JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - "White Rabbit"

Jefferson Airplane
"White Rabbit"
Single / B-Side "Plastic Fantastic Lover"

Album: Surrealistic Pillow 

Released: 24 June 1967
Writer: Grace Slick

Label: RCA Victor

"White Rabbit" is a song from Jefferson Airplane's 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. It was released as a single and became the band's second top ten success. The song was ranked #478 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, #87 on Rate Your Music's Top Singles of All Time, and appears on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The name White Rabbit has also been described as a nickname for counterculture era figure Owsley Stanley.

Jefferson Airpalne's 1967 single "White Rabbit"
(Photo courtesy RCA Victor)

Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit" (the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show, 1967

“White Rabbit” was written by Grace Slick while she was still with The Great Society. When that band broke up in 1966, Slick was invited to join Jefferson Airplane to replace their departed female singer Signe Toly Anderson, who left the band with the birth of her child. The first album Slick recorded with Jefferson Airplane was Surrealistic Pillow, and Slick provided two songs from her previous group: her own “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” (written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick and recorded under the title "Someone to Love" by The Great Society). Both songs became breakout successes for Jefferson Airplane and have ever since been associated with that band.

The Great Society - "White Rabbit"

Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit" (music video)

One of Grace Slick's earliest songs, written during either late 1965 or early 1966, uses imagery found in the fantasy works of Lewis Carroll: 1865's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass, such as changing size after taking pills or drinking an unknown liquid. It is commonly thought that these are also references to the hallucinatory effects of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. Characters referenced include Alice, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the White Knight, the Red Queen, and the Dormouse.

For Slick and others in the 1960s, drugs were a part of mind-expanding and social experimentation. With its enigmatic lyrics, "White Rabbit" became one of the first songs to sneak drug references past censors on the radio. Even Marty Balin, Slick's eventual rival in Jefferson Airplane, regarded the song as a "masterpiece". In interviews, Slick has related that Alice in Wonderland was often read to her as a child and remained a vivid memory into her adult years.

Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit" (Vinyl)

Jefferson Airplane 1967 (Photo: pinterest)

Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit" (Woodstock 1969)

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Slick mentioned that in addition to Alice in Wonderland her other inspiration for the song was "the bolero used by Miles Davis and Gil Evans on their 1960 album Sketches of Spain." The song is essentially one long crescendo similar to that of Ravel's famous Boléro. The music combined with the song's lyrics strongly suggests the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens, and the song was later used in pop culture to imply or accompany just such a state.

Line-up / Musicians:
Marty Balin – guitar
Jack Casady – bass guitar, fuzz bass
Spencer Dryden – drums, percussion
Paul Kantner – rhythm guitar
Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar
Grace Slick – vocals

Link / Review:
Jefferson Airplane Official website: jeffersonairplane.com
Wikipedia: White Rabbit (Song)
Allmusic: White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane - Review
Songfacts: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane