Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (REACTION) First Time Watching

[@ptournas]

Yes. "Somebody to Love" was another one of their hits.

[@bobschenkel7921]

"White Rabbit" is based on "Alice In Wonderland", or "Through The Looking Glass", which is pretty trippy in it's own right. Jorma Koukanen on Guitar, Jack Casady on Bass, Paul Kantner on Guitar, Spencer Dryden on Drums, maybe Marty Balin on Keyboards, maybe not, and Grace Slick on Vocals. Jefferson Airplane, one of the really fun bands out of San Francisco in the mid-1960's. Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead was listed as "Spiritual Advisor" on their debut album. Try "3/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds", from the same album, it's different.

[@d-2793]

Great info. ❤

[@d-2793]

Her voice is an instrument

[@tomroome4118]

The whole album is a trip!

[@barbbeliveau-b9l]

A Through the Looking Glass is the second book about wonderland. This song is all from Alice in Wonderland.

[@anthonyblakely399]

This band, Jefferson Airplane were the pioneers of psychedelic Rock.

[@dalesouders4136]

One of the VERY BEST female vocal performances of the 60’s!

[@lysfleming3331]

LOVE this song. Very trippy.

[@SaeedReacts.]

Trippy indeed! So good!

[@mzluna313]

Grace Slick - the voice that launched 1000s of trips! 😊

[@anthonyblakely399]

Of all these years watching and playing this song.....and I finally discovered that the haunting drug-like sound and tone and extended vocal of Grace Slick the lead singer in Jefferson Airplane, influenced the vocal style of Robert Plant, Stevie Nicks, Anne Wilson of Heart, and many other artists. She was the first to have this style of singing and a few artist adapted it because it suited their vocals causing an haunting effect and sound to the listeners ear of something unearthly. It is effective and very rare. Even today, this type of voice is really not found. I like it.

[@SavageGrace]

This was a song that Grace Slick brought with her from her previous band - "The Great Society". Signe Anderson left to have a baby after their 1st album and Grace was the replacement. "Eskimo Blue Day" is probably one of my favourites by them. Amazing that the line "“But the human name doesn’t mean shit to a tree” was so controversial at the time! All she was saying was that with all the human hustling & money grabbing going on, there is a Redwood Tree that's been standing there for hundreds of years.

[@M_vintage-f5b]

Such a trippy song, loved it in 1967, still do. Actually psychedelic music is one of my favorite genres of music.I believe the summer of love was in 67. Grace is a great singer, one of my favorites. Somebody to Love I believe is their biggest hit, awesome song!!

[@robertlear2712]

I saw Jefferson Airplane perform this 1969 and 1970. At the 1970 concert I was right up against the stage. Grace Slick and the rest of the band were about 5 feet away.

[@miconis123]

From Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship to Starship..a steady decay.

[@edwinbarnett9032]

It was a commentary on the children's story (Alice in Wonderland) I was living in the San Francisco Bay area when it came out.We were all hippies then.Sorry you missed it.There were free concerts in Golden gate Park

[@j.8804]

I used to work close to where she lived in the Bay Area (before her house burned down & she moved to Malibu) & I have met her 3 different times - she was always kind & funny & I was a nervous mess but so glad I got to meet one of my favorite singers of all time

[@AuthorLaurieAnnSmith]

I love Grace Slick! She is PHENOMENAL!!! I grew up in the late 60's and I used to sing this song.. I had no idea what the song was about but it didn't matter! LOL! I love the Woodstock video as well!! Thanks Saeed!

[@snakeinthegrass7443]

Awesome performance. Grace is amazing❤❤

[@ohfour-seven6228]

This was a huge hit on the radio, back when radio was fun!

[@jmrob1107]

Timeless song. It is as great today as it was when it was first recorded. Thanks for this reaction,

[@anitawright7169]

This is an iconic song sung by an iconic woman and band. Love your reaction!

[@avanoosterhout8397]

Grace Slick was the personification of 'girl power' decades before that became a thing.

[@woupie44]

What a very nice comment about probably the best (pop)singer I have ever heard in 60 years. Grace Slick, composer, lyricist, painter, writer, rebel. And what a voice!! Thank you!! (Dank U wel!!)

[@petemora8408]

Yup, grew up in the 60s. This song (and of course) so, so many others, so keenly embody the ethos of that decade. Always cool to revisit that one, as it retrieves great memories. Very cool, my friend. 🤙

[@rk41gator]

Something tells me these people were there and know what they are singing about. One of the best opening lines to any song, any time, anywhere.

[@AntonyFleck]

What times they were, what a voice, what a Band and what a message, I guess that not enough people were listening ? !!..... But life goes on! Did we try hard enough people? Could we have changed the world, no of course not!! But lots of fun and memories trying!!!.....

[@randystalnaker6700]

you know...going down that rabbit hole!!! thank goodness alot of us survived...sadly others didn't

[@PamelaW-t8y]

The music, the rhythm, the repetition, the increasing volume to the ending crescendo mimics Ravel's 'Bolero". Quite fitting, it's said that many audience members got up and left the premier of the piece, exclaiming that Ravel was 'mad' - meaning 'crazy'.

[@Spo-Dee-O-Dee]

If it happened it was one woman shouting he was mad and when told of this he said that at least she understood the piece.

[@zunbake3]

Listen to their album Crown of Creation. One of the most intellectual Bands of the 1960s.

[@IsabelleRSG]

Listening to this song is indeed a healthy way to go on a fun and hypnotic trip...

[@dscotthoward7467]

Jack Casady is still one of the top bass players on the planet. Jorma (lead guitar here) once warned us: "Jack's got subsonics in there that will make you void your bowels" LOL (Also check out Hot Tuna, Jack and Jorma's other band)

[@kathybwell]

The high-top in the intro almost sounds militaristic, like a battle march or something. Jefferson Airplane morphed into Jefferson Starship, and their song We Built This City on Rock and Roll was suggested by others and I'm suggesting it too. It's about San Francisco after all, gotta support that.

[@robinfoster7597]

Their Woodstock performance of this is amazing. :)

[@SaeedReacts.]

Will have to look that one up 😃

[@dougca7086]

Grace Slick not only sang it but she also wrote it

[@AnitaCavalieri-u7x]

👍👍😀 Happy New Year!

[@jeffmartin1026]

Grace Slick was, and is still to this day The Queen of the F*cking Universe.

[@georgiaharrison5270]

You should listen to her isolated vocals for this song. She's out of this world. Holy mackerel!

[@JosieBowman-u2c]

They started out as Jefferson Starship, Grace Slick went solo for a bit, check out the album 'Manhole', in particular 'Better Lying Down ' and 'Hot Water'

[@petergarayt9634]

"Feed your head" and I did. :)

[@Gloren50]

Their album Surrealistic Pillow is one of the best psychedelic rock albums ever made. It's worth going down that 'rabbit hole'. LOL!

[@woupie44]

Yes it is, a 'must have' album if you want explore the psychedelic/folk music of the sixties. With 'White rabbit', 'Somebody to love' and other gems. I have listened to it in the sixties and I still do in 2025.

[@woupie44]

Yes it is! It's a 'must have' album if you want explore the psychedelic/folk music of the sixties. An album full of gems like 'White rabbit', 'Somebody to love' ... I listened to it in the sixties and I still do in 2025

[@joshuadeshaies7266]

RIP MARTY BALIN, WHAT A GREAT SINGER HE WAS MAN, OF COURSE THIS IS THE INFAMOUS GRACE SLICK. GREAT BAND FOR SURE!! WHEN THEY WERE AIRPLANE AND WHEN THEY WERE STARSHIP!!!

[@louisminten7889]

Smoke some pot and listen to Jefferson Airplane and the world isn't so f*cked up anymore. Somebody to Love is indeed the other one.

[@snarkyenigma9219]

Grace Slick was legendary during the psychedelic era with the Jefferson Airplane, but their popularity paled by comparison when they regrouped in the 80's as Jefferson Starship. It's impossible for me to choose between the two because I love both in different ways.

[@sandybourdeau9300]

Some of these songs catapult me back close to sixty years ago. This was part of that awesome psychedelic time. Such great times

[@SaeedReacts.]

Must have been quite the times. If only we had a time machine 😃

[@sandybourdeau9300]

@ two other songs from around that time (actually earlier)the Byrds Eight Miles High and the Dylan song My Back Pages as performed in a Tribute Concert kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJCnl2Zvhc-eraMsi=Gf5fhg5hjo0_wn4_

[@JohnHazelwood58]

She knows what she is singing about ... and so do I! :) I was once young, too! :) *great

[@bazkeen]

If you have watched the film Platoon then you would have heard it in that as well. Awesome song 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻 What a voice 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@davidpahlka6301]

Was living near Haight-Ashbury in 1967 and recall seeing Grace Slick before she joined the Airplane. They improved on it from her former band version in which Darby Slick was in it. The Airplane's former singer had gotten pregnant and moved back home to Seattle. The Airplane transformed into the Jefferson Starship and my favorite song from them is "Miracles' in which Grace only does the back up vocals but Marty Balin does the lead vocals and the song is more a duet than anything else. The way Grace does the back up, it mimics a woman having a multiple orgasm and that part was cut from the radio version. The arrangement of the song is one of the best I ever heard even to this day.

[@tomroome4118]

The Great Society! Love all their stuff. I actually like their version of "Somebody To Love" better than the Airplane.

[@slavaukraini404]

Great vocal in this song. Not EIVOR great, but great in it's creativity and delivery. The music seems to have a Mexican vibe.

[@cyrilmauras4247]

This is from the popular "Smothers Brothers Show". They are singing and playing LIVE, not lip-syncing to a recording, which was a rarity on TV at the time (late 1960s).

[@geraldbelt6131]

You are right about "Someone To Love". Great reaction to White Rabbit.

[@jskit92380]

Great reaction Saeed. You should check out the story of why Grace Slick wrote this song about Lewis Caroll's - Alice In Wonderland novel, interesting. ☮🖤🤘

[@Dave-hb7lx]

Sopranos was best TV ever. Great song, thanks Jerry. Great commentary Saeed.

[@Yayahey]

Grace Slick wrote very unique songs, “Rejoyce” (based on Ulysses by James Joyce), “Two Heads”, “Greasy Heart”, “Silver Spoon” (her response to her vegetarian friends who were getting on her), so many others. She was unique in that she didn’t write songs about a man leaving her, or the man she loves, she was, as she was dubbed, “The Voice that launched a Thousand Trips.” Her escapades are infamous including going to the White House (invited because she went to the same school as Trish Nixon) to dose President Nixon with acid, being the first to say “mo f**ker” on national television (Dick Cavett Show”) and get away with it. What a magical time to be alive if you were part of the circus!

[@jeffmartin1026]

Grace did write the song Lather about her "man" at the time, Spencer Dryden, turning 30 years old.

[@Yayahey]

@ but that was not a the typical love song of that era - not at all in the vein of Leslie Gore or the Supremes, et.al. No? In addition, if you lived in that era, the thought, however naive, was anyone over 30 was done; therefore, it’s not a love song but a reflection on age & aging in the community.

[@woupie44]

Don't forget to watch her interviews, interesting and fun! Grace Slick knew how to speak and tells you how it is, no bubble gum!

[@YeungSze]

"Somebody To Love" the next of course. Jim Carrey sang it in the Cable Guy's Karaoke scene. 😂

[@brendamilloy2557]

Grace had an amazing vibrato.

[@TheDivineMissMikki]

One of the best compliments I've had in my singing career has been when I was told by a stranger that I sounded like Grace. I was on cloud nine after that! This is a trippy, & tricky, song to sing... oh & what a buzz!! Whilst I was young at the time when they were around, I came to appreciate their music as a teen.

[@donnaralph4413]

Back when I was 16 my older sister and I had a band! She played guitar and sang I played drums, we had organ, bass, and my sister sang this song better than grace, my sister also did sing Janis Joplin, sis had a soprano voice. She would nail these songs! We would play for weddings and k mart store picnics😉🥰🥰

[@drboris01]

A classic bit of psychelic rock. Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway do a great live accoustic cover of this song, while dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland

[@Yowza78]

Speaking of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," and speaking of trippy, check out Natalie Cole's version.

[@rubroken]

A very beautiful Jefferson Airplane song is "Today" on the album 'Surrealistic Pillow'. Worth listening to even if you don't react to it

[@JustMe-vk4fn]

The 60's was pretty "trippy" in a lot of different ways. :D

[@amauryegazarain3890]

This band was a staple in the 1960s!

[@will-x9c]

Grace was the greatest singer of her generation. JA was one of the tightest and most thoughtful and intense bands that ever existed. The bass player, Jack Casady, was called "remarkable" by none other than Miles Davis. Their musicianship is largely forgotten now, all that anyone knows of them is "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". They veered toward revolutionary politics and they once did a gig on the roof of their NYC hotel and were arrested (The Beatles ripped off the idea). There's a YT video of it. Of course. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to dig deeper into the 'Plane. You'll be glad you did

[@Spo-Dee-O-Dee]

Grace Slick was one of the iconic figures that embodied the counterculture, but...fun fact, Aretha Franklin was her generation, and Grace, as much a fan as I am, isn't remotely close. I hope "Have You Seen The Saucers?" gets some reactor love someday. It may not have been their best song, but it is their sound in a nutshell.

[@will-x9c]

@@Spo-Dee-O-Dee Comparing Grace to Aretha, God bless her, is like comparing Otis Redding to, say, Pavorotti. Which one was "better"? Their styles were as different as chalk and cheese. JA was not the Grace Slick Show, she didn't get a chance to shine that often and she could often be seen blocking her ears; because of their volume she couldn't hear herself. And live Marty Balin was usually the frontman. He yelled like a rocker; when he just sang he sounded like Wayne Newton. BTW, speaking of singers from that generation there was none better than pitch-perfect Karen Carpenter. A first-rate drummer too. Could Aretha play drums? I rest my case :) "Saucers" is generally attributed to J. Starship, a different animal. That was Paul Kantners thing when he and Grace went off into sci-fi/Marxist politics and downhill musically IMO. She eventually fetched up in a 12-step program. The definitive Airplane was early stuff. After Bathing at Baxters ('67) captured their collective hippie persona perfectly. There is a little gem on there called "Rejoyce". Grace and the Airplane in a nutshell. Also "Bear Melt", live from '68. Eerie acidic weirdness and Grace really soars. Check 'em out and then get back to me :) Jerry Lee, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee..". I used to play that endlessly. And then guzzle wine.

[@Spo-Dee-O-Dee]

​@@will-x9c Aretha was better on keys than Karen was on kit. As for Marty, his great frustration besides everyone else's drug habits, was that the camera stayed on Grace even when he picked up the lead. "Saucers" is from 1970, although as a b-side...most people, myself included, got to know it from "30 seconds over Winterland". Just listened to "ReJoyce", as loose as "Saucers" is tight. Karen Carpenter couldn't hold Sandy Denny's brastrap...warm and soothing, boring and bland. Aretha was the only post-war pop singer who could hang with the better opera and jazz singers.

[@will-x9c]

@@Spo-Dee-O-Dee I don't knock Marty, at his best he was uniquely semi-melancholic, resigned even. Fatalistic. A sign of those times. The only musician who tried to intervene in the Altamont mayhem and got knocked out for his trouble. Just listened to Saucers for the first time. I lost interest in JA halfway through Volunteers. Tight, okay, but Kantner always tried to say too much and he couldn't sing to save his life. And Papa John's fiddle worked better with Hot Tuna, with JA it sounded screechy. I highly approve of those toasters however. Rejoyce, obviously referencing James, was complex, multi-layered. I'm not qualified to discuss Aretha. Mostly I know R-E-S-P-E-C-T, it's in my DNA. Poor Karen. A "nice" voice but I agree, she didn't really emote. She wasn't allowed to. Then she wasted away

[@steveullrich7737]

One of the earliest songs with a psychedelic sound. They were a San Francisco band which was the epicenter of the counterculture and the widespread use of LSD to expand your mind. Their 1969 album "Volunteers is a great one full of some great songs such as "We Can Be Together" and "Volunteers" that are kind of counterculture manifestoes.

[@hlawrencepowell]

Welcome to the alternate reality! We've been waiting for you.

[@NancyMoran-r3b]

I never did drugs but I liked this a lot. I would just get into my head while I listened to it.

[@markdecker6190]

Saw them once at Drew University in NJ back in the late 60's while in high school. The whole show was just like this video. When Grace Slick wasn't singing she might've simply been sitting on the edge of the stage staring up at the light show. Pretty sure I was already dropping acid at that point, what a ride!

[@clintonshepard6107]

Awesome song! Thanks Saeed

[@timithius]

This song encouraged me to try drugs. And while the drugs are mostly gone, the song remains a favorite. 😀

[@SaeedReacts.]

Trippy song for sure! It truly is a great song.

[@shirleynoble685]

By the summer of 1985, Jefferson Airplane had become Starship. They released a single called “We Built This City” which called out the corporate media among other things. In some circles it is considered one of the worst songs ever recorded. Ironically, this did not prevent it from becoming #1 on both the Billboard top 100 and the Cash Box hot 100 as well a a world wide hit. It is memorable and has some very catchy lines. “We built this city on rock and roll”. Originally it was supposed to refer to Los Angeles but they shifted some inserted dialogue to reflect San Francisco which in terms of the original era of Jefferson Airplane was more apt. The album was called Knee Deep in the Hoopla from a line in the song. It does have some very good songs on it including the beautiful “Sara” which was also a hit.

[@stevenruvolo499]

music is Bolero

[@dianegardner7210]

I've loved this song since highschool

[@warrenhughes911]

Great reaction again bro.. Yessir..60's music...

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 so my older sister has one of the first copies of the Alice in wonderland book from 1865.... it was definitely not a children's story.

[@pensiveowl7791]

Another great Jefferson Airplane song is Plastic Fantastic Lover, supposedly about tv's.

[@SaeedReacts.]

Will add it to my list. Thanks!

[@debjorgo]

I agree. One of their best. I like "She Has Funny Cars" too!

[@woupie44]

So many good songs. Eskimo blue day, Rejoyce, Lather, Triad, Greasy heart ...

[@wulfgold]

I *think* it was used in The Sopranos as a metaphor, you see a different side to Tony, it rounds him out in that scene - the song's about changing forms - Alice 10 ft tall etc. etc. It shows Tony, not as a villain, but a loving dad - it's just a nice echo of that scene showing T's duality. Highly recommend the band Love from ~this era, not enough recognition - awesome band. On another tangent - Tom Waits"Alice" album is all about Lewis Carrol and his relationship with Alice - it's a legit masterpiece, but there's only about 16 of those out of 17 albums ;)

[@matthewmitchell6332]

@@wulfgold The song was first used in the same Sopranos episode when Tony has a flashback to his childhood in Newark, New Jersey in 1967. The song “Don’t Bring Me Down” by The Animals is also used when young Tony sees his father and Uncle Junior roughing up a guy who owes them money.

[@williamoldenburg4468]

Long story short, I shared a bottle of Jack Daniels with Jefferson Starship. We were stuck in a blizzard together. What a night, from the parts I remember.

[@wlg1223]

Jefferson Airplane, then Jefferson Starship, and then Starship

[@RalphSpoiledsport]

This music did make me curious about psychedelics, no regrets.

[@ezekielchalker6629]

Great song, love it.

[@SaeedReacts.]

It is such a great song!

[@threekidzmom04]

OOOOooo, I knew you'd like this one! Again, well to my youth, the trippy 60's -70's!

[@dow311]

Perfect word that you described this song, trippy. Very good.

[@charleskurtz9744]

Please listen to more than this and Somebody to Love by this band. Try Wooden Ships or Hey Frederick, Good Shepherd.

[@NancyMoran-r3b]

Grace named her daughter, GOD.

[@hopeklemann1]

🌸 yes the white rabbit from The matrix was inspired by just which was inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in wonderland.

[@SavageGrace]

Grace Slick is a complex character and the amount of substance abuse and antics were off the charts. I'd recommend the "Somebody To Love? A Rock and Roll Memoir" candid autobiog for a read. Alcohol became a real issue in '78, when she was kicked out of Jefferson Starship. Goose-stepping and shouting "Who Won the F.... War" at a gig in Hamburg obviously didn't go down well. The bassist commented “When she gets drunk, the evil forces seem to be able to take over. There’s like a demon looking at you or something. She just stares." Been 30+ years sober now though.

[@SaeedReacts.]

Wow. What a story. Must learn more about her and this band.

[@woupie44]

I am going to read the book again, also good for my English as being Dutch. Grace Slick is so very special. I hope she is still allright in Malibu!

[@strabel803]

Flowerpower at its best.😁🙏

[@dougca7086]

You should react to Somebody to Love live on the Dick Cavett Show the day after Jefferson Airplane appeared at Woodstock they also have some other stars from Woodstock who joined in in the song

[@thoru4367]

I like their 80's song called Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

[@Spo-Dee-O-Dee]

Starship was a different band. Jefferson Starship was a new group established to allow Slick and Kantner to tour while waiting for Jack and Jorma to decide if they wanted to put Hot Tuna on hiatus.

[@DariaBilowus]

This song is the epitome of psychedelic rock.

[@Serai3]

The White Rabbit if from Alice in Wonderland, which is what inspired this song.

[@bethphillips9693]

Alice in Wonderland behind much of this - I loved the Sopranos too, so sad we lost James Gandolfini.

[@SaeedReacts.]

Incredible show and such an amazing actor. Gone way too soon.

[@DonAPWhiting]

For more Grace Slick you can listen to “We Built This City (on Rock and Roll)”. *runs away before people start throwing things*

[@Cbcw76]

The opening bass is from Jack Casady and the meandering jam-worthy guitar intro is played by Jorma Kaukonen. He and Jack had been performing as Hot Tuna since the '70s, usually avoiding the Jefferson-whatever-soap-opera... God bless 'em. But here's HESITATION BLUES by that bass player and that guitarist from their first Hot Tuna album: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH61kGSkiLWKpMk

[@Cbcw76]

Grace wrote WHITE RABBIT between Dec '65-Jan '66 and was first recorded by The Great Society before Grace replaced the original JeffAirP's singer. But here's the Rolling Stones' MOTHER'S LITTLE HELPER, which exposed a trick for moms - speed it up, or tranquilize their minds. It was recorded in Dec '65 - what an odd coincidence that somewhere in San Fran, and over in London, Mick and Grace were impressed by pharmaceuticals used by parents and the older generation... kzbin.info/www/bejne/habWcnd6qMRmptU

[@Markrealguy51]

The effects of LSD…trips could be soulfully powerful or not depending on where your head was at at the time

[@barryjurgensen9396]

US Billboard Hot 100 peak # 8

[@kierstenridgway4634]

Feed your head. ❤️✌️

[@michaelearly8097]

The lead guitar player, Jorma Kaukonen and the bass player, Jack Cassidy formed Hot Tuna. I would suggest you look at the album titled Burgers. It’s well worth the time 😎

[@hadrenspicer9035]

Surrealistic pillow is their best album

[@NancyMoran-r3b]

And the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all. I took that to mean birth control pills which we just called The Pill.

[@bradsense7431]

Feed Your Head!

[@esmeraldapooner751]

Very hippie Trippie the song can give someone even if you never used drugs a trip. A natural high. A know some people who never even drink a sip of vine said they got high just by listening to this.

[@chitownlee]

It's from Alice In Wonderland.