Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love

This will wrap up the visit to the 60s and ’70s San Francisco sound. Sorry for not covering The Grateful Dead and Joplin…but I post those two regularly. My whole reason for blogging is to learn new artists and the stories behind those artists and songs. This week I posted 4 artists I never posted about before. I also picked up a few good songs. I was impressed by these artists. Also thank you to the ones who told me their stories of that time… Phil, Jim, and halffastcyclingclub…those are the stories I love hearing.

***Also, I want to ask my readers something…were you at the famous Watkins Glen concert held in New York in 1973 that drew 600,000 people? If you were there I would love to hear your story. Jim has given me his story so I can repost my post about that concert on the anniversary. Thank you so much.

I’ve only posted one song by this band version, so I’m happy to do another. I always favored the Airplane over Jefferson Starship a little and REALLY favored either one over just the 1980s Starship. I first learned about them in Gimme Shelter…the Stones film about Altamont and the destruction there. Marty Balin was knocked out cold there by the Hell’s Angels.

And here it is…”You gotta keep your bodies off of each other unless you intend love…” Grace Slick.

This is one of those songs played in most movies about the 1960s. It’s one of those songs that transport you there even if you weren’t…at least you think you are.

Grace Slick was in a band named The Great Society that featured her brother-in-law who wrote this song, Darby Slick. She was married to Jerry Slick, the drummer of the band. It was released as a single from that band but did nothing. The Great Society also did another song that Slick wrote…White Rabbit.

Darby Slick started to see the downside to free love that was taking over. He saw jealousy and disconnect with some. This song is about loyalty to one person and finding one person to be with.

The Great Society opened for the Jefferson Airplane at some shows. Grace Slick said she always looked at them with awe. When she was approached to join, she jumped at the chance. That essentially ended The Great Society. She brought both songs over with her to Jefferson Airplane. They play it faster, harder, and cleaner. They set up the pause before the chorus that kicks the whole song forward using dynamics. And their arrangement suits Grace Slick’s voice much better than the original.

The song was on the Surrealistic Pillow album released in 1967. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts and #5 in Canada.

Somebody To Love peaked at #1 in Canada and #5 on the Billboard 100. 

Somebody To Love

When the truth is found to be liesAnd all the joy within you diesDon’t you want somebody to loveDon’t you need somebody to loveWouldn’t you love somebody to loveYou better find somebody to loveLove, love

When the garden flowers, baby are dead, yes andYour mind, your mind is so full of redDon’t you want somebody to loveDon’t you need somebody to loveWouldn’t you love somebody to loveYou better find somebody to love

Your eyes, I say your eyes may look like hisYeah, but in your head, babyI’m afraid you don’t know where it isDon’t you want somebody to loveDon’t you need somebody to loveWouldn’t you love somebody to loveYou better find somebody to love

Tears are running downThey’re all running down your breastAnd your friends, babyThey treat you like a guestDon’t you want somebody to loveDon’t you need somebody to loveWouldn’t you love somebody to loveYou better find somebody to love

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

60 thoughts on “Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love”

  1. Wow Marty really took a whopping there! I actually didn’t know that story about hoe Grace transitioned into JA, especially that White Rabbit came about that way. Great post and such groovy special effects on the video?

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    1. I love those effects! I bet some indie bands use it today…I think it’s early chroma key….
      I’ve always been interseted in Airplane and I grew up with Jefferson Starship.

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  2. The Airplane were more singles-oriented than the bands they hung out with…so more people knew of them. They became the mainstream face of San Francisco. “Somebody to Love” definitely improved from the Great Society version – as did “White Rabbit”. I think about the only good that came out of Altamont was the song “New Speedway Boogie”.

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      1. UFO I was fan of so when Pete Way left he formed Fastway and I bought it, than he left that one and formed Waysted so I bought there debut Vices. Fin was the original singer in Waysted and that debut Vices had some good tracks.

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      2. From what I’ve heard so far…the live album sounds really good dude btw… but yea…everything is connected.

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  5. good song, the first this week that I knew right off without having to even listen to find out if I did or not – indicative of how they did better than the other counterparts in that SF scene of the time , commercially at least. I liked JS too but have a hard time finding anything much to say in the positive column about the ’80s version of Starship. Balin seemed like a good dude and I quite like the little I’ve heard of his solo work too.

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    1. I did like Balin…and I did like some of their songs in the 70s like Count On Me and Miracles…I think “Jane” was the point where I hopped off the Starship lol…I did like that song but after that I didn’t much at all.

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    2. When I lived in the Bay Area in the 80s, Marty Balin was in a band with Paul Kantner and Jack Casady of the Jefferson Airplane. They were the KBC band and didn’t last long. Casady is the only one still alive (and still plays with Jorma Kaukonen in Hot Tuna).

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  6. The Jefferson Airplane/Starship always makes me think of San Francisco. Love Grace and Marty, and I’m much more “friendly” towards their J-Starship era than I’m sure other folks might be. Great voices.

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    1. Yea I grew up with Jefferson Starship as a kid in the seventies so I do like that version. Songs like Miracles and the rarely heard now “Count On Me”… Balin was a really good singer.

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  8. This is a good cut. Always liked Marty for taking one for the team plus I liked his singing on a few songs later that were on the radio. Like I was saying, I missed a lot of these bands from the Bay area.
    I’m still exploring the Dead. I know more about solo Garcia.
    You would know this. Wasnt CCR based out of SF? One of my faves, Dan Hicks was from there.

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    1. Yea Marty sure did… I do admire him for trying anyway. He did have a good voice.
      Yes CCR were based out of SF..or near it in El Cerrito…. I would have guessed Louisiana when I first heard them.
      Dang..I know the name Dan Hicks but can’t place him…I’ll look him up…I know him I know.

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      1. You named one of the songs I liked that Marty sang ‘Miracles’. The other was ‘Runaway’? I think.
        Dan Hicks is an all time favorite of mine. He started in The Charlatans who were based back in the time you covered in SF.
        Ill catch up later, gotta step out.

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  9. I’ve always loved that song. I didn’t know the original version by The Great Society – not bad either, though I do prefer Airplane’s version. That clip from Altamont is crazy. Of course, you really have to question the sanity of the individual who had the brilliant idea to hire The Hells Angels to be in charge of security!

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    1. I know…they did it in London and it went fine but the chapters of them were very different. Plus I’ve read where some of these were newer members.
      The Stones didn’t help either…for them demanding to go on at night….and made that crowd wait for hours in the heat. That wasn’t a good move.

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      1. The SF chapter and the Oakland chapter were very different. I think Altamont was done by Oakland (hired by the Stones and paid in beer, if I remember correctly). If you look at the album cover for “Cheap Thrills” by Big Brother & the Holding Co, you’ll see a Frisco Hell’s Angels logo. A different relationship – well, an actual relationship, unlike with Oakland.

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      2. Yes it was Oakland for sure. It was a bad situation for all. I’ve read where the majority of them were ok…it was the younger ones that caused havoc…that might or might not be true.

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  10. Very disturbing to see bikers beating people in the crowd with sticks, and terrifying it included a member of the band they were hired to protect. That could have turned into a bloodbath in a heartbeat. I know at least one person was killed that day.

    This tune is iconic. How much better when we as humans interact with each other with genuine affection. I appreciate your week of CA dreamin, Max.

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    1. It was a scary situation… if I could go back to a concert….I would avoid this one.
      Thanks Lisa…it was fun covering these because I never have before.

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  11. Yep, I knew that bit bit about the Great Society. and how the songs went with her. (Ain’t The Great Society a greatly ironic counterculture band name?) ‘Somebody To Love’ isure s driven along more urgently by JA.’

    Lol on the comment to Dave, ‘stepped off the Starship.’ It’s funny how the early Airplane took off but by the time Starship (careful there, I nearly spelt ‘Starship’ with a ‘t’ rather than a ‘p’) ‘hit the airwaves it was big and bloated and, in 60s parlance ‘Man, a real drag.’

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  12. Don’t know if it’s the videos’ differing quality, but I like the Great Society version more…

    But I also have to admit that I first knew the song through this bizarre dance remake from the early ’00s… which I am quite sure you’ll hate. The video is worth a watch however, for several reasons…

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    1. That is awesome…you sound like me today…liking the other one!

      How can I put this…a cute and AWESOME video at the same time! I don’t like the music but I love her voice.

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  14. Pingback: Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love – MobsterTiger

  15. I have a unique memory to share. I was around 12 years old and living in Boulder, Colorado. This song was a favorite on our local radio station. While I was listening to it play, the telephone rang. My father, a Boulder police officer, was called in for duty. There was news of a sit-in being organized on “The Hill” (in Boulder, this was like a mini Haight-Ashbury.) Being a college town, these activities were common, but rumor had it members of the Hell’s Angels might show up for this one (they didn’t.) As I watched my father leave the house that day, I remember thinking he was the epitome of “the man”: distant, uncaring, and cruel. That summer, I was looking for a different free love, the kind that was supposed to come from a father.

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    1. Thanks Dana…I bet at that time…it must have been hard to have your dad as a policeman…I can imagine at that time he was the bad guy to a lot of people…
      I had an uncle who was a cop and he sometimes took it home and was distant from his family.

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      2. lol…and then there is that! It’s a lousy thankless job at times…I house sat for that uncle…guess what was delievered around a week after I left? Black roses…from someone he busted…scared me to death! I never house sat again there.

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      4. Yes it was…he was a good man though…I will always admire him.
        I would imagine Colorado was very hippish for a while…oh…do you remember…what is her name Dana? Oh Claudine something…the one who shot the skier Spider Sabich? That had to be a giant story there….I think it happened in Aspen.

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      6. Sorry… my mind is like a pinball machine…when I think of certain things the stories of the past bounce around! Yes that was crazy.

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