Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow

Grace Slick’s White Rabbit

May 15, 2009 Ali Eftekhari

The legendary song by Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit, made Grace Slick one of the top female vocalists in the rock history.

Among numerous rock bands formed in the mid 1960s, Jefferson Airplane was not initially popular; but after the join of a legendary female vocalist Grace Slick, the band became of the most famous rock bands in the United States and later globally.

Grace Slick

Grace Slick, one of the most leading and influential female vocalists, was born in Evanston, Illinois on October 30, 1939. She was one of the leading characters of the psychedelic rock in 60s. She had a close friendship with another legendary female vocalist, Janis Joplin, and the legendary vocalist of The Doors, Jim Morrison.

Musically, she was a powerful vocalist and one of the pioneering vocalists, who paved the path for the evolution of rock vocals. In addition to his pioneering contributions to rock music, her powerful and supple contralto vocals (i.e. a classical female singing voice with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano) made her one of the top female rock vocalists of all times.

Grace Slick, who was a fashion model, started her musical career in 1965 by the San Francisco band, The Great Society. Then, she joined Jefferson Airplane for recording the band second album, Surrealistic Pillow. In fact, she pushed the Folk-Rock style of the band towards the evolving psychedelic rock.

Surrealistic Pillow

The second album of Jefferson Airplane was commercially successful because of featuring a new vocalist named Grace Slick. In general, the album is considered as one of the best rock albums (for example, ranked #146 in 500 Greatest Albums of All Time listed by Rolling Stones).

Only one track in Surrealistic Pillow was written by the new vocalist, Grace Slick; the track White Rabbit became the best track of the album with a top position in the chart. She brought this track (plus Somebody to Love) from her past musical career. (note: Grace Slick was a co-writer in Somebody to Love too).

White Rabbit

In White Rabbit, Grace Slick showed not only her powerfulness in rock vocal but also her talent and creativity in songwriting. According to her, she has written this legendary song in one hour (according to Barbara Rowes, 1980).

Both musically and lyrically, the song falls in the scope of the so-called ‘real’ rock, which was about to evolve in the late 1960s. The somewhat mysterious lyric is in response to the social issues associated with drug popularity among the youth, referencing to the fantastic story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Like the album title, the lyric deals with "an oddly dreamlike or unreal quality".

White Rabbit has been covered with many artists and used as soundtrack in several famous movies. White Rabbit was one of the songs performed in the famous Woodstock festival. Over the past 40 years, the song has been one of the most popular rock songs.

Further Information

Barbara Rowes, Grace Slick: The Biography, Doubleday & Co., 1980.
Grace Slick, Andrea Cagan, Somebody to Love? A Rock-and-Roll Memoir, Warner Books, 1998.
Grace Slick on why she went into the music business (Youtube Video).

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