On a far away island
of Salamasond
Yertle the turtle
Was king of the pond
A nice little pond
It was clean it was neat
The water was warm
There was plenty to eat
Until one day
The king of them all
Decided the kingdom
He ruled was too small
I'm a ruler of all that I see
But I don't see enough
And that's the trouble with me

With this stone for a throne
I am too low down
I cannot look down
Upon the places beyond
So Yertle the turtle king
Lifted his hand
And Yertle the turtle king
Lifted his hand
He ordered all the turtles
Onto one another's back
He piled them high
Into a ten turtle stack
I'm Yertle the turtle
The things I now rule
I'm king of a cow
I'm king of a mule

Then down from below
In the great turtle stack
Came a burp from a plain
Little turtle named Mack
Just part of the throne
This burpin' little turtle
Looked up and said "I beg
Your pardon king Yertle"
I've pains in my back
My shoulders and my knees
How long must we stand
Here your majesty
"Silence !" the king of the
Turtles barked back
To the bad burpin'
Little turtle named Mack
I'm Yertle the turtle
Oh marvelous me for
I am ruler of all that I see

Yertle, Yertle the turtle
Yertle, Yertle the turtle



Lyrics submitted by PrismPuck, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 03:47

"Yertle the Turtle" as written by Jack Sherman, Cliff Martinez, Anthony Kiedis, Michael Peter Balzary

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Yertle the Turtle song meanings
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25 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:The guy who says "Look at that turtle go bro!" is George Clinton's drug dealer. George didn't have the money to pay off his debt, so he let his drug dealer be part of the song.
    Flag muzy21on September 02, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:only the chili peppers would make a song out of a seuss book.
    only them :]
    i think anthony just liked the way it rhymed.
    Flag BOOBthingon January 18, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Recently I found out, that Yertle the Turtle was based on Hitler when Dr. Suess wrote it. What a nice time that everyone is having think of how simple a childs book is tho?
    Flag JumpKoalaon January 17, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:lol, I love this songs. its awesome. and yes, I heard the burping sounds towards the end as well last time I listened to it lol
    Flag redhotchilipeppas14on August 30, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:summat ive also only recently noticed is the burping sounds.
    during the song at times you hear a burp, and i guess thats linking to the original story version.
    For example theres one around 3.02 into the song.
    thats just the last one i heard cause its playing atm.
    Flag Avatar-rockon August 21, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:what a truly wonderful song. absolutely love it. avatar-rock, i absolutely agre with you, and for those of you who still think it's only a cute kid's story, take a little closer look at it

    its been said several times on this page before - well ill still say it.
    the chili peppers are THE ONLY ONES who could have pulled off doing a cover of this song without comepletely ruining it.
    Flag anna_banana3009on June 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:a lot of Dr seuss songs have political motive, god bless that guy, teaching politics to kids...

    oh, and the song is FUH-KING SUPERB!!!
    Flag Avatar-rockon May 20, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song always makes me feel happy and freaky
    Flag madameon April 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:ahh now i need to go read the book
    Flag manch0won March 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Genius making a song off a Dr. Suess story. Actually Yertle the Turtle was about Hitler. Yertle being Hitler. Some don't agree, but the turtle even has an identicle mustache! It does make sense once you put two and two together.
    Flag loserface68on February 26, 2006   Link

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