100 Greatest Songs of the 60’s #53 Jefferson Starship – White Rabbit

Released: 1967

Grace Slick has always been one of the most quotable musicians. 1967 and all that? She told The Guardian in 2002 that misgivings, she had few, but that her philosopy at the time prevented much backwards looking thought. “”The only thing old people regret is not what they did, but what they didn’t do, so I regret not screwing Jimi Hendrix, and I regret not screwing Peter O’Toole, too.”

If punk had God Save The Queen, grunge Smells Like Teen Spirit and disco I Will Survive, White Rabbit was it’s equal in being emblematic for a generation. Slick fronted Jefferson Starship, who formed in San Francisco as the city became a magnet for America’s disaffected youth and the epicentre of a drug-informed revolution. With the singer openly advocating the use – and a willing practitioner – of LSD, the sextet were at the forefront of a scene which grew at an exponential rate.

White Rabbit, with Slick exhorting listeners to feed their heads, owed more to garage than psychedelia and had a sense of tension rather than release. “One pill makes you larger/And one pill makes you small” she claimed, a handy guide to just how far out things could get. As for coming down? Well that would have to wait until the morning, just like wishing that you hadn’t done exactly what you’d done.