One of the many questions I would have for Sturgill Simpson is: “What was going through your head when you played at the Beloit College graduation?” On May 14, 2014, Simpson appeared at the Wisconsin commencement ceremony to serenade the college graduates and their families. The song he and his band performed was what appeared to be an unusual choice for a graduation, “Turtles All the Way Down.”
The story of how Simpson came to sing at the graduation begins when Simpson was contacted after Beloit College President Scott Bierman heard “Turtles All the Way Down.” The song had been released in April 2014 as the second single from Simpson’s album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Bierman became excited to hear a song about turtles because the reptile is the beloved unofficial mascot of Beloit College.
Bierman personally felt a connection with turtles that led him to embrace Simpson’s song. When Bierman first became president of the college and gave his inaugural address, he began with, “I love turtles.” Additionally, Bierman used the “infinite turtle theory,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in order “to instill the role each student on campus has in the lives of each other.”
Bierman, who retired at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, by all accounts provided stellar leadership during his time at Beloit College. But one has to wonder if he thought much about Simpson’s song beyond the turtles reference.
What is it about besides turtles? In a NPR Concert, Simpson explained that most people did not understand the song. “It’s actually all about drugs,” he said, half-jokingly, “And some other stuff; Mostly about drugs.”
At least superficially, the song recounts the singer’s experiences with drugs. But also, beginning with a reference to Jesus, the song questions the validity of organized religion. The singer recounts using drugs to enter a gateway in the mind, “Where reptile aliens made of light / Cut you open and pull out all your pain.”
So on one level, I am amused watching the performance at Beloit College, wondering if anyone besides Simpson and his band has any idea of what is going on. Turtles and aliens? Drugs and God? (YouTube earlier had a longer version of the performance with Bierman enthusiastically introducing the song and its turtle reference. But now only a shorter version seems to be available.)
Turtles All the Way Down?
Simpson’s song, though, is great, not only because it sounds awesome. It also is deeper than a simple anti-religion drug song, despite Simpson’s NPR joking explanation. Robin Hilton, who wrote the NPR story referenced above, called “Turtles All the Way Down” a “seemingly existential meditation.”
The song title itself has a long and sophisticated history. The expression “Turtles All the Way Down” derives from a myth going back to at least the 1500s about the belief that the world rested on the back of an elephant, who stood on top of a turtle. By the 1900s, the tale evolved into the earth resting on an infinite stack of turtles.
The turtles story also comes from a tale recounted by physicist Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time (1988), a book that Simpson has read more than once. In the famous story, a famous philosopher was giving a lecture on astronomy and afterwards was approached by an outraged woman. The woman told him he was wrong about the earth floating in the sky. She explained that, instead, the earth rested on the back of a turtle. When the philosopher asked what the turtle stood on, she said another turtle. When the philosopher asked about that turtle, she replied, “It’s no use, it’s turtles all the way down.”
Meaning of the Song
So what does the philosopher story have to do with Simpson’s song referencing drugs, religion, and aliens? First, the singer of “Turtles All the Way Down” is critical of authoritarian attempts to control access to anything, such as LSD, which can help change one’s perspective and provide interior growth. For DMT, which occurs naturally in our brains, he asks how something we all make in our brains can be illegal: “Some say you might go crazy / But then again, it might make you go sane.”
Second, regarding religion, on his life’s journey, the singer encounters Jesus, the devil, and Buddha. Yet, “that old and fabled book” (i.e., the Bible) reminds him of the “pain caused by an old man in the sky.“
But the song is not a pro-drug and anti-religion diatribe. Reading other books influenced Simpson too. Drugs may have opened the mind of the singer, but he found more elsewhere beyond the drugs and books: “Marijuana, LSD, Psilocybin, and DMT / They all changed the way I see. / But love’s the only thing that ever saved my life.”
As for religion, the singer says not to waste one’s time on nursery rhymes and “blood and wine.” But the rejection is not anti-God. It comes from the unsolvable mysteries of the universe that we just cannot understand beyond the infinite stack of turtles. So be careful how you waste your time.
“God” is not rejected but found by the singer in “in the eyes of my best friend.” And the friend teaches him something that sums up a message that is good advice for us all:
It’s all been done;
And someday you’re gonna wake up old and gray;
So go and try to have some fun;
Showing warmth to everyone
You meet and greet and cheat along the way.
One may only surmise whether the message of the song conveys Simpson’s own true beliefs or are part of a made-up character singing. But from interviews with Simpson, it does seem that he might have some similar thoughts on these subjects, even as he has explained that his songs are often in the voice of a character.
Performance at Benoit College Graduation
So on a deeper level, the song is about love, life, and the quest for meaning as well as different ways to reach different levels of consciousness and understanding. And on this deeper level, going back to the Beloit graduation, I wonder whether during that Wisconsin spring day in 2014 anyone sitting quietly in their seats waiting for their loved ones to receive their diplomas had any inkling what they were hearing.
Of course, I doubt I would have understood in that context, first hearing the song from an artist I didn’t know. I suppose that is why artists like Simpson keep playing and performing and writing, hoping to make a connection at some point.
But I still can’t help wondering what was going through the mind of Simpson, who went into the Navy not long after his own high school graduation to try to straighten out his life. And in 2014, he stood playing off to the side of the college graduation audience on the constructed platform (not even at the front!), singing about turtles for the Beloit College faithful.
There are many things I love about this video. You can almost feel the air and smell spring in the air as parents and others sit through the graduation festivities. I love that Simpson brought a full band for this performance, which he could have done as easily by himself with an acoustic guitar. I love that when the video cuts out you can’t tell if anyone applauded (although in their defense, Simpson’s “Turtles All the Way Down” does have a somewhat abrupt ending here as well as on the album). I love that Simpson gives a knowing smile as the song goes into a list of drugs as if he senses the absurdity of the situation. And I love that the one audience member who may be enjoying the song the most can be seen behind the band on a giant rock listening to the band.
Of course, one cannot criticize Simpson for the performance or for agreeing to perform for this unusual audience. He had yet to find great success or to appear on network TV (that would come in July on Late Show With David Letterman). His first self-released album had only found modest sales, and this new one had been released one day prior to the graduation. He had no idea that album would significantly increase his audience.
So of course he took the graduation gig.
But maybe he reached some folks that day too.
God bless him and the graduates of Beloit College.
Turtle picture via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.