Slick got the idea for this after taking LSD and spending hours listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches Of Spain. The Spanish beat she came up with was also influenced by Maurice Ravel's "Bolero."
Slick wrote and performed this when she was in a band called The Great Society. She brought it with her, along with "Somebody To Love," when she joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966.
This was used as the theme song for a 1973 movie called Go Ask Alice.
The UK version of the album didn't have this on it.
This was one of the defining songs of the 1967 "Summer Of Love." As young Americans protested the Vietnam war and took a lot of drugs, this played in the background.
On an original recording by The Great Society, the song is barely recognizable due to Grace's higher voice before several throat operations that lowered her range after each one.
"Go Ask Alice" which is a lyric from this song, inspired an anonymous author to put out a book with that same title. The book was a "diary" of a young girl in the 1960s who had a drug addiction and died. The diary owner's name is never given, and the diary is suspected to be fictional even after it was promoted as true, and the anonymous author is suspected to be Beatrice Sparks, the book's editor.
Lyrics:
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small,
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all.
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall.
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call.
Call Alice
When she was just small.
When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low.
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know.
When logic and proportion
Have fallen softly dead,
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head. Feed your head. Feed your head"
White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call
He called Alice, when she was just small
When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice, I think she'll know
When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the Dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head
The song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane is a psychedelic rock classic that was written by Grace Slick in 1966. The lyrics of the song are heavily influenced by Lewis Carroll's classic novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The opening lyrics, "One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all," are a reference to Alice's journey through Wonderland, where she drinks a potion to shrink and eats a cake to grow. The reference to the pills also alludes to the drug culture of the 1960s, where the use of psychedelic drugs was becoming more widespread.
The lyrics also reference the hookah-smoking caterpillar and the talking chessboard, both of which are characters or scenes from Alice in Wonderland. The lyrics suggest that chasing the rabbit and engaging with these fantastical characters and events is akin to taking drugs and experiencing the hallucinatory effects. The phrase "feed your head" at the end of the song suggests that the experience of taking drugs and entering this alternate reality can be mind-expanding and enlightening.
Overall, the lyrics of White Rabbit celebrate the counterculture of the 1960s and the embrace of drugs, mysticism, and alternative realities. While the song is firmly rooted in its historical context, it continues to resonate with audiences and is considered a classic of psychedelic rock.
Line by Line Meaning
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
There are drugs that can make you feel bigger, and some that make you feel small.
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all
The pills that are given to you by your mother are useless and won't have any effect.
Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall
If you want to know about the effect of drugs that make you feel different, ask Alice who's already experienced it.
And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
If you try to get involved in things that you don't understand, you are going to get hurt.
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call
If you claim that you have some kind of divine calling, people might think you are crazy.
He called Alice, when she was just small
The caterpillar talked to Alice when she was young and inexperienced.
When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
When people try to control your life and play you like a chess piece.
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low
When you are under the influence of drugs, your mind is not functioning properly.
Go ask Alice, I think she'll know
Alice knows about the effects of drugs, so she might be able to help.
When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
When things no longer make sense and become illogical.
And the White Knight is talking backwards
The White Knight is saying things that are confusing and contradictory.
And the Red Queen's off with her head
The Red Queen is irrational and might be making decisions that are harmful to others.
Remember what the Dormouse said
Pay attention to the advice given to you by small and seemingly insignificant beings.
Feed your head, feed your head
Find ways to expand your mind and your consciousness.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Grace Wing Slick
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@drperson12
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small
When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head
@milesjolly6173
1967 was a great year for albums:
January: The Doors
January: Between the Buttons
February: Surrealistic Pillow
February: Younger Than Yesterday
March: The Velvet Underground & Nico
May: Are You Experienced?
May: Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
August: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
September: Strange Days
September: Something Else by the Kinks
November: Disraeli Gears
November: Magical Mystery Tour
December: Axis: Bold as Love
December: Their Satanic Majesties Request
December: The Who Sellout
December: John Wesley Harding
@PremNair88
Whoever chose this song to be in the new Matrix trailer, deserves a raise!!
@jawher9
I stopped oped watching half way through, it seemed spoilery
@Holyarmour
I came here thanks to Matrix 4
@moodyringtarotllc1624
💯
@chayanhalder2498
Also reminds me of sucker punch 😁😁😁
@Vlad-ld7xj
YES
@yeadontwearitout
This song is criminally brief so good though
@Mint_Titan37
き
@emmalister25
agree but i think the brevity is very apt - like the flashes of insight from a trip melting away just after its peak . . .
@ericschminke8233
At the opposite end of the spectrum there are songs that are "criminally" too long. Examples: "Hey Jude" (Beatles), "Isn't She Lovely" (Stevey Wonder) and "I'm Your Captain" (Grand Funk Railroad). In fact, "I'm Your Captain" seems longer than a 150-car BNSF double stack train moving at 20 mph.