03-31-19
White Rabbit may not have been a surprise to the target audience, but it proved to be a surprise to censors after they caught on to the subtle euphemisms that are contained throughout the entire song. What has become known as one of the most iconic songs of “60’s Psychedelic Rock” White Rabbit uses imagery and references to the famous and beloved Alice in Wonderland as an allusion to the surreal effects of taking hallucinogenic substances.
Initially written by Grace Slick before becoming a member of Jefferson Airplane, she leveraged it as part of her entry into the group. A move which proved to be highly fortuitous for all parties as it went on the become the bands second biggest hit and topping out at #8 on the pop charts.
The drug references flew over the head of most censors at first, however as soon as some began to catch, all started to catch. As it goes, when things like this happened, it only increased its allure and appeal to those it was targeted to the entire time.
While the song is obviously about drugs, Slick also saw it as a metaphor for her own escape from society’s outdated rules:
“I identified with Alice. I was a product of ’50s America in Palo Alto, California, where women were housewives with short hair and everything was highly regulated. I went from the planned, bland ’50s to the world of being in a rock band without looking back. It was my Alice moment, heading down the hole. ‘White Rabbit’ seemed like an appropriate title.”
The Spanish bolero sound which can be heard throughout the march-like tempo has been a significant influencer for me personally. Additionally, creator Grace Slick cites a 1960 Jazz album by Miles Davis as a significant contributing factor saying “I took acid and listened to Miles Davis’s ‘Sketches of Spain’ album for 24 hours straight until it burned into my brain—particularly “Concierto de Aranjuez,” which takes up most of the first side. It’s hypnotic.”
Most everyone has their own experience with illicit substances, even if it’s only through laughing gas provided by the dentist; we’re introduced to the concepts of altered realities at young ages via these medical practices, and then aggressively shunned from them as we grow up. White Rabbit always felt like a response to not knowing how one is going to perceive their reality, essentially “biting off” more than they can chew. This doesn’t have to be secluded to hard-drugs, alcohol, tobacco, nicotine, even sugar have exhibited similar effects in high enough concentrations. It all helps to highlight the subjective and ever-changing perceptions of our own realities.
Lyrics:
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…
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