"WHITE RABBIT" JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (1967)

After spending an entire month looking back at the 80’s, I realized one thing. I need more. Luckily, a couple of fellow music fans on Twitter came up with the brilliant idea to highlight #30DaysOf80sMovieSongs during the month of April. I couldn’t resist at the opportunity to keep going, to keep listening, and to keep celebrating the decade that has meant more to me than any other from a musical standpoint. Each day I’m playing a different soundtrack favorite on the Mental Jukebox.

Movie: Platoon

Another case of a great scene made even greater because of the music. “White Rabbit” was a perfect choice for the movie scene. Guys getting high. Minds expanding. Charlie Sheen walks in to a room with very little clarity about what happens there. Tensions rising. Then falling almost instantly. All the while, Grace Slick’s phenomenal lyrics paint a picture of what might be happening inside their heads. There’s mystery in the story and in the melody, making it a wiser musical choice than some other stoner anthem, like a Pink Floyd song.

A reimagination of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “White Rabbit” is a trip. It brings the classic story to life in a psychedelic twist probably created with the aid of mind-expanding substances. It goes down a rabbit hole of Spanish-influenced rhythms and guitar playing. Grace Slick once said that the song was heavily influenced by Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain album, which you can hear most clearly in the instrumentation, but also in the melody as well. “White Rabbit” is a wild blend of cultures and mediums with an adult’s liberating interpretation of a childhood tale.

“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. Call Alice when she was just small.”

"WHITE RABBIT" JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (1967)

For the month of January, I’m selecting some of the most memorable and influential songs of the 60’s. While they all hail from the same decade, these are some of my favorite songs of any era. They remind me that the 60’s were so much more than just Woodstock and psychedelic rock. It was a flourishing period for blues, folk, progressive and straight-ahead rock. #31DaysOf60sSongs

My experience with music from the 60’s is complicated. Born in the decade that followed, my exposure to 60’s music didn’t really happen until I reached high school. It started where most teenagers get their classic rock kicks: Beatles, Zeppelin, Hendrix. I still love all of those artists, but now that I’m in my 40’s I find myself appreciating bands and musicians that I just didn’t have an attraction to back in my high school years. This includes Leonard Cohen, Nico, Nick Drake and Jefferson Airplane. Of the latter, my favorite song by far is “White Rabbit”.

A reimagination of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “White Rabbit” is a trip. It brings the classic story to life in a psychedelic twist probably created with the aid of mind-expanding substances. It goes down a rabbit hole of Spanish-influenced rhythms and guitar playing. Grace Slick once said that the song was heavily influenced by Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain album, which you can hear most clearly in the instrumentation, but also in the melody as well. “White Rabbit” is a wild blend of cultures and mediums with an adult’s liberating interpretation of a childhood tale.

“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. Call Alice when she was just small.”

"SOMEBODY TO LOVE" JEFFERSON AIRPLANE (1967)

A song for the times if there ever was one. “Somebody to Love” boasts one of the most iconic choruses in music history. A proclamation belted from a young Grace Slick. When I think of Woodstock, one of the most memorable eras in music, this is one of the first songs that comes to mind. Jefferson Airplane took the stage on Day Three of the festival at Max Yasgur’s farm, and “Somebody to Love” was the second song on their setlist.

“When the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies, don't you want somebody to love.”