Badass females? the same ones who think words are violence and always vote left-wing, sure. Thank God Trump won China and Russia don't respect you soft silly little lefties.
@@yelnek4548 I actually wouldn't argue with that assessment. Although women like Linda Perry, Alanis Morrisette, and Melissa Ethridge have carried the torch pretty well.
Britt Psychedelic aka Acid Dropper) LSD Rock Hence Line pill Makes you Bigger and one Makes You Small the ones Mama gives you Don't Do Anything at all +(Mom Protects us so they arent going to Give you Drugs the Pills Mom Gives you are Vitamins which seems to Do Nothing)
The lyrics to White Rabbit are a reference to Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit is the character Alice follows down the rabbit hole chanting " I'm late, i'm late for a very important date". Inadvertently, he starts Alice's venture into Wonderland which ends up being a harrowing journey she is unprepared for
Name drop alert! I spent considerable time with her in an art business setting (event photographer) around 2011. Her neighbor when she was young raised white rabbits also. She only found out in her teens that he sold them as food! The first thing I ever heard her say was 'Git 'er done"! Lol
yea its a song with double layers too, it references Alice in Wonderland, which in itself is a book describing events while on psychedelic mushroom trips...they are alluding to both in the song
@@imautubertoo My comment is based on what Grace Slick (the author of the song) said in an interview. Your comments on Alice are correct. Grace made the comment that it was hypocrisy for our parents to read that stuff to us and then say don't do drugs. Regardless of the meaning of the lyrics, it's a great song.
The Smothers Brothers show was a groundbreaking comedy/variety show that touched on social issues and pushed the boundaries of what the network found acceptable, ultimately terminating the show. On the music side, the guitar and bass players formed a side project called Hot Tuna and are still playing in one form or another today. Some great traditional blues and blues rock.
Jorma Kaukonen, (he's Finnish) the guitarist, and Jack Cassidy, the bassist, played music together as teenagers before Jefferson Airplane, so they've been together 60 or so years, which is amazing.
Yeah = the "smoking a banana" reference was because in 1967 a rumor went around that you could scrape the inside of a banana peel , dry it out, and then smoke it to get high (it didn't work). The musician Donovan even made a song about it titled "Mellow Yellow".
@timgreeley3570 The false rumor at the time was that Mellow Yellow was about the smoking bananas thing but it actually turns out that Mellow Yellow was the name of an adult toy that was advertised in a British magazine. That’s what the song is really about. Hence the phrase electrical banana. Professor of Rock had a feature about this on his channel.
Bananadine is a fictional psychoactive substance which is supposedly extracted from banana peels. A hoax recipe for its "extraction" from banana peel was originally published in the Berkeley Barb in March 1967.[1] This recipe was itself an excerpt from the upcoming San Francisco Oracle issue, which was likely done in an attempt to give the hoax more validity.
Boomer here, I watched that show when it aired. Smothers Brothers premiered many of the 60s bands on network TV. The Who's appearance on Smothers Brpthers was famous for the blowing up of Keith Moon's drums and Pete Townsend's eardrums (no spoilers) The colorful background was The Magic Light Show. They invented that look, nothing else like that existed at the time. It was a signature of the band's act at the Filmore West in San Fransisco where they shared the stage with the Grateful Dead, Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin and others
Grace Slick is a Rock Icon. Read her bio. She got into this band, because the band payed more, than her modeling gigs. After her music career. She opened an Art Studio. Quite a character.
It was an old rerun of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” It was about the hippest show of that era and would put on controversial acts and were constantly hounded by the clueless censors of the network. The world was tripping on a new awareness of the wonders of our minds.
Grace Slick, razing city blocks with her vibrato since 1965. 😂😂 White Rabbit is based on the Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll. Slick remarked that parents shouldn't be surprised their kids used drugs after reading them Alice in Wonderland at bedtime. 😂😂😂
@garyarnett1220 I mean, what do you expect from someone who announced she was going to name her first child God, only to actually name her China? 😂 It was never clear to me whether that was China the country or China the table setting. 😂😂😂
This was on the Smothers Brothers comedy hour in 1967. Woodstock was also in 1967. Now let me give you the clues White Rabbit, Hookah smoking Caterpillar, Chess pieces talking and moving, One pill makes you larger and one makes you small all point to Alice in Wonderland
Woodstock was actually in the summer of 1969, the "Monterrey Pop Festival" was in the summer of 1967, this started the "Summer of Love" movement in 1967.
Alice in wonderland =Go ask Alice When she's ten feet tall, men on the chessboard Get up and tell you where to go, Red Queen's off with her head. dormouse said Feed your head
The Smothers Brothers were a folk music duo. They had a variety show back in the late 1960s. They got in a lot of trouble with the network (CBS) because they were constantly including anti-war material in their show (this was during Vietnam). They looked like a couple of nerdy upper middle-class guys but were very vocal about politics, especially anti-war messaging. Eventually the network canceled their program.
Technically the show wasn't canceled. CBS just decided not to create any more shows while the brothers were still under contract for a specific number of shows. This prevented them from moving to another network without being in violation of contract. Every once in a while CBS would call them back in to do a special which the network had full artistic control over.
one of my best memories aside from hanging at Airplane house when I was a kid a couple of times was an spur of the moment concert. the band played on a balcony above Neda"s flowers over Haight St in 67 or 68.The street filled with people and a blast was had till the cops showed up to clear the street. PS before they were famouse they played at my school in SF.
Wow, I'm so glad you noticed that at the beginning about having a hard time slipping into the rhythm. As a musician of many years and playing in a lot of bands and all that, it's one of my favorite things both to do and execute but also to be subject to while listening, and that is to be ambiguous or even misled as to what the ultimate downbeat will be when things get rolling. Everything about that is so cool. And yeah, I don't remember experiencing that on the studio cut, but at least for this live performance, I had exactly the same feeling as you described It surprised me.
Obviously you have never read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (also known as Alice in Wonderland) an 1865 English children's novel by Lewis Carroll. Every bizarre character and substance you heard in the song is taken directly from the book.
“White Rabbit” was penned by Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick when she was still a member of the band The Great Society. She borrowed the song’s trippy imagery from Lewis Carroll’s timeless children’s books, Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. “The 1960s resembled Wonderland for me,” Slick told the outlet. “Like Alice, I met all kinds of strange characters, but I was comfortable with it.”The song’s mind-expanding meaning came with the help of mind-expanding substances. “In the 60s, the drugs were not ones like heroin and alcohol that you take to blot out a terrible life, but psychedelics: marijuana, LSD and shroomies,” Slick said. “Psychedelic drugs showed you that there are alternative realities. You open up to things that are unusual and different, and, in realizing that there are alternative ways of looking at things, you become more accepting of things around you.” She admits the tune is darkly tinged. “It’s not saying everything’s going to be wonderful,” she added. “The Red Queen is shouting off with her head and the White Knight is talking backwards. Lewis Carroll was looking at how things are run and the people who rule us.” But the main message comes with the closing line feed your head, wailed in repetition. “[It is] both about reading and psychedelics,” she said of the lyric. “I was talking about feeding your head by paying attention: read some books, pay attention.” The song opens in a hazy disjointed death march before an intoxicating guitar riff slithers up through the smoke and into the ear. Slick’s sharp, defiant words pierce the song as she bellows, One pill makes you larger / And one pill makes you small / And the ones that mother gives you / Don’t do anything at all / Go ask Alice / When she’s 10 feet tall. While heady, the seemingly out-there lyrics come together to make sense. Like Carroll’s titular character, Alice, who changes size after eating something strange or drinking a peculiar liquid, the song depicts the same feeling of change that comes with drug use. And if you go chasing rabbits / And you know you’re going to fall, the song continues, saying if you follow your curiosities down the rabbit hole, there will be a smoking caterpillar, in a sense, there to guide you through your drug-induced state. When logic and proportion / Have fallen sloppy dead, Slick sings. She warns that things won’t always make sense and that might seem threatening when the White Knight is talking backwards / And the Red Queen’s off with her head. She sings it’s important to Remember what the dormouse said / Feed your head / Feed your head.
Love your VW Bus comment Britt. Til I was 13, our family car was a VW Bus, not because we were hippies but because it was the only vehicle that could fit a family of 10. Keep up the great work.
I moved into a house that Jefferson Airplane had just moved out of in the late 70s. Shout out to Bolinas, CA. The day I moved in I went to pee and pulled up the toilet seat cover. On the bottom of the cover, the gold record to White Rabbit was glued to the bottom of the cover. I was stolen from me years later. Jefferson Airplane devolved into a 80s hair band playing bland pop music and changed their name a couple of times.
I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with the wonderful Grace Slick some around 2010. She is also a visual artist and I was the event photographer for a gallery that showed her work. My job was to shadow her while she mingled with the patrons and sold her art. She's very funny but all business when it's time for business. She told me she didn't have much range for high notes, but in her range she was extremely powerful. The original hippie chick rock star, along with her friend Janis Joplin.
I saw Jefferson Airplane perform these songs live in Ithaca, NY when I was in high school in 1967. There was a large screen backdrop behind them on which they projected swirling colors & shadows. It was all very "trippy" (as in a trip on LSD). It was a great show. These videos came from the Smothers Brothers, a variety show hosted by Dick & Tommy Smothers. They were musicians and comedians. Dick was the straight guy and Tommy was the sidekick. "Mom always liked you best!"
The vocal is by Grace Slick, a voice like none other and if you'll think of Alice in Wonderland it might help you understand it will help. Quite a song.... The group was awesome, check out some of their stuff like their greatest hits and enjoy...
The original version is the best and listened to with headphones! Close your eyes and listen to her voice, especially the crescendo! Goose bumps every time!
The rhythm is a rock version of Bolero by French composer Maurice Ravel and it is a march. The topic is of course, Alice in Wonderland. And Grace wrote both of these songs.
This is from 1967, but whoever posted it on RUclips took it off an E! Network rerun of the TV show this was part of, probably in the 1990s or early 2000s. The TV show was called "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."
Both of these songs were written by grace slick with her previous band. When she joined Jefferson airplane and brought her songs with her it was magical.
That clip was from the smothers Brothers comedy hour in the '60s that was Tommy talking back then you couldn't say smoke a joint or drop a hit acid and you had the skirt around it in the song.
Haven't commented in a bit, but just have to say, your channel is the best. I absolutely love watching you from your era finding music from my era. The last couple of days with Freddie Fender and now Jefferson Airplane puts such a smile on my face. I am so grateful for your channel and that younger people can groove to the music that I did!
Grace Slick, the lead singer is one of the most amazing voices in Rock!!! I just always loved this song because of the uniqueness of it and just took it with a grain of salt. The Alice in Wonderland story basically! Then Someone to Love is another classic song!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤
White Rabbit is a psychedelic trip that follows Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland) storyline. They are playing on the Smother's Brother's variety show, an edgy (for the time) comedy show that regularly pushed against 60's TV censor's with its underlying and usually thinly disguised anti-war/anti-establishment political tone.
I guess Alice is now officially dead and forgotten. RIP. I wouldn't be surprised if all of Lewis Carroll's classics are banned or burned within the next four years.
Yes psychedelic rock was a thing and Grace Slick/Jefferson Airplane were some of the pioneers. As everyone has said, White Rabbit was a reference to Alice In Wonderland and back in those days we all understand what that was and the chemicals references you noticed. Welcome to the late '60s Britt, definitely a different time with different priorities.
They were a comedy act that later got their own show called The smothers Brothers I think it was Dick and Tom Smothers Check it out You might find it funny along with another comedy hour called Laugh-In with Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and many many others Then again you might have had to been born in the '50s to appreciate the '60s lol
Grace Slick was with another San Francisco group called The Great Society when she wrote these two songs. She left them and joined Jefferson Airplane, which was looking for a lead vocalist after Signe Andersen left, and brought the two songs with her. They both became huge hits.
girl, i was looking for this two songs for deacades, especialy the "white rabbit" .... had them in my brain, never knew was the "jeferson airplaines" ... thumb up for revealing the mistery ❤
White Rabbit was written in 1967 at the height of the so called "Counter Culture" sweeping America. This was the worst year for casualties from the Vietnam War, it was the year that haight ashbury was in every head line. The TV show was The Smother's Brothers Comedy Hour.
There is actually a ton of nuance to the meaning of this that worked as social messaging colored in the world of Alice In Wonderland and current social and music trends in the counterculture. It was also revolutionary because she was another of the handful of young women who were starting to rise and come into their own in the mostly male-dominated rock scene at the time. Leslie, they're just kick ass songs, lol. ❤
For lyrics, Grace drew inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. In her memoir Somebody to Love, Grace recalls: "the lyrics allude to the hypocrisy of the older generation swilling one of the hardest drugs (alcohol) known to man, but telling us not to use psychedelics." Seeking to remind her parents' generation that they were the ones who had filled the minds of hers with children's stories that glamorized "fun with chemicals," Grace then leads listeners through a few examples: In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her entourage get high on poppies, Peter Pan sprinkles fairy dust on everyone to make them able to fly, and finally leads us to, as Grace herself puts it, "the biggest druggie of them all, Alice."
The intro was by Tommy Smothers, who was in a comedy duo with his brother Dick, often involving music. Tommy was the one with a ditzy persona. A friend (now sadly deceased) who was a stand-up comic worked with them once, and liked Tommy but said Dick was a dick.
In the 60s the word "head" was a popular word for "stoner". "Feed your head" makes sense when you understand the reference. A hookah is a smoking device with water that cools off the harshness of what is being smoked. The hookah is being smoked by a caterpillar and, of course, caterpillars transform into something new and beautiful. Alice in Wonderland is a perfect story (platform) for a song about the evolving drug culture of the 1960s.
The Smothers Brothers … Tom and Dick are real brothers. Musicians and comedians. Tom is older and plays a little dim witted character who happens to be an expert with the Yo-Yo. Dick plays the straight man who is “superior” to his brother. Their humor tended to be politically controversial in the late 1960’s, mostly propelled by Tommy. They really pushed the limits for television at the time. Eventually getting them fired. However their show introduced many tremendous musicians. Every one of which you should listen to.
My favorites are after they changed their name to Jefferson Starship (and Marty Balin led songs). "Miracles", "count on me", "run away", "with your love". All beautiful songs.
Donovan (British Singer) made fun of a hippie myth that people could get high if they smoked a banana peel. He called it "mellow yellow'. Funny reference by the Smothers brothers.
Because the song tells the story of Alice in Wonderland , it was the first song ever to beat the radio censors in the US. while openly signing about drugs
Alice in wonderland. Mushroom..hookah smoking caterpillar, red queen, chasing rabbits, white knight, men on chessboard, remember what the door mouse said, etc. 😉
One of my top 10 songs. Always loved the Jefferson Airplane and also being on the Smothers Brothers show. They were a huge deal in the 60's show. They had 2 lead singers. I do believe it was Austin Powers.
The Smothers Brothers Show is what you're watching. The Smothers Brothers [their real name, they WERE real brothers] were the funniest duo of the 1960's and 70's and beyond. ..they could sing nd play music well, but they were comedians, and controversial...it's hard to explain here but the younger one, Dick Smothers, you see here, played the straight man perfectly to his older brother Tommy's quirky mischievous dumb guy persona. I saw them in concert once, the made us laugh so hard, we were still laughing all 100 miles riding home!! Check them out. I guarantee you'll be on the floor.
Back in my time, English Literature was a required class in high school, and we read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. While I wasn't the most diligent student, I can look back and appreciate the variety of our curriculum. My English Lit teacher was a hoot.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Grace Slick is the original badass female vocalist!🎤🤘
:🔥🔥
Big Mama Thronton might be.
Badass females? the same ones who think words are violence and always vote left-wing, sure. Thank God Trump won China and Russia don't respect you soft silly little lefties.
Her and Ann Wilson had the most powerful vocals in rock.
@@yelnek4548 I actually wouldn't argue with that assessment. Although women like Linda Perry, Alanis Morrisette, and Melissa Ethridge have carried the torch pretty well.
Clue, Think Alice in Wonderland.....
👍So true, but it also pulls me into the Matrix😉. Love both of these songs. 🖖❤
So many people wanted to set her straight. Then they saw your comment and all they had to do is hit the like button lol
Apparently totally unfamiliar with the tale. There are so many references dotted along....
Britt Psychedelic aka Acid Dropper) LSD Rock Hence Line pill Makes you Bigger and one Makes You Small the ones Mama gives you Don't Do Anything at all +(Mom Protects us so they arent going to Give you Drugs the Pills Mom Gives you are Vitamins which seems to Do Nothing)
Sampled in Movies😂
The lyrics to White Rabbit are a reference to Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit is the character Alice follows down the rabbit hole chanting " I'm late, i'm late for a very important date". Inadvertently, he starts Alice's venture into Wonderland which ends up being a harrowing journey she is unprepared for
Name drop alert!
I spent considerable time with her in an art business setting (event photographer) around 2011.
Her neighbor when she was young raised white rabbits also. She only found out in her teens that he sold them as food!
The first thing I ever heard her say was 'Git 'er done"! Lol
People used to instantly recognize the "Alice In Wonderland" references, but unfortunately people don't get into literature all that much these days.
And that is what she meant by "feed your head"...READ.
yea its a song with double layers too, it references Alice in Wonderland, which in itself is a book describing events while on psychedelic mushroom trips...they are alluding to both in the song
@@imautubertoo My comment is based on what Grace Slick (the author of the song) said in an interview. Your comments on Alice are correct. Grace made the comment that it was hypocrisy for our parents to read that stuff to us and then say don't do drugs. Regardless of the meaning of the lyrics, it's a great song.
@@MaxNafeHorsemanship More like, do psychedelic drugs and expand your consciousness. I'm 74 and that was a major theme in music.+
@@baabo708 True in the day, but I am going by what Grace Slick herself said. She wrote the song.
This was from the Smothers Brothers show on CBS, 1967. White Rabbit gets its inspiration from Alice in Wonderland
I remember seeing this on our Black and White TV. Oh Crap, I'm Old! 🤣 ✌
They had their show cancelled for making jokes barely more risque than the banana one. They did their best.
Ive heard that one reason their show was canceled was because they were getting what the network thought was too political.
@@pjg58xExactly.
The Smothers Brothers show was a groundbreaking comedy/variety show that touched on social issues and pushed the boundaries of what the network found acceptable, ultimately terminating the show. On the music side, the guitar and bass players formed a side project called Hot Tuna and are still playing in one form or another today. Some great traditional blues and blues rock.
Jorma Kaukonen, (he's Finnish) the guitarist, and Jack Cassidy, the bassist, played music together as teenagers before Jefferson Airplane, so they've been together 60 or so years, which is amazing.
Excellent comment with an understanding of music history!
Alice in wonderland was a story about a psychedelic trip! The one we all are living now!
😂😂😂👍🏻
Intro...Bolero! Lyrics...Alice In Wonderland!!! Hey Britt, feed your head! lol
yes absolutely builds like Bolero
Yeah = the "smoking a banana" reference was because in 1967 a rumor went around that you could scrape the inside of a banana peel , dry it out, and then smoke it to get high (it didn't work). The musician Donovan even made a song about it titled "Mellow Yellow".
It was a hippy prank to freak out the Man.
@timgreeley3570 The false rumor at the time was that Mellow Yellow was about the smoking bananas thing but it actually turns out that Mellow Yellow was the name of an adult toy that was advertised in a British magazine. That’s what the song is really about. Hence the phrase electrical banana. Professor of Rock had a feature about this on his channel.
I actually tried smoking a banana peel back in the day, I can can attest it didn't work at all! True story!
Bananadine is a fictional psychoactive substance which is supposedly extracted from banana peels. A hoax recipe for its "extraction" from banana peel was originally published in the Berkeley Barb in March 1967.[1] This recipe was itself an excerpt from the upcoming San Francisco Oracle issue, which was likely done in an attempt to give the hoax more validity.
@@pjg58x "Electrical banana, soon to be a national craze!".
They went from Jefferson airplane to Jefferson starship to Starship & this is the 50th anniversary of touring this year.
I never liked the guy who replaced Grace Slick as lead singer.
Sadly their music got worse and worse over time. Except for Ride the Tiger. That song kicks ass.
Boomer here, I watched that show when it aired. Smothers Brothers premiered many of the 60s bands on network TV. The Who's appearance on Smothers Brpthers was famous for the blowing up of Keith Moon's drums and Pete Townsend's eardrums (no spoilers)
The colorful background was The Magic Light Show. They invented that look, nothing else like that existed at the time. It was a signature of the band's act at the Filmore West in San Fransisco where they shared the stage with the Grateful Dead, Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin and others
Grace Slick is a Rock Icon. Read her bio. She got into this band, because the band payed more, than her modeling gigs. After her music career. She opened an Art Studio. Quite a character.
It was an old rerun of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” It was about the hippest show of that era and would put on controversial acts and were constantly hounded by the clueless censors of the network. The world was tripping on a new awareness of the wonders of our minds.
Grace Slick, razing city blocks with her vibrato since 1965. 😂😂
White Rabbit is based on the Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll. Slick remarked that parents shouldn't be surprised their kids used drugs after reading them Alice in Wonderland at bedtime. 😂😂😂
LMBO, yup, That sounds like something Grace would say
@garyarnett1220 I mean, what do you expect from someone who announced she was going to name her first child God, only to actually name her China? 😂 It was never clear to me whether that was China the country or China the table setting. 😂😂😂
1960s they played at Woodstock. Classic for the 60s and 70s music.
This was on the Smothers Brothers comedy hour in 1967. Woodstock was also in 1967. Now let me give you the clues White Rabbit, Hookah smoking Caterpillar, Chess pieces talking and moving, One pill makes you larger and one makes you small all point to Alice in Wonderland
Well, Woodstock was in 1969, but I otherwise am right there with you.
1967 was the Monterey Pop Festival
Woodstock was actually in the summer of 1969, the "Monterrey Pop Festival" was in the summer of 1967, this started the "Summer of Love" movement in 1967.
This also refers to LSD and mind-altering substances from that era.
@@ZulcanPrime Almost like something can have two meanings at the same time.
Grace Slick was amazing in her prime!
p.s. Grace is alive today and 85 years old.
Alice in wonderland =Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall, men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go, Red Queen's off with her head. dormouse said
Feed your head
My favorite song is after the Airplane turned into the Jefferson Starship and did "Miracles"
The Smothers Brothers were a folk music duo. They had a variety show back in the late 1960s. They got in a lot of trouble with the network (CBS) because they were constantly including anti-war material in their show (this was during Vietnam). They looked like a couple of nerdy upper middle-class guys but were very vocal about politics, especially anti-war messaging. Eventually the network canceled their program.
Technically the show wasn't canceled. CBS just decided not to create any more shows while the brothers were still under contract for a specific number of shows. This prevented them from moving to another network without being in violation of contract. Every once in a while CBS would call them back in to do a special which the network had full artistic control over.
Grace Slick is an icon
a friend of mine smoked a joint with her back in the day
Agreed
one of my best memories aside from hanging at Airplane house when I was a kid a couple of times was an spur of the moment concert. the band played on a balcony above Neda"s flowers over Haight St in 67 or 68.The street filled with people and a blast was had till the cops showed up to clear the street. PS before they were famouse they played at my school in SF.
Wow, I'm so glad you noticed that at the beginning about having a hard time slipping into the rhythm. As a musician of many years and playing in a lot of bands and all that, it's one of my favorite things both to do and execute but also to be subject to while listening, and that is to be ambiguous or even misled as to what the ultimate downbeat will be when things get rolling. Everything about that is so cool. And yeah, I don't remember experiencing that on the studio cut, but at least for this live performance, I had exactly the same feeling as you described It surprised me.
Obviously you have never read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (also known as Alice in Wonderland) an 1865 English children's novel by Lewis Carroll. Every bizarre character and substance you heard in the song is taken directly from the book.
“White Rabbit” was penned by Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick when she was still a member of the band The Great Society. She borrowed the song’s trippy imagery from Lewis Carroll’s timeless children’s books, Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. “The 1960s resembled Wonderland for me,” Slick told the outlet. “Like Alice, I met all kinds of strange characters, but I was comfortable with it.”The song’s mind-expanding meaning came with the help of mind-expanding substances. “In the 60s, the drugs were not ones like heroin and alcohol that you take to blot out a terrible life, but psychedelics: marijuana, LSD and shroomies,” Slick said. “Psychedelic drugs showed you that there are alternative realities. You open up to things that are unusual and different, and, in realizing that there are alternative ways of looking at things, you become more accepting of things around you.”
She admits the tune is darkly tinged. “It’s not saying everything’s going to be wonderful,” she added. “The Red Queen is shouting off with her head and the White Knight is talking backwards. Lewis Carroll was looking at how things are run and the people who rule us.”
But the main message comes with the closing line feed your head, wailed in repetition. “[It is] both about reading and psychedelics,” she said of the lyric. “I was talking about feeding your head by paying attention: read some books, pay attention.” The song opens in a hazy disjointed death march before an intoxicating guitar riff slithers up through the smoke and into the ear. Slick’s sharp, defiant words pierce the song as she bellows, One pill makes you larger / And one pill makes you small / And the ones that mother gives you / Don’t do anything at all / Go ask Alice / When she’s 10 feet tall.
While heady, the seemingly out-there lyrics come together to make sense. Like Carroll’s titular character, Alice, who changes size after eating something strange or drinking a peculiar liquid, the song depicts the same feeling of change that comes with drug use.
And if you go chasing rabbits / And you know you’re going to fall, the song continues, saying if you follow your curiosities down the rabbit hole, there will be a smoking caterpillar, in a sense, there to guide you through your drug-induced state.
When logic and proportion / Have fallen sloppy dead, Slick sings. She warns that things won’t always make sense and that might seem threatening when the White Knight is talking backwards / And the Red Queen’s off with her head. She sings it’s important to Remember what the dormouse said / Feed your head / Feed your head.
Love your VW Bus comment Britt. Til I was 13, our family car was a VW Bus, not because we were hippies but because it was the only vehicle that could fit a family of 10.
Keep up the great work.
6:26
Alice’s adventures in wonderland…
Through the looking glass?
I moved into a house that Jefferson Airplane had just moved out of in the late 70s. Shout out to Bolinas, CA. The day I moved in I went to pee and pulled up the toilet seat cover. On the bottom of the cover, the gold record to White Rabbit was glued to the bottom of the cover. I was stolen from me years later. Jefferson Airplane devolved into a 80s hair band playing bland pop music and changed their name a couple of times.
Grace Slick once quipped that she didn't have a voice for lullabies - she can truly belt it out!
Of course, its not true........she sang
"Lather" on SURREALISTIC PILLOW
I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with the wonderful Grace Slick some around 2010.
She is also a visual artist and I was the event photographer for a gallery that showed her work. My job was to shadow her while she mingled with the patrons and sold her art. She's very funny but all business when it's time for business.
She told me she didn't have much range for high notes, but in her range she was extremely powerful.
The original hippie chick rock star, along with her friend Janis Joplin.
I saw Jefferson Airplane perform these songs live in Ithaca, NY when I was in high school in 1967. There was a large screen backdrop behind them on which they projected swirling colors & shadows. It was all very "trippy" (as in a trip on LSD). It was a great show. These videos came from the Smothers Brothers, a variety show hosted by Dick & Tommy Smothers. They were musicians and comedians. Dick was the straight guy and Tommy was the sidekick. "Mom always liked you best!"
Grace Slick one of the great women rock singers of that time (my time) love both songs
The vocal is by Grace Slick, a voice like none other and if you'll think of Alice in Wonderland it might help you understand it will help. Quite a song.... The group was awesome, check out some of their stuff like their greatest hits and enjoy...
Grace is a great singer and deserves respect
The original version is the best and listened to with headphones! Close your eyes and listen to her voice, especially the crescendo! Goose bumps every time!
Gracie Slick, One of the best ever.Thx Britt
The rhythm is a rock version of Bolero by French composer Maurice Ravel and it is a march.
The topic is of course, Alice in Wonderland. And Grace wrote both of these songs.
This is from 1967, but whoever posted it on RUclips took it off an E! Network rerun of the TV show this was part of, probably in the 1990s or early 2000s. The TV show was called "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."
Both of these songs were written by grace slick with her previous band. When she joined Jefferson airplane and brought her songs with her it was magical.
"The Great Society"?
Actually Somebody to Love was written by Grace’s brother in law, Darby Slick, who was also a member of The Great Society.
@@pjg58x Very cool! I didn't know that much about them.
That clip was from the smothers Brothers comedy hour in the '60s that was Tommy talking back then you couldn't say smoke a joint or drop a hit acid and you had the skirt around it in the song.
But banana???
Haven't commented in a bit, but just have to say, your channel is the best. I absolutely love watching you from your era finding music from my era. The last couple of days with Freddie Fender and now Jefferson Airplane puts such a smile on my face. I am so grateful for your channel and that younger people can groove to the music that I did!
Welcome back! Thank you so much !
Simply the greatest psychedelic rock song of all time, although Jim Morrison and Pink Floyd might have some to say about that...
Grace Slick, the lead singer is one of the most amazing voices in Rock!!! I just always loved this song because of the uniqueness of it and just took it with a grain of salt. The Alice in Wonderland story basically! Then Someone to Love is another classic song!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤
That's a concert I will never forget, at least the parts that are not too foggy.
The way you were looking at the camera with the side eye was perfect timing !! Lol
The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the ultimate psychedelic song.
I was pretty young in the sixties, but if I had to pick one song to represent that decade, it would likely be this one. Great song.
Grace Slick. That is a voice that launched a thousand trips. 😊
Feed your head love it!
White Rabbit is a psychedelic trip that follows Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland) storyline. They are playing on the Smother's Brother's variety show, an edgy (for the time) comedy show that regularly pushed against 60's TV censor's with its underlying and usually thinly disguised anti-war/anti-establishment political tone.
I was in love with Grace Slick's voice.
These songs were 1967. Grace Slick has a HAUNTING voice with an amazing natural vibrato.
Just read "Alice in Wonderland" and you'll know. ;-)
The Jefferson Airplane was at the for front of Acid Rock along with such bands as Iron Butterfly, Stephen Wolf and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Are you experienced? I aaammmm!
@Howie-du7ov I was a frequent flyer. Frog, widow pain, barrel, and yes Purple Haze. Spent 3 years in San Francisco 73-76.
I guess Alice is now officially dead and forgotten. RIP. I wouldn't be surprised if all of Lewis Carroll's classics are banned or burned within the next four years.
Sad but true. 😥
Yes psychedelic rock was a thing and Grace Slick/Jefferson Airplane were some of the pioneers. As everyone has said, White Rabbit was a reference to Alice In Wonderland and back in those days we all understand what that was and the chemicals references you noticed. Welcome to the late '60s Britt, definitely a different time with different priorities.
So fun to see Britt gettin' DOWN in her chair on this one!
Read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and this song will make sense.
They were a comedy act that later got their own show called The smothers Brothers I think it was Dick and Tom Smothers Check it out You might find it funny along with another comedy hour called Laugh-In with Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and many many others Then again you might have had to been born in the '50s to appreciate the '60s lol
yes, based on Alice in Wonderland, also they were on a psychedelic trip
Grace Slick was with another San Francisco group called The Great Society when she wrote these two songs. She left them and joined Jefferson Airplane, which was looking for a lead vocalist after Signe Andersen left, and brought the two songs with her. They both became huge hits.
Grace Slick: the voice that launched a thousand trips. I saw them do both these songs at the Fillmore West around 1968. I was in the Navy at the time
The lightshow crew that travelled with them were called "The Headlights"
girl, i was looking for this two songs for deacades, especialy the "white rabbit" .... had them in my brain, never knew was the "jeferson airplaines" ... thumb up for revealing the mistery ❤
Yeah, if you're not familiar with Alice in wonderland, this song is going to go right over your head, lol
The song is Alice in Wonderland story to music.
0:18 ooohhh gurl ... Welcome to the psychedelic vibe of the 60s 70s 😂 if I recall they sang this at Woodstock
White Rabbit was written in 1967 at the height of the so called "Counter Culture" sweeping America. This was the worst year for casualties from the Vietnam War, it was the year that haight ashbury was in every head line. The TV show was The Smother's Brothers Comedy Hour.
Thinking back Alice in Wonderland may have had a hidden message!
The original rabbit hole ... full of mystery and adventure.
There is actually a ton of nuance to the meaning of this that worked as social messaging colored in the world of Alice In Wonderland and current social and music trends in the counterculture.
It was also revolutionary because she was another of the handful of young women who were starting to rise and come into their own in the mostly male-dominated rock scene at the time.
Leslie, they're just kick ass songs, lol. ❤
White Rabbit is about Alice in wonderland
For lyrics, Grace drew inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. In her memoir Somebody to Love, Grace recalls: "the lyrics allude to the hypocrisy of the older generation swilling one of the hardest drugs (alcohol) known to man, but telling us not to use psychedelics." Seeking to remind her parents' generation that they were the ones who had filled the minds of hers with children's stories that glamorized "fun with chemicals," Grace then leads listeners through a few examples: In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her entourage get high on poppies, Peter Pan sprinkles fairy dust on everyone to make them able to fly, and finally leads us to, as Grace herself puts it, "the biggest druggie of them all, Alice."
The intro was by Tommy Smothers, who was in a comedy duo with his brother Dick, often involving music. Tommy was the one with a ditzy persona. A friend (now sadly deceased) who was a stand-up comic worked with them once, and liked Tommy but said Dick was a dick.
Grace Slick: The Voice that Launched a Thousand Trips.
In the 60s the word "head" was a popular word for "stoner". "Feed your head" makes sense when you understand the reference. A hookah is a smoking device with water that cools off the harshness of what is being smoked. The hookah is being smoked by a caterpillar and, of course, caterpillars transform into something new and beautiful. Alice in Wonderland is a perfect story (platform) for a song about the evolving drug culture of the 1960s.
I saw Jefferson Airplane in concert in 1969 and 1970. They were my favorite live band.
The Smothers Brothers … Tom and Dick are real brothers. Musicians and comedians. Tom is older and plays a little dim witted character who happens to be an expert with the Yo-Yo. Dick plays the straight man who is “superior” to his brother. Their humor tended to be politically controversial in the late 1960’s, mostly propelled by Tommy. They really pushed the limits for television at the time. Eventually getting them fired. However their show introduced many tremendous musicians. Every one of which you should listen to.
Their mom always liked Dicky more than Tommy.
Its about Alice in Wonderland. Mind opening novel and matching music.
Another San Francisco 60's band. They were great. Saw them at a free concert they put on in Golden Gate Park.
My favorites are after they changed their name to Jefferson Starship (and Marty Balin led songs). "Miracles", "count on me", "run away", "with your love". All beautiful songs.
"The ones that mother gives you/don't do anything at all" - sorta like prayer, no amount of kneeling will get you "off".
Part of the soundtrack of my misspent youth.😇
Did you not get the "Alice in Wonderland" references?
She did not.
It,s a sixties thing Britt. Don't worry about it.
Alice in wonderland was written in 1865.
Donovan (British Singer) made fun of a hippie myth that people could get high if they smoked a banana peel. He called it "mellow yellow'. Funny reference by the Smothers brothers.
White rabbit is Alice in wonderland
Because the song tells the story of Alice in Wonderland , it was the first song ever to beat the radio censors in the US. while openly signing about drugs
This performance was on "The Smothers Brothers" TV program.
Alice in wonderland. Mushroom..hookah smoking caterpillar, red queen, chasing rabbits, white knight, men on chessboard, remember what the door mouse said, etc. 😉
One of my top 10 songs. Always loved the Jefferson Airplane and also being on the Smothers Brothers show. They were a huge deal in the 60's show. They had 2 lead singers. I do believe it was Austin Powers.
The Smothers Brothers Show is what you're watching. The Smothers Brothers [their real name, they WERE real brothers] were the funniest duo of the 1960's and 70's and beyond. ..they could sing nd play music well, but they were comedians, and controversial...it's hard to explain here but the younger one, Dick Smothers, you see here, played the straight man perfectly to his older brother Tommy's quirky mischievous dumb guy persona. I saw them in concert once, the made us laugh so hard, we were still laughing all 100 miles riding home!! Check them out. I guarantee you'll be on the floor.
The 'gunny guy' was one of the Smothers Brothers. You might want to check out some of their comedy bits. They were classic!
this is a clip from the Smothers Brothers Show. it was a great show back in the day.
There is an isolated track of just her voice singing White Rabbit that is amazing.
Love this one!
I think the flower Child days back in San Francisco when drugs we’re passed around freely!!!
Back in my time, English Literature was a required class in high school, and we read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. While I wasn't the most diligent student, I can look back and appreciate the variety of our curriculum. My English Lit teacher was a hoot.
I saw them live in Houston Texas in the late sixties. She is referring to dropping Acid and referring to Alice in Wonderland.
"is it deeper than this or not deep at all?"
- yes