LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JUNE 24, 2019…IF THERE WAS ONE SONG THAT DEFINED THE HAIGHT-ASHBURY COUNTERCULTURE IT WAS A SONG THAT WAS RELEASED ON THIS DATE IN 1967. THAT SONG IS ‘WHITE RABBIT’ BY JEFFERSON AIRPLANE.
THE SONG WAS PENNED BY GRACE SLICK, WHO WROTE THE SONG WHEN SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE SF BAND GREAT SOCIETY BEFORE JOINING AIRPLANE. THE SONG WAS A STAPLE OF GREAT SOCIETY’S ACT WHEN THEY SHARED A STAGE WITH JEFFERSON AIRPLANE AT THE FILLMORE IN 1966.
AIRPLANE WAS LOOKING FOR A NEW SINGER WHEN THEY SAW SLICK, AND IMMEDIATELY WANTED HER IN THE BAND. GRACE MOVED ON TO JEFFERSON AIRPLANE AND BROUGHT TWO SONGS WITH HER ‘SOMEBODY TO LOVE’ AND ‘WHITE RABBIT’. ACCORDING TO SLICK, WHITE RABBIT HAS BEEN MISINTERPRETED FOR YEARS. IN THE BOOK “ANATOMY OF A SONG” SHE SAID:
“I always felt like a good-looking schoolteacher singing ‘White Rabbit.’ I’d sing the words slowly and precisely, so the people who needed to hear them wouldn’t miss the point. But they did. To this day, I don’t think most people realize the song was aimed at parents who drank and told their kids not to do drugs. I felt they were full of s–t, but to write a good song, you need a few more words than that.”
THIS IS FANTASTIC !! SLICK’S VOCALS ISOLATED IN THE STUDIO SINGING ‘WHITE RABBIT’
HERE’S THE FULL PSYCHEDELIC VERSION
