms our souls must roam
To and through the myth that we all call space and time

Conclusion

The real message then, is the first line above.

It isn’t pessimistic to say we are largely alone in this world, without a grounded understanding of why we are there. We have family and friends, but in the end, it’s just us and I believe we all unconsciously panicking about this fact, that may be the only truth in the universe. Build relationships, attempt to find meaning in life, just don’t rely on a manmade escape plan. In the end, the turtle theory is just another mortal attempt to explain our universe and our individual roles in it, on which we can’t entirely depend.

More Like “Turtles”

Following my introduction to this track, I created a Spotify playlist simply titled Buddhism. These song span multiple genres and geographical areas, but explore the metaphysical in a symbolical meaningful and clever way: