The best psychedelic song ever which was written by Grace Slick, and released in 1967. The lyrics and her haunting vocals just take you on that trip through Wonderland.
Hookah smoking has been around for hundreds of years. Hookahs originated in India, Persia and North Africa in the 16th century. From there they spread throughout the British empire during the 1800's and finally became popular with the hippie culture of the US in the 60's. Alice in Wonderland features a hookah-smoking caterpillar that sits on a mushroom and gives Alice advice.
The only thing wrong with this song is that it's too short. 🔥🔥 Later in their career they changed the name to Jefferson Starship and even later, to Starship. As great as Grace Slick is (Lead Singer), when they added Co-Lead Singer, Mickey Thomas it took the band to another level. His voice greatly complemented hers.
San Francisco in the Sixties, tourists came from thousands of miles away to see the Hippies! It was a revolution in music, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Janis Joplin (Big Brother & the Holding Company) and so many more... I was in Junior High and ate up all the Psychedelic music I could get. I don't know if the band got their name from this or vice versa but we called a split match used as a roach clip for smoking joints a Jefferson Airplane. Check out more of Airplane's stuff and you'll find Grace holding the low parts in the vocals!
Glad you did the research afterwards. Most reactors who react to this song are left confused after & don't realize they're referencing Alice in Wonderland. It all makes sense after research.
I think it would be a mistake though to think of it as being only about drugs. In the sense that the Alice in Wonderland books talked a lot about curiosity and trying to make sense of the world, there was a definite part of that whole psychedelic movement in the late sixties that not only used drugs to expand consciousness, but it was a time of great upheaval and it really has this feeling of everybody needs to wake up from the dream world that we live in and see the reality of what is happening. It ends with repeating the phrase, feed your head. In other words, feed your intellect and your curiosity, don't just drown it with unquestioning normalcy. As a musician though, I've always loved this one, and you really ought to hear their other big hit from that album, Somebody to Love. It's a total banger.
Yeah baby, SF was it. Summer of love, Haight- Ashbury was the center of the universe for a time. Hookahs are ancient, so so ancient, like Samarians ancient They have always been used throughout history - opium dens!
Ah,, the good old psychedelic decade of the '60's and '70's!!!! First they were Jefferson Airplane, then became Jefferson Starship and then just Starship! Just a random fact! I think this is Alice in Wonderland on acid! LOL The name was to honor a blues singer named Blind Lemon Jefferson. It ended up Jefferson Airplane.
Some good ones are "Two Heads", "Rejoyce", "Lawman", "Eskimo Blue Day", "Wooden Ships", "War Movie", and "Aerie". After JA broke up, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick did a couple albums together and Grace did some solo work. She also had a daughter by Kantner who they named China. Some good songs from that period are: "Sketches of China", "Silver Spoon", "Starfighter", The Ballad of The Chrome Nun", "Across the Board", and " White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues)".
Classic 1960's psychedelia, with the song centered around the "Alice in Wonderland" story. This was done in a time of our recent history that was all about broadening one's consciousness - which meant, in the '60s, via various chemical means. Grace Slick was a phenomenal singer. (There is a track of her singing this song sans music that you can find here on RU-vid - highly recommend it to hear her sonorous vocals. Def worth it!)
For a followup from these guys, I suggest the oddly named The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil -- apparently they knew a guy named Neil who reminded them of Winnie the Pooh - but it's a good psychedelic sound, worth hearing
sf was definitely a hub.... we had the grateful Dead, Jefferson airplane, Janis Joplin and big brother and the holding company, Santana, country Joe and the fish.... just to name a few
I recently checked out your reaction for Elvin Bishop’s- Fooled Around And Fell In Love featuring Mickey Thomas who later joined Jefferson Starship in 1979 ( formally Jefferson Airplane). I strongly suggest you react to Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around and Fell In Love performance on The Midnight Special… they killed it.
Her vocals in this song are incredible, and her voice’s natural vibrato makes her who she is! The build up and ultimate crescendo makes you want to listen to it over and over! There is a RU-vid version of this song which is the exact recording with her voice only, no music! Very interesting to try singing to it and try to get the timing right. If you know it well enough, you can pace the first line by tapping your foot for the beat then try to come in with all her lines, but it’s really hard to come in exactly at the same time! Otherwise, just a beautiful voice to listen to!
Kantner was actually against having anything "Jefferson" in the name of the new band, but Bill Graham talked him into reviving a name he used for a side project four years earlier.
This song is about the activities in "wonderland" , not about mind alternating drugs. The question is about which road to take. The red or the blue pill, or the one that mother gives you which does nothing at all. Which road is best for our future and our freedom?
Grace wrote this song. I think Grace's voice I stronger than Sinead O'Connor's. Someone have describe this song and Grace's voice as "the voice that launched a thousand trips".
I saw Jefferson Airplane in concert in 1969 and 1970. At the 1970 concert I was right against the stage with the band 5 feet away. Jack Casady is one of my favorite bass players. They were hugely popular.
Grace Slick wrote the song and Jefferson Airplane were initially the headliners at the 1969 Woodstock Festival you also need to react Somebody to Love live on the Dick Cavett Show
The Jefferson Airplane was a band in continual evolution. They went from Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship and then to just Starship. THis song leans heavily on the story of Alice In Wonderland.
Man, you'll have to check out some Hot Tuna, see the change of direction regarding the two dudes who left the band, joining up with the unique Pappa John Creach.
You're seriously going to need surround sound for music from this era. In many songs, sounds will move from one speaker to another. Giving you the feeling of the music swirling around you.
Another one of the 60's bands that while being a part of the music of their times they are unique. Grace Slick is amazing in so many ways. It's a Hookah smoking caterpillar. In my book Rolling Stone has no credibility whatever.
I was mesmerized by this song as a child. Have always liked it but it was later used prominently in a tv drama about a girl who sold her body to support a drug addiction. I think she was in chronic pain and descended into degradation from that but I remember it scared the crap out of me and reinforced my fear of illegal drugs. So, in some ways it scared me straight!
The book "Go Ask Alice" (on which the tv drama was based) was recently revealed to be a complete hoax. None of the allegedly "true" events documented in the book actually happened at all.
@@buffstraw2969 Doesn’t matter! I didn’t know if it was real or not. If it was being advertised that way it hadn’t reached my ears. To me, the stories I watched impacted me always, which is why I have never been able to watch horror.
@@FavoriteMovieDate "Doesn't matter!" It matters to me, because I'm sick and tired of right-wing fundie Christians knocking my beloved hippie culture. (They also betray their own principles by bearing false witness to events that never happened: "Hey, man, I was there!") If it doesn't bother you, fine.
Xlnt choice, MMB. Not too long ago, I saw a video by P!nk where she covers this song live. It seriously KICKS, and was an obvious homáge to Slick and the band. Check it out. Thanks.
I know I'm too OCD sometimes. BUT that crooked Michael Jordan picture drives me NUTS. Honestly, I see that and I'm trying to remember why I subscribed. LOL... To me, it screams : "I don't give a shit". Ignore me.
A problem is that today, youngsters only take mind-numbing drugs and not certain mind-opening drugs. I see a lot of these comment videos critical of psychedelics which they know nothing about. They are so very conservative and never read anything.
Was Alice in Wonderland banned in the US because when I watch reactions to this song I noticed that a lot of Us citizens are not familiar with the book
Tim Burton made a movie Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp.. I think younger generation parents might not be reading older “fairytale “ books like us boomers and our kids read..
Southern Calif was known for Surf Bands in the early '60s... then SF became Psychedelic Rock in mid'60s... LA transitioned into Rock Central. Congrats in doing some research. "I don't know where they got their names from" - ha ha... NO ONE DOES. You wondered if everyone had a band, "Yes" is the short simple answer but, no- everyone WANTED one, though. There are tons of weirdo names, especially out of SF. (All live performance videos from TV are lip-sync'd to some record.)
Grace Slick wrote and recorded this song years earlier with her "Grace Slick & The Great Society". When this AM radio hit, lotsa and lotsa young adults started reading ALICE ALICE IN WONDERLAND for the first time or re-reading it with a new level of, uh, 'enlightenment'.
If you're going to dig deeper into '60s and '70s music, it is recommended you pull up lyrics along with songs. Also, there are a dozen films and TV episodes that have included this song as part of their soundtrack. On-stage, this has been a riveting song for bands to include in set-lists since it's a sure-fire guaranteed crowd-raiser.
Check out The Rolling Stones' LITTLE MOTHER'S HELPER... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bt0rbxl73TI.html Or the previous year's NINETEENTH NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, which is another parents-as-pill/drink role-models. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DEseb6-hssc.html Then maybe from the Sgt Peppers' album, SHE'S LEAVING HOME for the flip side of kids vs. parents. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jDF-S4mrYVA.html
