Tag Archives: Jefferson Airplane

♫ White Rabbit ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I’m being a bit lazy this week, posting mostly songs from my archives … like this one that I played in 2018, 2020, and 2022.  Now it’s 2024, so time for a redux, yes?  Besides which, I rather owe Clive, who took absolutely NO pleasure from last week’s Three Dog Night Week!  So, sit back and enjoy a bit of Grace Slick and White Rabbit!

I frequently make reference to being “down in the rabbit hole”, meaning my mood, mind and psyche are in a dark place, usually from the topics I write about, sometimes for more personal reasons.  But this song, written by Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, is about another sort of rabbit hole altogether.

Slick got the idea for this song after taking LSD and spending hours listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches Of Spain, especially the opening track, “Concierto de Aranjuez.”

Slick based the lyrics on Lewis Carroll’s book Alice In Wonderland. Like many young musicians in San Francisco, Slick did a lot of drugs, and she saw a surfeit of drug references in Carroll’s book, including the pills, the smoking caterpillar, the mushroom, and lots of other images that are pretty trippy. She noticed that many children’s stories involve a substance of some kind that alters reality, and felt it was time to write a song about it.

This is not necessarily one of my favourite songs of the 60s, but it is one of those songs that can get stuck in your head and just won’t leave.  And I do love the Spanish beat and the guitar sequence at the beginning.  Anyway, it got stuck in my head today as I was cleaning the bathroom, and as of this writing, at 11:00 p.m., it is still stuck there.  So, I thought it best to transfer it to your heads!  No thanks are necessary  😏

White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane

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 ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you’re going to fall
Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen’s off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

Songwriters: Grace Wing Slick
White Rabbit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

This is a redux from 2020.  White Rabbit is my favourite Jefferson Airplane song, but this one runs a close second, and it is a fun video!

This evening, this song was going through my head, but I couldn’t remember the name of the group who did it.  Well … no damn wonder!  They’ve had three different names in my lifetime.  I’m old … it’s all I can do to keep up with one name, let alone three!  They started out as Jefferson Airplane, then switched to Jefferson Starship, and then just plain ol’ Starship.  Sheesh.  🙄

This song was co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, and recorded by Starship, as they were then calling themselves, in 1986.  Albert Hammond said that the idea for the song came from his impending marriage to his live-in girlfriend of seven years, after his divorce from his previous wife was finalized. He had said to Diane Warren, “It’s almost like they’ve stopped me from marrying this woman for seven years, and they haven’t succeeded. They’re not gonna stop me doing it.”

This was the third #1 single for Starship (after We Built This City and Sara), but the only members of the group who actually participated in the recording of the song were vocalist Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas, and guitarist Craig Chaquico. Producer Narada Michael Walden preferred to use his veteran session players to round out the instrumental backing, and he programmed the LinnDrum himself.

The song hit #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987 and reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks the following month and became the UK’s second-biggest-selling single of 1987. The song also reached the top 10 in six European countries. It became the first number one single by songwriter Diane Warren.

Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now
Starship

Looking in your eyes I see a paradise
This world that I’ve found is too good to be true
Standing here beside you, want so much to give you
This love in my heart that I’m feeling for you

Let ’em say we’re crazy, I don’t care about that
Put your hand in my hand baby don’t ever look back
Let the world around us just fall apart
Baby we can make it if we’re heart to heart

And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now

I’m so glad I found you, I’m not gonna lose you
Whatever it takes I will stay here with you
Take it to the good times, see it through the bad times
Whatever it takes here’s what I’m gonna do

Let ’em say we’re crazy, what do they know
Put your arms around me baby don’t ever let go
Let the world around us just fall apart
Baby we can make it if we’re heart to heart

And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us

Oh, all that I need is you
All that I ever need
And all that I want to do
Is hold you forever, and ever and ever
Hey!

And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
Nothing’s gonna stop us
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now, yeah

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Albert Louis Hammond / Diane Eve Warren
Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

An Upside To Grim Songs – House At Pooneil Corner

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, History, music, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Our friend Roger mentioned the song “House on Pooh Corner” a few days ago and hinted that he might be doing a post about it … or at least that was what I thought he was hinting at! Turns out he knew of another song with a similar title, but … OH BOY is it a different song with a different concept! Roger’s post is … deep. It is thought-provoking. The music is jarring and not one I hope to hear again any time soon, but Roger’s thoughts and musings are definitely worth the read! Thank you, Sir Roger!

Writing Despite Computers and Programmes

Jefferson_Airplane

Forewarning: This is one of those long post that might appear to be meandering. Some posts need the elements of stories to get to the point. This is one.

Yes, there they are, Jefferson Airplane, one of the bands which are automatically associated with the many often inaccurately named time from 1965 to its stuttering end 1969 – 1970.

Like many bands of that era, the more you read about them, even filtering out the hyperbole, the less you feel affection for them as individuals or a group of folk, even if the music does stick.  My own opinion was they were played out by 1969 and the music was dying…Marty Balin originator of the band was to leave, disillusioned with those politics of the band…

So having set the mood, let’s take a look at one particular but not universally known song produced when they were still fresh.

View original post 1,083 more words

♫ White Rabbit ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

Well, last night I played ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ and most of you liked it, but Clive was not among the cheerleaders for the song!  So, tonight’s song is of a different bent and I have it on good word that Clive likes this one, so …

I frequently make reference to being “down in the rabbit hole”, meaning my mood, mind and psyche are in a dark place, usually from the topics I write about, sometimes for more personal reasons.  But this song, written by Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, is about another sort of rabbit hole altogether.

Slick got the idea for this song after taking LSD and spending hours listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches Of Spain, especially the opening track, “Concierto de Aranjuez.”

Slick based the lyrics on Lewis Carroll’s book Alice In Wonderland. Like many young musicians in San Francisco, Slick did a lot of drugs, and she saw a surfeit of drug references in Carroll’s book, including the pills, the smoking caterpillar, the mushroom, and lots of other images that are pretty trippy. She noticed that many children’s stories involve a substance of some kind that alters reality, and felt it was time to write a song about it.

This is not necessarily one of my favourite songs of the 60s, but it is one of those songs that can get stuck in your head and just won’t leave.  And I do love the Spanish beat and the guitar sequence at the beginning.  Anyway, it got stuck in my head today as I was cleaning the bathroom, and as of this writing, at 11:00 p.m., it is still stuck there.  So, I thought it best to transfer it to your heads!  No thanks are necessary  😏

White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane

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 ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you’re going to fall
Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen’s off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

Songwriters: Grace Wing Slick
White Rabbit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now ♫

Posted on by under music

This evening, this song was going through my head, but I couldn’t remember the name of the group who did it.  Well … no damn wonder!  They’ve had three different names in my lifetime.  I’m old … it’s all I can do to keep up with one name, let alone three!  They started out as Jefferson Airplane, then switched to Jefferson Starship, and then just plain ol’ Starship.  Sheesh.  🙄

This song was co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, and recorded by Starship, as they were then calling themselves, in 1986.  Albert Hammond said that the idea for the song came from his impending marriage to his live-in girlfriend of seven years, after his divorce from his previous wife was finalized. He had said to Diane Warren, “It’s almost like they’ve stopped me from marrying this woman for seven years, and they haven’t succeeded. They’re not gonna stop me doing it.”

This was the third #1 single for Starship (after We Built This City and Sara), but the only members of the group who actually participated in the recording of the song were vocalist Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas, and guitarist Craig Chaquico. Producer Narada Michael Walden preferred to use his veteran session players to round out the instrumental backing, and he programmed the LinnDrum himself.

The song hit #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987 and reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks the following month and became the UK’s second-biggest-selling single of 1987. The song also reached the top 10 in six European countries. It became the first number one single by songwriter Diane Warren.

Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now
Starship

Looking in your eyes I see a paradise
This world that I’ve found is too good to be true
Standing here beside you, want so much to give you
This love in my heart that I’m feeling for you

Let ’em say we’re crazy, I don’t care about that
Put your hand in my hand baby don’t ever look back
Let the world around us just fall apart
Baby we can make it if we’re heart to heart

And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now

I’m so glad I found you, I’m not gonna lose you
Whatever it takes I will stay here with you
Take it to the good times, see it through the bad times
Whatever it takes here’s what I’m gonna do

Let ’em say we’re crazy, what do they know
Put your arms around me baby don’t ever let go
Let the world around us just fall apart
Baby we can make it if we’re heart to heart

And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us

Oh, all that I need is you
All that I ever need
And all that I want to do
Is hold you forever, and ever and ever
Hey!

And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And we can build this thing together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
Nothing’s gonna stop us
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now, yeah

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Albert Louis Hammond / Diane Eve Warren
Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

♫ White Rabbit ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under music

I seized upon 5 different songs tonight, found I had played them all within the past year … wouldn’t you think I could remember what I’ve played for a year or so?  Methinks my memory is going … going …   Anyway, being tired and having much left to do before I can go to bed tonight, I decided to redux this one because … I like it.  No other reason. 

I frequently make reference to being “down in the rabbit hole”, meaning my mood, mind and psyche are in a dark place, usually from the topics I write about, sometimes for more personal reasons.  But this song, written by Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, is about another sort of rabbit hole altogether.

Slick got the idea for this song after taking LSD and spending hours listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches Of Spain, especially the opening track, “Concierto de Aranjuez.”

Slick based the lyrics on Lewis Carroll’s book Alice In Wonderland. Like many young musicians in San Francisco, Slick did a lot of drugs, and she saw a surfeit of drug references in Carroll’s book, including the pills, the smoking caterpillar, the mushroom, and lots of other images that are pretty trippy. She noticed that many children’s stories involve a substance of some kind that alters reality, and felt it was time to write a song about it.

This is not necessarily one of my favourite songs of the 60s, but it is one of those songs that can get stuck in your head and just won’t leave.  And I do love the Spanish beat and the guitar sequence at the beginning.  Anyway, it got stuck in my head today as I was cleaning the bathroom, and as of this writing, at 11:00 p.m., it is still stuck there.  So, I thought it best to transfer it to your heads!  No thanks are necessary  😏

White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane

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 ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you’re going to fall
Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen’s off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

Songwriters: Grace Wing Slick
White Rabbit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ White Rabbit ♫

Posted on by under music

I frequently make reference to being “down in the rabbit hole”, meaning my mood, mind and psyche are in a dark place, usually from the topics I write about, sometimes for more personal reasons.  But this song, written by Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, is about another sort of rabbit hole altogether.

Slick got the idea for this song after taking LSD and spending hours listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches Of Spain, especially the opening track, “Concierto de Aranjuez.”

Slick based the lyrics on Lewis Carroll’s book Alice In Wonderland. Like many young musicians in San Francisco, Slick did a lot of drugs, and she saw a surfeit of drug references in Carroll’s book, including the pills, the smoking caterpillar, the mushroom, and lots of other images that are pretty trippy. She noticed that many children’s stories involve a substance of some kind that alters reality, and felt it was time to write a song about it.

This is not necessarily one of my favourite songs of the 60s, but it is one of those songs that can get stuck in your head and just won’t leave.  And I do love the Spanish beat and the guitar sequence at the beginning.  Anyway, it got stuck in my head today as I was cleaning the bathroom, and as of this writing, at 11:00 p.m., it is still stuck there.  So, I thought it best to transfer it to your heads!  No thanks are necessary  😏

White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane

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 ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you’re going to fall
Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen’s off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

Songwriters: Grace Wing Slick
White Rabbit lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group