Yertle The Turtle

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers ⇢ Yertle The Turtle

“During the recording process, we started getting an unusual visitor. His name was Louie, and he was a pale and bald Middle Easterner. Turned out he was George’s personal coke-delivery guy. After a few visits, it was clear that George was into this guy for a lot of money, but George [Clinton] was unflappable. Louie began showing up with a couple of henchmen, and he’d say, in his slow thick accent, ‘George, I’m real serious, man, you’re going to have to make good before I can give you anything else. I’m running a business here.’ George would go, ‘Louie, look around. Do you think I’m strapped for cash? In this business, you get paid when you get paid. When I get paid, you’re the first motherfucker who gets paid after me.’ Louie would look pained. ‘George, I’ve heard that before. I didn’t bring these guys for show, and if they have to hurt somebody…’ George never blinked an eye, because he had a plan. He knew Louie was fascinated by the music business, so he intuited that making Louie a part of the whole process would ensure a steady flow of coke. Finally, George promised Louie that he could make his vocal debut on the album. I was thinking, ‘Okay, I trust George, I know that everything’s happening for a reason here, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this motherfucker on my record. This shit is sacred.’ George told me, ‘Don’t worry, everyone will be happy. He’ll be on the record, and you will not mind.’ George was right. At the very beginning of ‘Yertle the Turtle,’ you hear a weird, out-of-context voice come in and say, ’Look at the turtle go, bro,’ and then the song goes into a syncopated funk beat.” — Anthony Kiedis