tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post5401381957323042875..comments2024-03-29T08:00:24.038-05:00Comments on A Shroud of Thoughts: "White Rabbit" by Jefferson AirplaneTerence Towles Canotehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18397088843628331615noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-58777271503602455952022-12-02T10:58:37.239-06:002022-12-02T10:58:37.239-06:00Bullfrog, thank you for your reply. Yes, I did tak...Bullfrog, thank you for your reply. Yes, I did take LSD during that era, though I did not take the amount and variety of drugs that Grace Slick seems to imply she did. I understand how logic and proportion can and do indeed fall away during the period of acid's effect. However, I would not apply the phrase "fallen sloppy dead" to my experiences. That sounds more like a description of being drunk at the same time, which I never tried!<br /><br />In general, White Rabbit does a wonderful job of evoking the "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" time in Berkeley and San Francisco as I experienced it. What a crazy, wonderful, and sometimes shattering time that was!Ralph Dratmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426433134164984467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-8016531657130980822022-12-01T23:09:45.593-06:002022-12-01T23:09:45.593-06:00the lyrics "when logic and proportion have fa...the lyrics "when logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead" If you ever took the really good acid back in the late 60's early 70's, you would obviously know. All reason and visual experience go for a long walk outside what we refer to as reality, and "fall sloppy dead" is a perfect expression of how everything is completely different than anything one could explain or express in any words. So, the lyrics are the best compromise to that.Bullfroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10446858364689103672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-52576002899597543572022-09-26T12:40:17.576-05:002022-09-26T12:40:17.576-05:00Why would Gracie Slick write a song referencing th...Why would Gracie Slick write a song referencing the drug-addled characters from a Victorian author's children's tale unless it was about something else? <br />I could make a case that White Rabbit uses Lewis Carroll to tell about the insanity of the Vietnam war. Like CCR's Fortunate Son, it was a bitter "pill" that the draft fell largely along socio economic lines (large vs small). Chasing rabbits undoubtedly a reference to the "hunting" infantry would do on their patrols. Few draftees were under any illusion as to their chances of surviving (know you're going to fall), hookah smoking caterpillar would be an excellent description in this context of the local recruiter. It's a little less clear who Alice is, other than a reference to the collective conscience of a divided country under assault by the psychosis of hot war in pursuit of hegemony. Men on the chessboard = military chain of command. White Knight talking backwards, presidential BS to the People. Red Queen, the narrow minded insanity of Maoist China and its bloody ideologues (Ho chi Min, et al). Feed your head, could mean both wise-up young people and tune-in/drop out completely with drugs, as Tim Leary would recommend a year or so later. I imagine to many, it was the only sane course of action. <br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02465836070289313576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-83957630148962834672017-05-09T08:55:04.877-05:002017-05-09T08:55:04.877-05:00Tom,
I think you are mistaken about parents givin...Tom,<br /><br />I think you are mistaken about parents giving their daughters birth control pills without the daughter's knowledge. Those pills have to be taken every day without fail or they will not work. Also, the pills available in those years often caused mood changes and breast enlargement, not to mention controlling the woman's menstrual schedule. There is no way all those circumstances could be imposed surreptitiously. Perhaps you heard a rumor about this?Ralph Dratmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426433134164984467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-60452884654023394852017-05-08T15:38:22.484-05:002017-05-08T15:38:22.484-05:00Terence,
This is a little late - I hadn't see...Terence,<br /><br />This is a little late - I hadn't seen your comment until now. Sorry.<br /><br />I was in high school in the late '60s, and while it was a more conservative time, there were many incidents of parents getting birth control bills and giving them to their daughters, without the daughter's knowledge. Preventative medicine at its finest.<br /><br />TomAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06194497978933493027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-18706897880191442152016-08-25T16:16:39.069-05:002016-08-25T16:16:39.069-05:00Thomas, you may be right, I have to express some d...Thomas, you may be right, I have to express some doubt that they were birth control pills. The Sixties were a more conservative time than now, so I doubt mothers would be handing out birth control pills to their daughters. In fact, I have to suspect that they would do everything they could to discourage them from having sex at all! You may well be right, but I have to doubt it.Terence Towles Canotehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18397088843628331615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-38585025454905352092016-08-25T16:02:09.972-05:002016-08-25T16:02:09.972-05:00"The ones that mother gives you" doesn&#..."The ones that mother gives you" doesn't refer to placebos. It's the early 60's, the beginning of birth control. Those are birth control pills.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06194497978933493027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-90245298498018442132014-03-14T17:46:02.821-05:002014-03-14T17:46:02.821-05:00Grace Slick said this in a 1998 interview:
'&...Grace Slick said this in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/style/flashing-back-with-grace-slick-still-a-rock-n-roll-mama.html" rel="nofollow">a 1998 interview</a>:<br /><i><br />''You either evolve or you don't,'' she says flatly. ''I don't like old people on a rock-and-roll stage. I think they look pathetic, me included. And the fact that I represent an era means I can't just go out there and do all new stuff. They would all say, 'Sing ''White Rabbit,'' ' and I'd say no? That's rude. But can you see me singing 'Feed your head' as a practicing nonalcoholic? It doesn't make sense now.''</i><br /><br />In those days the word "head" evoked "pothead". So one might say, "He's a big head," to imply that a person used a lot of marijuana. The usage of these terms was sparse and variable in Berkeley, where I lived within a year or two of the song's composition. So I can't be absolutely certain, but I think "your head" meant "your high," that is, your current degree of inebriation. Ms. Slick seems to extend that meaning to include alcoholic inebriation, perhaps implicitly referring to alcohol used in combination with marijuana or psychedelics. <br /><br />Thus I believe "feed your head" would have meant "keep increasing your high." And that explains why she says the lyric no longer makes sense.Ralph Dratmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426433134164984467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-79908371523754767082008-03-06T19:46:00.000-06:002008-03-06T19:46:00.000-06:00I think you could be right about the line "And you...I think you could be right about the line "And your mind is moving low" simply being a juxtaposition of being high on drugs...yet another means of sneaking in a drug reference.Terence Towles Canotehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18397088843628331615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-8029066876949064382008-03-05T13:20:00.000-06:002008-03-05T13:20:00.000-06:00A fantastic analysis, as always. I'm glad the vide...A fantastic analysis, as always. I'm glad the video gave you a chance to indulge in your favorite song.<BR/><BR/>Could the line "And your mind is moving low" just be a juxtaposition of being high on drugs, assuming the song was attempting to sneak drug references past censors?poppedculturehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12489589165185325301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7210602.post-14323654004751362962008-03-03T08:54:00.000-06:002008-03-03T08:54:00.000-06:00I never knew the history of that song--this was an...I never knew the history of that song--this was an interesting read. Although I'm too young to have participated in all that "summer of Love" feeding of the head, it is interesting--the song still holds up today with so many "Alices" being the shrinks who lovingly & easily give out psychotropic drugs to young people to try to "fix their heads" -- as they get depressed or anxious in HS.Bobby D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02205693811392933385noreply@blogger.com