I never put much stock in that image of the earthresting on the backs of four elephantswho are standing on the back of a sea turtle,who is in turn supported by an infinite regressionof turtles disappearing into a bottomless forever.I mean how could you get them all to stay still?
Now that we are on the subject,my substitute picture would have the earthwith its entire population of people and thingsresting on the head of Keith Richards,who is holding a Marlboro in one handand a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the other.
As long as Keith keeps talking aboutthe influence of the blues on the Rolling Stones,the earth will continue to spin merrilyand revolve in a timely manner around the sun.But if he changes the subject or even pausestoo long, it’s pretty much curtains for us all.
Unless, of course, one person somehow survivesbeing hurtled into the frigidity of outer space;then we would have a movie on our hands—but wait, there wouldn’t be any handsto write the script or make the movie,and no theatres, either, no buttered popcorn, no giant Pepsi.
Putting that aside, let’s imagine Keithstanding on the other Rolling Stones,who are standing on the shoulders of Muddy Waters,and, were it not for that endless stack of turtles,one on top of the other all the way down,Muddy Waters would be standing on nothing at all.