White Rabbit (song)

Infobox Single
Name = White Rabbit


Caption =
Artist = Jefferson Airplane
from Album = Surrealistic Pillow
A-side =
B-side = "Plastic Fantastic Lover"
Released = June, 1967
Format = Vinyl record (7") 45 RPM
Recorded = 1966/1967
Genre = Psychedelic rock, Acid rock
Length = 2:30
Label = RCA Victor
Writer = Grace Slick
Producer = Rick Jarrard
Certification =
Chart position =
* #8 (Billboard Hot 100)
Last single =
This single =
Next single = "White Rabbit" is a psychedelic rock and acid rock song from Jefferson Airplane's 1967 album "Surrealistic Pillow". It was released as a single, peaking in the USA at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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.Fact|date=February 2007.

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, the White Knight, 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.

Set to a rising crescendo similar to that of Ravel's famous Boléro, and having a strong Spanish influence to it, 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 Andersonfix|link=Wikipedia:Contents|text=citation needed.

The song was ranked #478 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, #60 on Rate Your Music's Top Singles of All Time and appears on the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Audio Samples

Cultural references

*The drug-themed novel "Go Ask Alice" takes its name from this song's lyrics. 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 three times on "The Simpsons" in episodes; "D'oh-in In the Wind," Midnight Rx, and Mona Leaves-a.

*The song is featured 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 a scene in which Dr. Gonzo (the attorney) asks Raoul Duke 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 scene is also featured in Terry Gilliam's 1998 film version of the book.

*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.

*An instrumental version of the song is used as 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 where Tony Soprano takes Prozac for his panic attacks. It is also played again at the end of the episode.

*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 , 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 1960s 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.

* In Zero Skateboard's Dying to Live skate video, the song is skated to by Lindsey Robertson in his part.

* A cover of the song, performed by Collide, plays in the ending credits of the film in regards to the main character whose name is Alice.

* The song is used in the commercial for the Xbox 360 video game "Lost Odyssey". [ [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/30163.html GameTrailers video, "Lost Odyssey"] ]

* The song is used in an episode Daria, "Road Worrier."

* The intro to the song is played in several episodes of Scrubs, although usually as filler music and not in reference to drugs.

* The song ridden to by Vic Ayala in the first Animal BMX Video.
* The song was also featured in the movie Cable Guy
* The song was also featured in all the trailers for the Xbox 360 video Game "Lost Odyssey".

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... for their White Rabbit promotional cassette and later (1986) included in their "Fiat Lux" album [ [http://channelx.info/RUIN/zebox.html White Rabbit - Ruin ] ]
* 1987 – by the heavy metal band Sanctuary
* 1987 – by the synth-pop band Act
* 1987 – by the Avant–guard jazz classical band Durutti Column
* 1989 – by the hardcore punk band Slapshot
* 1990 – by the house music duo David Diebold and Kim Cataluna [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/322920 David Diebold & Kim Cataluna - White Rabbit ] ]
* 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
* 1999 – by the Cincinnati-based Gothic/Garage Rock band Stop the Car for their final album "Crash", after having featured the song regularly in their live set lists since the '80s
* 2001 – by the industrial band Collide. [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/419385 Collide - Chasing The Ghost ] ] A remix version appears in the ending credits of the 2007 film, ""
* 2002 – by Enon for Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again VVA Benefit Compilation
* 2003 – by the performance art / experimental rock group Blue Man Group with vocals by Esthero [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/432294 Blue Man Group - The Complex ] ]
* 2003 – by June Tabor and the Oysterband
* 2004 – remixed by the French DJ Mem Pamal, an hardtek mix with sample of the initial song. [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/491764 Various - Untitled ] ]
* 2005 – by Siobhan Fahey for "The Best of Shakespears Sister" album
* 2006 – remixed by the psychedelic trance act Fuzzion as Little Girl on the album "Black Magic". [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/618932 Fuzzion - Black Magic ] ]
* 2006 – by the Brechtian punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
* 2006 – by The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in their show "Volume 2: Through the Looking Glass"
* 2006 – by Lana Lane for Gemini album. [ [http://www.thetank.com/llgem.htm Lana Lane - Gemini ] ]
* 2006 – by Girl Talk in the track "Minute by Minute" on his album "Night Ripper"
* 2007 – by Patti Smith on her cover album "Twelve".
* 2007 – by The Vincent Black Shadow at the Warped Tour
* 2007 – by The Crüxshadows on Their Birthday EP.
* 2008 – by The Spectacles at the Bowery Ballroom
* 2008 – by Duckmandu of Fishtank Ensemble on his cover album .

References

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:j2jqeal84xk7 Song Review: White Rabbit] , "Allmusic".
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120669/ IMDB Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Reference]