Jefferson Starship – Count On Me

I’ve never been a fan of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship or just plain Starship but this one has good memories connected to it. It was released in 1978 and it peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100, #9 in Canada, and #24 in New Zealand. This is the last output by the band that I liked.

Marty Balin sang this song…whenever I think of Marty Balin I think of when he was in The Jefferson Airplane at Altamont. He stood up to the Hells Angels and got walloped over the head for his trouble. Paul Kantner (guitar player for the Airplane) then announced what happened. It went something like this.

Kantner to the crowd: “Hey man, I’d like to mention that the Hell’s Angels just smashed Marty Balin in the face and knocked him out for a bit. I’d like to thank you for that.”

A Hell’s Angel grabs a microphone: “Is this on? If you’re talking to me, I’m gonna talk to you.”

Kantner: “I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the people who hit my lead singer in the head.”

Hell’s Angel: “You’re talking to my people.”

Kantner: “Right.”

Hell’s Angel: “Let me tell you what’s happening: You are what’s happening.”

Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and later Keith Richards stood up to the Angels at Altamont.

That Time When Paul Kantner Stood Up to the Hell’s Angels

Count On Me

Precious love
I’ll give it to you
Blue as the sky and deep in the
Eyes of a love so true
Beautiful face
You make me feel
Lite on the stairs and lost in the
Air of a love so real

And you can count on me girl
You can count on my love
Woman
You can count on me baby
You can count on my love to see
You through

Emerald eyes and China perfume
Caught in the wheel and lost in
The feel of a love so soon
Ruby lips
You make my song
Into the night and saved by the lite
Of a love so strong
See you through
Oh
You can count on me girl
You can count on my love

 

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.

17 thoughts on “Jefferson Starship – Count On Me”

    1. That was a smart decision of them to leave. I know it was thrown together at the last minute but if that stage would have been higher off the ground I have to wonder if would have helped matters.

      It was all about getting people away because that stage was so low.

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  2. I really did not like Starship but I liked Jefferson Starship… a sentence that would be confusing to people who aren’t familiar with 70s/80s music. “Miracles” was one of the better singles of the whole decade, to me, and this song and “Jane” were excellent.
    gotta wonder why these bands or promoters back then thought hiring Hells Angels for security and assistance was a good idea!

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  3. I like Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Starship was pretty terrible but there is a great scene in the movie Skeleton Key where Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig lip-sync Nothin’s Gonna Stop Us. It’s super funny. I always hated the song and now I like it because of that scene.
    Marty Balin’s a good singer, I think. Very distinctive.

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    2. Marty I really liked. There are some songs by the Airplane and Jefferson Starship I liked…I never owned an album or followed them but some like this one I do like. This one got overshadowed my Miracles.

      Yea I didn’t like Starship at all. Miracles and Count on Me I think was around the end of the Balin era.

      I just checked the scene out you were talking about in Skeleton Twins (I saw your other comment)….that is funny.

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  4. This is a beautiful song and I like the sound of his voice singing it. Wasn’t a guy killed at Altamont? I looked at the clip at that link, and my thought is it could have gotten into a fullout melee in a heartbeat there. It’s blessing only one died. I think I started to watch Gimme Shelter but wasn’t there a part where Mick was trying to calm them down in it? I think that’s when I turned the movie off.

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    1. Yes Meredith Hunter… stabbed by an angel but he did have a gun but it was empty.

      Yes Mick did and Keith told everyone to cool it including the Angels.

      I think the major flaw was the short stage… if they would have taken time and made it tall everyone would not have been on top of the Angels and the bands…
      Of course hiring the Angels wasn’t too bright either… they did it in England but those Angels were NOT California Angels.

      Oh someone else was killed when they were standing or sitting near a car… they got hit by another car on the way out.

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      1. Paying the devils (i mean angels) in beer couldn’t have helped. Sounds like the veteran angels sent neophytes to the concert. Dumb moves going on all over the place.

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  5. I love this song and Marty Balin’s voice. I liked most of Airplane/Starship for the most part. They evolved and so did their music. Grace was the sound early on, then Marty, then Mickey. When they evolved into just Starship…they SUCKED. Their soul was gone.

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    1. I hated Starship…What I was meaning was that I never bought their albums or followed them. I like Marty alot. Mickey was a good singer but when Marty left…Starship started.

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      1. From my reading, Balin left in 1971. Airplane split into Hot Tuna & Jefferson Starship (1974) and Balin returned in 1975. He left, again, in 1978. They picked up Mickey in 1979 (Jane).

        I bought a Greatest Hits cassette and wore it OUT.

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  6. Marty Balin’s “Hearts” was a good single from the early-’80s but all in all, it’s a bit surprising he didn’t really achieve more on his own post-Jefferson.

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    1. I agree…he was also with the KBC Band… It’s been a while since I listened to them…a song called It Ain’t You It Ain’t Me….
      I believe that is what it’s called.

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