WHITE RABBIT (SONG)

"'White Rabbit'" is a psychedelic rock song from Jefferson Airplane's 1967 album ''Surrealistic Pillow''. It was released as a single, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, the song was ranked #478 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. First performed by composer Grace Slick with her band The Great Society in 1966, the song helped convince members of the Airplane to ask Slick to join their band..
One of Slick's earliest songs, written in either late 1965 or early 1966, it cites parallels between the hallucinatory effects of LSD and the imagery found in the fantasy works of Lewis Carroll: 1865's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. Alice, the Dormouse, the hookah smoking caterpillar, and the Red Queen are all mentioned in the song. Events in the books such as changing size after eating mushrooms or drinking an unknown liquid are also mentioned. The last line of the song is "Remember what the Dormouse said. Feed your head. Feed your head." and does not explicitly quote the Dormouse as is often assumed. The line probably refers to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Chapter XI 'Who Stole the Tarts':
"`But what did the Dormouse say?' one of the jury asked."
"`That I can't remember,' said the Hatter.
From the Jefferson Airplane website: 'Grace has always said that White Rabbit was intended as a slap toward parents who read their children stories such as ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (in which Alice uses several drug-like substances in order to change herself) and then wondered why their children grew up to do drugs. For Grace and others in the '60s, drugs were an inevitable part of mind-expanding and social experimentation. With its enigmatic lyrics, "White Rabbit" became one of the first songs to sneak drug references past censors on the radio. Even Marty Balin, Grace's eventual rival in the Airplane, regarded the song as a "masterpiece."'
Set to a rising crescendo similar to that of Ravel's famous Boléro, the music combined with the song's lyrics strongly suggest the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens and the song was later utilized in pop culture to imply or accompany just such a state. "White Rabbit" is one of two songs, along with "Somebody to Love," that Slick brought with her to Jefferson Airplane from her earlier group The Great Society when she replaced original Airplane vocalist Signe Toly Anderson.
Later songs by The Jacksons ("Can You Feel It") and Madonna ("Material Girl") share the bass line used in "White Rabbit".

Contents

The Damned version

Track listing

Production credits

Cultural references

Covers

External links

The Damned version

"'White Rabbit'" was released as a single by The Damned.
The song is a cover of Jefferson Airplane's 1967 classic. The single was initially only released in France and Germany, with the UK release originally only coming out as a promotional record. This was the first Damned recording to feature new bass player Paul Gray.
In 1983, Chiswick's Big Beat imprint would finally give the single a full UK release.

Track listing

# "White Rabbit" (Slick)
# "Rabid (Over You)" (Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Le Vien)
# "Seagulls" (Scabies, Sensible, Vanian)

Production credits

★ 'Producers':

★
★ Roger Armstrong

★
★ The Damned

★ 'Musicians':

★
★ Dave Vanian: Vocals

★
★ Captain Sensible: Guitar

★
★ Rat Scabies: Drums

★
★ Paul Gray: Bass

Cultural references

★ The drug-themed novel ''Go Ask Alice'' takes its name from the song, which includes the lyrics, "Go ask Alice/When she's ten feet tall." The book's protagonist is never named, but reviewers generally refer to her as "Alice" for the sake of convenience. The Columbia University health website Go Ask Alice!, however, does not take its name from the song.

★ The song has been used twice on ''The Simpsons'' in episodes; "D'oh-in In the Wind," and Midnight Rx. In the episode ''Moe Baby Blues'' when Maggie asks Moe to read to her from the book Alice in Wonderland, Moe flips through the pages and reading references like White Rabbit (perhaps hinting Playboy bunnies) and chicks popping mushroom pills he decides against reading it to her.

★ The song features in the thriller ''The Game'' (1997) at a scene where the film's main protagonist is being subjected to extremely powerful psychological attacks on his sanity and sense of safety.

★ Richard Nixon's Head sings this song in the Futurama episode "A Head in the Polls," while making his futuristic presidential bid, telling his audience, "I'm meeting you halfway, you stupid hippies!"

★ The song was mentioned in Hunter S. Thompson's book ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' in the memorable scene in which Dr. Gonzo (the attorney) asks Thompson to throw the tape deck into the bath with him during a bad acid trip:
:"''"White Rabbit." I need rising sound … And when it comes to that fantastic note where the rabbit bites its own head off, I want you to throw that fuckin' radio into the tub with me!''"

★ The song and part of its lyrics are mentioned in Stephen King's book ''Insomnia'' in the surreal scene at the beginning of chapter 3.

★ The song was featured in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon''; it is played in the background of the "Feel Good Cave" as the soldiers are getting high. Its initial beat also forms the main menu music of the PC game Battlefield Vietnam.

★ The song was used on an episode of ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. Jay Leno talked about a town that has baseball "the way it used to be"; the hometown of that team is known for smoking cannabis, and this song played while people in a park smoke.

★ In 2005 the song was used on C.R.A.Z.Y., a film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.

★ Also in 2005 "White Rabbit" was featured in a delicate drug-related scene in Atom Egoyan's movie Where the Truth Lies.

★ A "White Rabbit" cover portion has been a consistent part of Blue Man Group shows since their inception, and was released on their 2003 album "The Complex" featuring the vocal talent of Esthero

★ The song was played during the "Down Neck" episode of HBO's The Sopranos. During a scene when Tony Soprano taking Prozac for his panic attacks.

★ A commercial for the video game Red Faction 2 used this song as well.

★ In the movie Stoned from 2005 the song is played when Brian Jones takes LSD for the first time.

★ The song is played during a drug-related skit on an episode of The Daily Show.

★ A commercial for No.7 make up used the song as well.

★ The song was played in the background in the ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' episode, "The Dicks They Are A-Changin'" when Dick comes to Dr. Albright's apartment to remember the sixties.

★ The protagonist of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, Kaye, listens to this song whilst lying in her bedroom letting her pet rats roam on the shelves with her old dolls.

★ The song was featured in "Hunted", an episode (season 2, episode 10) of The CW's ''Supernatural''.

★ In an episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Samantha Bee sang part of the song.

★ The song is used as the base beat for the song "Rabbit Hole" by the Underground Hip-Hop artists Living Legends.

★ The song both serves as an opening and is discussed in episode 2 of VH1's Drug Years series which tells of the 1960's counterculture.

★ In 2006, excerpts from the song were used in a show entitled ''Volume 2: Through the Looking Glass'' performed by The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, which is filled with references to Alice in Wonderland.

Covers

The song was covered in the following years:

★ 1971 – by the jazz guitarist George Benson

★ 1980 – by the punk band The Last Words

★ 1980 – by the punk / gothic rock band The Damned

★ 1981 – by the post punk band The Mo-Dettes in a Peel Session

★ 1985 – by the hardcore punk band Ruin... [1]for their White Rabbit promotional cassette and later (1986) included in their ''Fiat Lux'' album [2]

★ 1987 – by the metal band Sanctuary

★ 1987 – by the rock band Act

★ 1989 – by the hardcore punk band Slapshot

★ 1990 – by the house music duo David Diebold and Kim Cataluna [3]

★ 1995 – by The Murmurs (MCA Records)

★ 1995 – by Mephisto Walz

★ 1996 – by the Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini

★ 1996 – by the Norwegian Heavy Metal band In the Woods for their ''White Rabbit EP'' and later (2000) included in their ''Three Times Seven on a Pilgrimage'' album [4]

★ 2001 – by the industrial band Collide [5]

★ 2003 – by the performance art / experimental rock group Blue Man Group with vocals by Esthero [6]

★ 2004 – remixed by the French DJ Mem Pamal, an hardtek mix with sample of the initial song [7] [8]

★ 2006 – remixed by the psychedelic trance act Fuzzion as Little Girl on the album ''Black Magic'' [9]

★ 2006 – by the Brechtian punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls at the Bonnaroo Music Festival

★ 2005 – by Siobhan Fahey for ''The Best of Shakespears Sister'' album

★ 2006 – by The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in their show ''Volume 2: Through the Looking Glass''

★ 2007 – by Patti Smith on her cover album Twelve.

★ 2007 – remixed by psychedelic trance producer Furious as track ''Zayatz Rolls'' on ''VA - Amonit People''

★ 2007 – by The Vincent Black Shadow at the Warped Tour

★ 2007 – by The Crüxshadows on Their Birthday EP.

External links

★ Song Review: White Rabbit, ''All Music Guide''.

★ IMDB Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Reference