Bruce Springsteen wrote this and gave it to filmmaker Paul Schrader for his 1987 movie starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett as a brother and sister who lead a garage band.
Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett performed this in the movie. The song was released as a single credited to “The Barbusters” the name of the group in the film. The song is a duet with Fox and Jett, but the single was just Jett accompanied by her band, The Blackhearts.
Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played Hammond organ on this song. Light Of Day peaked at #33 in the Billboard 100 in 1987. From Songfacts
This is one of Springsteen’s live favorites. He often performs an inspirational extended version, preaching lines like “I can not offer you eternal life, but I can offer you life right now.”
Bruce performed this at a 1992 concert for MTV. Part of their “Unplugged” series, Springsteen insisted on playing electric and calling it “Plugged.” The set was released as an album in England.
The title was used as the name of a benefit concert Springsteen played at The Stone Pony, a small club in New Jersey, in 2000. Proceeds went to The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. Michael J. Fox, who starred in the movie Light Of Day, has Parkinson’s.
Springsteen performed this with Joan Jett at two benefit concerts in New Jersey in 2001. Proceeds from the shows went to victims of the September 11 attacks.
In 2000, the Light of Day foundation was formed, taking its name from this song. Music impresario Bob Benjamin started the foundation after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, with proceeds going toward the search for a cure. Benjamin organized a series of concerts to raise money, which proved very successful. Springsteen has performed at many of these events to lend his support.
Light Of Day
Well I’ve been out of the woods for six days and nights now Well I’m a little hot wired, but I’m feeling alright I got some money in my pocket and a long lean ride I got to make it down to Galveston by Saturday night, now
Well I’m a little down under, but I’m feeling O.K. Got a little lost along the way
I’m just around the corner to the light of day Well, I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Been driving five hundred miles, got five hundred to go, yeah I got rock and roll music on the radio I got a brother on a rig just off the gulf coast He says the girls down there, well they’re really the most, man
Well I’m a little down under, but I’m feeling O.K. I got a little lost along the way
Just around the corner to the light of day Just around the corner to the light of day I’m just around the corner to the light of day I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Well I got thrown out of work on the Kokomo Don’t ask me what I’m doing, I don’t know I hope he wasn’t joking when he wrote me that letter Things can’t get any worse, they got to get better
Well I’m a little down under, but I’m feeling O.K. I got a little lost along the way
I’m just around the corner to the light of day Just around the corner to the light of day Just around the corner to the light of day Just around the corner to the light of day
I’ve been listening to the Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd and ran across this one. You can hear the later Pink Floyd in this.
This was Pink Floyd’s debut single in 1967.
Syd Barrett wrote this about a true story….a cross-dresser who he called “Arnold Layne” who used to steal bras and panties from clotheslines in Cambridge, England. Barrett lived near Roger Waters growing up. Their mothers both lost underwear to Arnold Layne.
Of course Radio London banned this song, since it was about a man who steals women’s undergarments. Surprisingly BBC played it,saying they either didn’t have a problem with this particular subject matter or didn’t understand it…probably the latter.
The song peaked at #20 in the UK in 1967.
In the promotional materials to accompany the single, the band’s record company, EMI, wrote: “Pink Floyd does not know what people mean by psychedelic pop and are not trying to cause hallucinatory effects on their audience.”
The promotional black-and-white music video displayed the band with Syd Barrett. It shows Pink Floyd goofing around with a mannequin on the beach in East Wittering, West Sussex, England in late February 1967 ahead of the song’s release the following month.
Roger Waters: ‘Both my mother and Syd’s mother had students as lodgers because there was a girl’s college up the road so there was constantly great lines of bras and knickers on our washing lines.’ In one curious incident, the bras and knickers that hung on the washing lines in the Barrett’s garden proved irresistible to a local underwear fetishist. This character, whom Barrett would later immortalize in song as Arnold Layne, made off with many of poor nursing students’ undergarments, presumably to indulge his fantasies. ‘Arnold or whoever he was, had bits and pieces off our washing lines. They never caught him. He stopped doing it after a bit, when things got too hot for him.’ ‘I was in Cambridge at the time I started to write the song,’ Syd Barrett told *Melody Maker*. ‘I pinched the line about “moonshine washing line” from Roger because he had an enormous washing line in the back garden of his house. Then I thought “Arnold must have a hobby” and it went on from there. Arnold Layne just happened to dig dressing up in women’s clothing.’
From Songfacts
The group was set to make their Top Of The Pops debut with a performance of this song in April 1967, but were dropped when it fell three places on the UK chart that week. They first appeared on the show July 6, performing “See Emily Play.”
Barrett was the group leader and an excellent songwriter, but he did a lot of drugs and lost his mind over the next year, becoming England’s first high-profile acid casualty. He was kicked out of the band the next year, replaced by David Gilmour.
Before the band came out at their shows in the late ’80s, this played while video of Pink Floyd in 1967 was shown on the giant screens.
This had a blues sound the band was known for. Pink Floyd’s name originated from Syd Barrett. His two favorite blues artists, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, appeared to him in what he referred to as a “vision,” giving Syd the idea for the name.
The song made an unexpected appearance in the live sets of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour during his 2006 tour promoting his solo album, On an Island. Later in the year, two live recordings of the song, from Gilmour’s On an Island shows at the Royal Albert Hall were released as a live single, which peaked at #19 on the UK singles chart. One version had guest vocals by David Bowie, the other by Floyd’s Richard Wright.
Arnold Layne
Arnold Layne Had a strange hobby Collecting clothes Moonshine washing line They suit him fine
On the wall Hung a tall mirror Distorted view See through baby blue He done it, oh, Arnold Layne It’s not the same, It takes two to know Two to know Two to know Two to know Why can’t you see?
Arnold Layne Arnold Layne Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne
Now he’s caught A nasty sort of person They gave him time Doors bang, chain gang He hates it Oh, Arnold Layne It’s not the same It takes two to know Two to know Two to know Two to know Why can’t you see?
Chrissie Hynde wrote this with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. “I’ll Stand by You” was released as the second single from the 1994 album Last of the Independents. It’s a beautiful song that has been covered a few times.
The song peaked at #16 in the Billboard 100, #12 Canada, and #10 in the UK.
For Hynde, working with outside songwriters was different, as she was used to writing on her own. It ended up a very positive experience that led to more collaborations.
Chrissie had said she was uncomfortable about having such a hit but felt better after Noel Gallagher say “he wished he’d written it.”
Chrissie Hynde: “When I did that song, I thought, Urgh this is s–t. But then I played it for a couple of girls who weren’t in the business and by the end of it they were both in tears. I said, OK, put it out.”
From Songfacts
“Tom and I never had a publisher, we both published ourselves. Jason Dauman was somebody who, for a commission, was willing to provide some of the service that a publisher would. He once said to me, ‘Who would you like to collaborate with?’ and it was sort of an annoyance to me. I didn’t take him all that seriously, but almost facetiously I said, ‘Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Chrissie Hynde.
I said those names because they were three of my favorite songwriters and he sort of took it seriously. He went off and I just thought, ‘Well I got rid of him, didn’t I.’ Then a little while later he called me up and he said, ‘Chrissie Hynde wants to write with you and Tom,’ and I thought, ‘Right.’ So anyway, I get a phone call and this woman said, ‘Billy, this is Chrissie Hynde,’ and I thought somebody was playing with me or something. I couldn’t imagine it, but then in a minute it was quite clear that Chrissie was on the other end of the telephone.
Chrissie is a very complicated person, a very no-nonsense person especially when she doesn’t know you. She was a little intimidating on the phone. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering so much I could barely speak because I love The Pretenders. She said she’d like to get together and write some songs with Tom and me, and I went, ‘Woo Hoo!’ She came to Los Angeles and she was so determined. She said, ‘I want to write a hit.’ Over a period of about two weeks Tom and I wrote a handful of songs with her. The first one we wrote together was called ‘Love Colors Everything.’ Then we wrote ‘Night In My Veins’ which was also a hit single, and we wrote ‘977,’ ‘Hollywood Perfume’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You.'”
Ben E. King’s song “Stand By Me” was a big influence on this.
Steinberg: “‘I’ll Stand By You,’ like the other hits that Tom and I wrote, started out as a lyric that I had in a notebook. I had the title and the chorus lyric. Chrissie is a very, very strong songwriter in her own right. She’s very ruthless, she would get out her pen or her pencil and I remember I was fascinated the way she would write in the notebook because she wouldn’t write on the lines. I use a Mont Blanc fountain pen and I tend to write kind of neatly. She would just scribble across pages. Very few lines would fit on a page and they wouldn’t stay on the line. I remember she would just take a pen and she would cross out any lines I had written that she didn’t like, and usually the lines that she didn’t like would be ones that were too tender or too poetic. She would toughen up stuff I’d written. On ‘I’ll Stand By You’ she added lines and changed lines.”
This was written based on the piano. Tom Kelly played the piano on the record.
Steinberg: “I remember when we wrote it I felt two things: I felt one, we had written a hit song and I felt two, a little sheepish that we had written something a little soft, a little generic for The Pretenders. Whereas ‘Night In My Veins’ really felt like a great Pretenders rocker, ‘I’ll Stand By You’ felt a little generic. I know that Chrissie felt that way too to some extent. I don’t think she really entirely embraced it to begin with, but she certainly does now because when she plays it live, it’s one of the songs that gets the strongest response. It’s done really well for her and for us.” (Check out our Billy Steinberg interview.)
This song has returned to both the UK and US charts with different cover versions. In 2004 Girls Aloud achieved their second UK #1 with their version recorded for the annual BBC Children In Need charity telethon. Girl Aloud Sarah Harding explained in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh that the fivesome “were drawn to the lyrics straight away, we’ve all been in situations where we have needed someone or been there for someone.”
In 2007, Carrie Underwood achieved the highest chart entry by an Idol contestant for a song never performed on the show in competition when her version debuted in the Hot 100 at #6. Her record was later taken by David Archuleta, whose single “Crush” flew straight into the US singles chart at #2.
She added that this song was “really a cold-blooded attempt to write something to get on the radio.”
Other artists to cover this song include Rod Stewart (on his 2006 album Still the Same… Great Rock Classics of Our Time), and Shakira, who released it as a charity single for Hope for Haiti in 2010 to help with earthquake relief. In 2009, the Cast of Glee took the song back to the charts, reaching #73.
Hynde, a resident of England, didn’t know about the Rod Stewart or Carrie Underwood covers until we told her about them.
This was used in a 2013 commercial for Progressive Insurance where their spokesperson, Flo, sings the ballad. As with all songs written by Chrissie Hynde, PETA had to approve the use and royalties from it were sent to the organization.
I’ll Stand By You
Oh, why you look so sad? Tears are in your eyes Come on and come to me now Don’t be ashamed to cry Let me see you through
‘Cause I’ve seen the dark side too When the night falls on you You don’t know what to do Nothing you confess Could make me love you less
I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you
So if you’re mad, get mad Don’t hold it all inside Come on and talk to me now Hey, what you got to hide? I get angry too
Well I’m a lot like you When you’re standing at the crossroads And don’t know which path to choose Let me come along ‘Cause even if you’re wrong
I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you Take me in, into your darkest hour And I’ll never desert you I’ll stand by you
And when When the night falls on you, baby You’re feeling all alone You won’t be on your own
I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you
I’ll stand by you Take me in, into your darkest hour And I’ll never desert you I’ll stand by you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you Won’t let nobody hurt you I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you Take me in, into your darkest hour And I’ll never desert you I’ll stand by you
If you want great power pop pick up a Big Star album…take your pick between their three original albums.
This song was on Radio City released in 1974…their second album and follow up to their debut…Big Star #1 Record. Although Chris Bell had quit the band after the release of #1 Record…Andy Hummel (bass player) stated that Chris Bell came back and helped with this song and O My Soul but received no credit.
Back of a Car slowly builds into a great song. The album got some better reviews than the first but Stax again could not distribute their album…so only around 20,000 copies were sold at the time.
Alex Chilton laid down great guitar for this song. Jody Stephens’ drums fills through the song are busy but adds to the over all sound.
Back Of A Car
Sitting in the back of a car
Music so loud can’t tell a thing
Thinking ’bout what to say
I can’t find the lines
You know I love you a lot
I just don’t know, should I not?
Waiting for a brighter day
I can’t find a way
I’ll go on and on with you
Like to fall and lie with you
I love you, too
Wo wo wo
Baby, I’m too afraid
I just don’t know if it’s okay
Trying to get away
From everything
Why don’t you take me home
It’s gone too far inside this car
I know I’ll feel a whole lot more
When I get alone
I’ll go on and on with you
Like to fall and lie with you
I love you, too
Wo wo wo
Sitting in the back of a car
Music so loud can’t tell a thing
Thinking ’bout what to say
I can’t find the lines
The main reason I like ZZ Top is the tone that Billy Gibbons gets on his guitar…especially in the 1970s. The song is on Degüello released in 1979 and the album peaked at #24 in the Billboard Album charts. The song peaked at #89 in the Billboard 100 in 1980.
The inspiration for this song came when ZZ Top would tour in cars. When they stopped at gas stations they would see cardboard displays of cheap sunglasses. They ended up buying a lot and throwing them into the crowd.
The band wrote the song on a trip to Austin, Texas as they were passing La Grange. He came up with lyrics to all three verses in the span of 20 miles.
Billy Gibbons: “The hip trip for us was to throw them into the audience as an offering. We ran out and we couldn’t get any more. So we now have to make to do with Sanford Hutton’s creations out of New York. The Ray Ban Wayfarer was the original cheap sunglasses. You could buy a pair for six bucks originally. I saw a catalog from 1959, and by then they were up to eight bucks. We had to take a bad rap from an optometrist who said ‘Don’t wear ZZ Top’s cheap sunglasses. They’re bad for your eyes.’ There was an optometrists’ convention in Hawaii and there was a huge poster – this woman with a pointing finger saying, ‘Don’t wear cheap sunglasses.’ I suppose I’ll have to agree. There is a cutoff point where optical considerations must be taken into account. At that point in time, they are not intended to be used for negotiating the entire afternoon.”
Songfacts
ZZ Top took some time off after their 1976 album Tejas. When they returned to action in 1979, punk rock had emerged, emboldening the band to cut loose, with less concern about what FM radio might play. That attitude led to songs like “Manic Mechanic” and “Cheap Sunglasses.”
The band also came back with a new look: Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill had their long, flowing beards for the first time with the album. Gibbons and Hill claim they didn’t consult each other before growing them.
Billy Gibbons played the main guitar line through a 200-watt Marshall Major amp with a blown tube, which gave him the “bulbous, rotund sound.” He told Guitar World: “There’s also a little bit of digital delay for that Bo Diddley impersonation at the tail out, and a Maestro ring modulator, which produces the strange tag to each verse. It appears three times, and it’s a pretty funny sound. That is one insane effect put to good use.”
Cheap Sunglasses
When you get up in the morning and the light is hurt your head The first thing you do when you get up out of bed Is hit that streets a-runnin’ and try to beat the masses And go get yourself some cheap sunglasses Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Spied a little thing and I followed her all night In a funky fine Levis and her sweater’s kind of tight She had a west coast strut that was as sweet as molasses But what really knocked me out was her cheap sunglasses Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Now go out and get yourself some big black frames With the glass so dark they won’t even know your name And the choice is up to you cause they come in two classes Rhinestone shades or cheap sunglasses Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
This synth driven song was a memorable one from the In Through The Out Door album. It’s not your usual love song. It’s about Robert Plant’s son Karac who died in 1977 from a stomach virus when he was 5 years old. Robert has said “It was paying tribute to the joy that he gave us as a family.”
Some Zeppelin fans didn’t like this album as much. I have always liked the album but I don’t consider it their best or worse. Like with Who songs…the drums here are a stand out.
John Bonham and Jimmy Page didn’t take to the song too well. They thought it was a little too soft for Zeppelin. Page said it was fine on the album but he would not have wanted to go in that direction in the future.
Robert and John Paul Jones wrote this song.
Robert Plant:“In Through The Out Door wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but at least we were trying to vary what we were doing, for our own integrity’s sake,” “Of all the (Led Zeppelin) records, it’s interesting but a bit sanitized because we hadn’t been in the clamor and chaos for a long time. In ’77, when I lost my boy, I didn’t really want to go swinging around- ‘Hey hey mama say the way you move’ didn’t really have a great deal of import anymore.”
From Songfacts
Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and bass player John Paul Jones wrote this. The band had drifted apart, with guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer John Bonham hanging out together and rarely showing up on time for recording sessions. As a result, many of the songs on In Through The Out Door were put together by Plant and Jones, with Page and Bonham adding their parts late at night.
This changes key on the last chorus.
You don’t hear much synthesizer in Led Zeppelin’s canon, but “All My Love” contains a synth solo played by John Paul Jones. In Through The Out Door was recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, which was owned by Abba. Benny Andersson of Abba had a Yamaha GX-1 synth in the studio that Jones used on the track.
This was only played live during Led Zeppelin’s 1980 tour of Germany.
Robert Plant had another son, Logan, in 1979 before In Through The Out Door was released. He has talked about how his images of Logan and Karac sometimes blur together, with his joy for Logan’s life tempered by the pain of Karac’s death. Plant’s 1993 solo track “I Believe” is also about Karac.
All My Love
Should I fall out of love, my fire in the light To chase a feather in the wind Within the glow that weaves a cloak of delight There moves a thread that has no end
For many hours and days that pass ever soon The tides have caused the flame to dim At last the arm is straight, the hand to the loom Is this to end or just begin?
All of my love, all of my love All of my love to you, oh
All of my love, all of my love, oh All of my love to you
The cup is raised, the toast is made yet again One voice is clear above the din Proud Arianne one word, my will to sustain For me, the cloth once more to spin, oh
All of my love, all of my love, oh All of my love to you
All of my love, all of my love, yes All of my love to you
Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time His is the force that lies within Ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find He is a feather in the wind, oh
All of my love, all of my love, oh All of my love to you
All of my love, ooh yes, all of my love to you now All of my love, all of my love All of my love, love, sometimes, sometimes
Sometimes, sometimes, oh love Hey, hey, hey Hey, hey, hey Ooh yeah, it’s all my love
All of my love, all of my love, to you now
All of my love, all of my love all of my love to, to you, you, you, yeah I get a little bit lonely
This is from our favorite Canadian Neil Young. It surprised me that this was released in 1989. I remember it the most in the 90s.
This was inspired by the political changes going on at the time, and was highly critical of the George Bush Sr. Some of the lyrics mock Bush’s campaign speeches: “We got 1,000 points of light, for the homeless man,” “We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.”
Rocking In A Free World was written in February 1989, as Neil Young toured the Pacific Northwest. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeni had just issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie because of his controversial novel The Satanic Verses and Russia had recently withdrawn its forces from Afghanistan.
Pearl Jam have performed this song from time to time with Young, who they said that Neil is their musical mentor. The first time they performed it together was at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, where the “Jermey” video won four awards. Young came on as a surprise guest.
Pearl Jam has used this as the closing song in many of their concerts. The band played several times at Young’s Bridge School concerts.
The song peaked at #2 in the Mainstream Rock Chart and #39 in Canada. The song is rated number 216 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
From Songfacts
This was released a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It became kind of an anthem for the event as freedom spread through Eastern Europe.
Meanwhile Young and his guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, were musing on global events as they traveled to Portland.
“There was supposed to have been a cultural exchange between Russia and United States,” Sampedro recalled to Mojo in a 2018 interview. “Russia was getting Neil Young and Crazy Horse and we were getting the Russian ballet! All of a sudden, whoever was promoting the deal, a guy in Russia, took the money and split. We were all bummed, and I looked at him and said, ‘Man I guess we’re just gonna have to keep on rockin in the free world. He said, ‘Well, Poncho, that’s a good line. I’m gonna use that, if you don’t mind.'”
“So we checked into the hotel in Portland,” the guitarist continued. “And we needed a song. We needed a rocker. We’d written some songs and they were good but we didn’t have a real rocker. I said, ‘Look man, tonight, get in your room, think about all this stuff that’s going down – the Ayatollah, all the stuff in Afghanistan, all these wars breaking out, all the problems in America… “Keep On rockin in the free world,” you got that: put something together man, let’s have a song!’ And the next morning, we got on the bus to leave and he says, ‘OK, I did it!'”
Young used members of his former backing group The Bluenotes to record this.
Young and Pearl Jam proved a great fit, as both eschew convention when it comes to music and promotion, catering instead to their ardent fan bases. The MTV appearance was an anomaly – Pearl Jam didn’t make another video for five years. In 1995, they collaborated on Young’s 1995 album Mirror Ball.
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Young performed this at the 7th annual Bridge School benefit in 1993 with all the artists involved joining Young on stage to close the show. Young put on the concert for the school, which serves children with special needs, every year until 2017.
.Neil Young played with Pearl Jam on 1995’s Merkinball, a 2-song EP that featured the songs “I Got ID” on one side and “The Long Road” on the other. Merkinball was a case of Young returning the favor to Pearl Jam. They had served as his “backing band” on his 1995 album Mirrorball. Contractual stipulations prevented Mirrorball from being credited to both artists and recognized as the collaborative effort it actually was (The name “Pearl Jam” was not legally allowed to appear on either the album’s cover or within its liner notes). “I Got ID” and “Long Road” were actually recorded during the Mirrorball sessions.
The song is on occasion used as a pro-America anthem, which ignores many of the ironic overtones of the lyrics. While the chorus does seem to celebrate the United States, it’s juxtaposed with grim verses which paint a haunting portrait of life in modern America – the song is sometimes interpreted as a critique of the “keep on rocking in the free world” sentiment that US citizens use to ignore global problems that don’t concern them.
Much like his seminal “My My, Hey Hey”/”Hey Hey, My My” counterparts, the widely known version of “Rockin’ In The Free World” is a loud, electric reprise of a stripped-down acoustic version that opens the Freedom album.
Rolling Stone rated this #216 on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Young is very particular about where his songs are used. He authorized this one for the 2004 Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, and also for the 2015 film The Big Short, which tells the story of the rapacious financial workers who caused the 2008 recession. It also appears in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
The track was used in Donald Trump’s announcement that he will run as a Republican candidate for the 2016 presidency. Young, a longtime supporter of Bernie Sanders, said that the mogul was not authorized to use the song.
Trump’s campaign responded by saying it did pay to use Neil Young’s tune at the presidential announcement, but won’t use Young’s music at any future events. “Through a licensing agreement with ASCAP, Mr. Trump’s campaign paid for and obtained the legal right to use Neil Young’s recording of ‘Rockin’ In The Free World,'” the statement read. “Nevertheless, there are plenty of other songs to choose from. Despite Neil’s differing political views, Mr. Trump likes him very much.”
Trump later hit back, posting a photo of him and Young shaking hands, and explaining that Young asked him for financing on an audio deal and invited Trump to a concert. In a Tweet, Trump called Young a “total hypocrite,” adding, “‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ was just one of 10 songs used as background music. Didn’t love it anyway.”
Rocking In A Free World
There’s colors on the street Red, white and blue People shufflin’ their feet People sleepin’ in their shoes But there’s a warnin’ sign on the road ahead There’s a lot of people sayin’ we’d be better off dead Don’t feel like Satan, but I am to them So I try to forget it, any way I can.
Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Keep on rockin’ in the free world Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Keep on rockin’ in the free world.
I see a woman in the night With a baby in her hand Under an old street light Near a garbage can Now she puts the kid away, and she’s gone to get a hit She hates her life, and what she’s done to it There’s one more kid that will never go to school Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Keep on rockin’ in the free world Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Keep on rockin’ in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand We got department stores and toilet paper Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Keep on rockin’ in the free world Keep on rockin’ in the free world, Keep on rockin’ in the free world.
Go ego trip’n again tonight Tell the same lies they work all right
Back in 1991, I was going out a lot and I really related to this song. I had the cassette of Whenever We Wanted by Mellencamp and it contained a few hits. This one was a minor hit but the one that I wore out.
It peaked at #36 in the Billboard 100 but was a bigger hit in Canada where it peaked at #8 in 1991. It did make it to #1 on the Mainstream Rock charts.
This album contained Get A Leg Up, Now More Than Ever, Last Chance, and Love and Happiness.
Whenever We Wanted peaked at #17 in the Billboard Album Charts, #8 in Canada, #39 in the UK, and #40 in New Zealand.
Again Tonight
Run in circles again tonight Hump the moon again tonight Gonna wear my dancin’ shoes out tonight Gonna have myself a big time again tonight
[Chorus:] Again tonight Again tonight Again tonight
Girl’s got lightning Underneath her skirt Boys try to touch it For whatever it’s worth In the morning She’s just gonna be hurt She wonders is it worth it again tonight
[Chorus]
Gonna catch that cloud tonight Nine, cloud nine Gonna try and catch that cloud tonight Nine, cloud nine Again tonight
Can you hold me baby again, again tonight Can you sing Can you dance baby Can you sing Can you hold me again tonight Baby can you sing
Go ego trip’n again tonight Tell the same lies they work all right Gonna wear my dancin’ shoes out tonight Probably make a fool of myself again tonight
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes is an epic song. It has four distinct sections that are woven together with an acoustic and those harmonies holding it all together.
The last verse is in Spanish and is about Cuba. It was sung in Spanish because Stephen Stills didn’t want it easily understood since it had little to do with the theme of the song.
Here’s the translation: “How nice it will (or would) be to take you to Cuba The queen of the Caribbean Sea I only want to visit you there And how sad that I can’t, damn!”
Stills put that part in simply because the song had gone on forever and he didn’t want it to just lay there at the end.
The song peaked at #21 in the Billboard 100 and #11 in Canada in 1969.
Graham Nash: “When Stephen Stills first played me this song, I wondered what planet he was from,”
Stephen Stills: “It started out as a long narrative poem about my relationship with Judy Collins. It poured out of me over many months and filled several notebooks. I had a hell of a time getting the music to fit. I was left with all these pieces of song and I said, ‘Let’s sing them together and call it a suite,’ because they were all about the same thing and they led up to the same point.”
From Songfacts
This runs 7:22. The single is three minutes shorter then the album version. Many FM radio stations played the album cut.
The title is a play on words. “Suite” is a reference to a part of a classical composition, but it can also be interpreted as “Sweet.”
This wasn’t their first single, or even their biggest, but certainly one of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s most well-known songs. It established the harmony style that would be the group’s trademark for years to come
This opened Crosby, Stills and Nash’s set at Woodstock in 1969. The event ran long, so they didn’t go on stage until 3 a.m. the third night (The Who set a precedent by going on at 5 a.m. the night before). They played 16 songs in their set, the first nine acoustic and the last seven electric. Those who left to get to work Monday morning not only missed Crosby, Stills and Nash, but didn’t see Jimi Hendrix close out the festival.
Crosby, Stills and Nash played this at Live Aid in 1985. Organized by Bob Geldof, Live Aid was a benefit for famine relief in Africa. Crosby, Stills and Nash also played “Teach Your Children” and “Southern Cross.”
Nash Stephen Stills spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about this song: “It was the beginnings of three different songs that suddenly fell together as one. Actually on the demo the middle part is not exactly how they would play. Half of it is it just falls off in its own – but we actually split it in half, and they got started singing and boom, there it went. Once it all was there then we just kept adding parts. When I wrote it I used cardboard shirt-blocking, you know those things from the cleaner’s – ’cause they were harder to lose than pieces of paper and they didn’t crumple up. I could line them up on music stands and they’d stand up.”
Nash revealed to Rolling Stone that of the CS&N trio, Stills was the only to play on this song. All three contributed vocals. Nash was impressed when he heard it.
Judy Collins recalled to Mojo magazine the effect this song had on her after Stills played it in her hotel room. She said: “He sang me Suite Judy Blue Eyes and, you know, broken hearts are a very good inspiration – and I just caved in and I suppose I made promises I couldn’t keep. We both had personal struggles.” Collins’ battle was with alcohol.
Suite Judy Blue Eyes
It’s getting to the point where I’m no fun anymore I am sorry Sometimes it hurts so badly I must cry out loud I am lonely I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are You make it hard Remember what we’ve said and done and felt about each other Oh, babe have mercy Don’t let the past remind us of what we are not now I am not dreaming I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are You make it hard
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Tearing yourself away from me now you are free And I am crying This does not mean I don’t love you I do that’s forever Yes and for always I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are You make it hard Something inside is telling me that I’ve got your secret Are you still listening? Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart And I love you I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are You make it hard And you make it hard And you make it hard And you make it hard
Friday evening Sunday in the afternoon What have you got to lose? Tuesday morning Please be gone I’m tired of you What have you got to lose? Can I tell it like it is? (Help me I’m sufferin’) Listen to me baby It’s my heart that’s a sufferin’ it’s a dyin’ (Help me I’m dyin’) And that’s what I have to lose (To lose) I’ve got an answer I’m going to fly away What have I got to lose? Will you come see me Thursdays and Saturdays? What have you got to lose?
Chestnut brown canary Ruby throated sparrow Sing a song, don’t be long Thrill me to the marrow
Voices of the angels Ring around the moonlight Asking me said she so free How can you catch the sparrow?
Lacy lilting lady Losing love lamenting Change my life, make it right Be my lady
Que linda me la traiga Cuba La reina de la Mar Caribe Cielo sol no tiene sangreahi Y que triste que no puedo vaya oh va, oh va
The song was written by Chuck Berry, whose version was released as a single in February 1961, with ‘Little Star’ on the b-side.
I first heard the song by the Beatles on the Live! At The Star-Club In Hamburg, Germany; 1962 album released in 1977. I then heard the Chuck Berry version on Ken Burns’s great documentary Baseball.
I’m Talking About You’ was also recorded by a number of other British groups at the time, including The Hollies, The Yardbirds, and The Rolling Stones.
The song was on Chuck Berry’s fifth studio album “New Juke Box Hits.”
I’m Talking About You
Let me tell you ’bout a girl I know I met her walking down a uptown street She’s so fine you know I wished she was mine I get shook up every time we meet
I’m talkin about you Nobody but you Yeah, I do mean you I’m just trying to get a message to you
Let me tell you ’bout a girl I know I tell ya now she looks so good Got so much skills and such a beautiful will She oughta be somewhere in Hollywood
I’m talkin ’bout you Nobody but you Come on and give me a cue So I can get a message to you
Let me tell you ’bout a girl I know She’s sitting right here by my side Lovely indeed that why I asked if she Promised someday she will be my bride
Talkin ’bout you I do mean you Nobody but you Come on, let me get a message through
One of the most famous count offs in history. It’s a great rocker by the early Beatles. This wasn’t released as a single in England. In the US, it was released as the flip side of “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” which was their first hit in the America.
The title was original “Seventeen” until it was changed for the album. There have been many covers of this song…some very good but I’ll take the original every time.
This was one of 10 songs The Beatles recorded in one day (February 11, 1963) for their UK debut album, Please Please Me. It was the first song on the tracklist. Can you imagine that happening today?
I Saw Her Standing There peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, and #1 (I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There) in Canada in 1964.
This was the last song John Lennon performed for a paid audience. He played it at Madison Square Garden on November 28, 1974 when he took the stage at an Elton John concert. Elton released this version as the B-side of “Philadelphia Freedom” the following year.
Paul McCartney:“Those early days were really cool, just sussing each other out, and realizing that we were good. You just realize from what he was feeding back. Often it was your song or his song, it didn’t always just start from nothing. Someone would always have a little germ of an idea. So I’d start off with [singing] ‘She was just 17, she’d never been a beauty queen’ and he’d be like, ‘Oh no, that’s useless’ and ‘You’re right, that’s bad, we’ve got to change that.’ Then changing it into a really cool line: ‘You know what I mean.’ ‘Yeah, that works.'”
From Songfacts
John Lennon and Paul McCartney started writing this in McCartney’s living room after they skipped school one day, with Paul writing the majority of this song in September of 1962.
The Beatles frequently played this at the Cavern Club, where they often played between 1961-1963. In fact, it was because of the crowd reaction to their live shows that George Martin decided to have them simply record their live show in the studio for their first album. That’s why he kept Paul’s “1, 2, 3, 4” count at the beginning, which was taken from the 9th take and edited on to the first.
The Beatles performed this on their first two Ed Sullivan Show appearances, which took place a week apart in February 1964. Getting on the show was a really big deal because it had a huge audience. About 73 million people watched the first show, which made The Beatles household names.
This became the first Beatles song performed on the TV series American Idol when Jordin Sparks won in 2007 and sang it on the finale with runner-up Blake Lewis. The first line of the song – “She was just 17” – was fitting, as that was Sparks’ age.
Chuck Berry was a big influence on The Beatles, and the bass line of this song borrows from Berry’s track “I’m Talking About You.”
At the 2001 World Series between the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks, McCartney went to one of the games at Yankee Stadium and was shown between innings singing along as this played in the stadium. It was McCartney’s second visit to Yankee Stadium, and he saw The Yankees win that day, although they eventually lost the World Series.
Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman sing this song during a very powerful scene in the 1988 Oscar-winning film Rain Man.
The Who, Daniel Johnston, Santo & Johnny, and The Tubes all covered this song.
With Dave Grohl playing drums, Paul McCartney played this at the Grammy Awards in 2009.
I Saw Her Standing There
(One, two, three, four)
Well, she was just seventeen You know what I mean And the way she looked Was way beyond compare So how could I dance with another Ooh, when I saw her standing there?
Well, she looked at me And I, I could see That before too long I’d fall in love with her She wouldn’t dance with another Ooh, when I saw her standing there
Well, my heart went “boom” When I crossed that room And I held her hand in mine
Oh we danced through the night And we held each other tight And before too long I fell in love with her Now I’ll never dance with another Ooh, since I saw her standing there
Well, my heart went, “Boom” When I crossed that room And I held her hand in mine
Oh, we danced through the night And we held each other tight And before too long I fell in love with her Now I’ll never dance with another Oh, since I saw her standing there Oh, since I saw her standing there Yeah, well since I saw her standing there
What in the world ever became of sweet jane? She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same Livin’ on reds, vitamin see, and cocaine, All a friend can say is “ain’t it a shame?”
This wraps up Drug Reference Week. Thanks to all for reading and commenting…I hope you have enjoyed it.
This is the first Grateful Dead song I remember hearing. I heard it before I knew who the Grateful Dead were… the line Busted, down on bourbon street, set up, like a bowlin’ pin stuck with me. The line happened in real life for the band.
Every member of the Dead except Pigpen and Tom Constanten (who left the band immediately after the New Orleans incident) was included in the bust, along with several members of their entourage and some local associates.
Along with the others… Owsley Stanley, then a tech for the band as well as a well-known LSD producer…was arrested.
All of the 19 people caught in the raid were booked for possession of some combination of marijuana, LSD, barbiturates, amphetamines, or other dangerous non-narcotic drugs. It carried a penalty of 5 to 15 years in prison.
New Orleans police seem to fear that their good town will become the next Haight-Ashbury.
After posting bail money, the Dead were almost out of funds. They added an extra show in New Orleans and persuaded Fleetwood Mac to stay for the additional performance as well.
At the gig, a hat was passed around the audience to collect some additional cash for legal expenses. Most of the charges from the New Orleans bust were eventually dropped…but the Dead got a great sound out of the ordeal!
The song was written by Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, Phi Lesh, and Bob Weir.
Truckin’ peaked at #64 in the Billboard 100 in 1971.
Jerry Garcia: “They had great fun with us, the southern cops. They had just what they wanted: hippies. Oh, boy.”
From Songfacts
The ’60s was a time for traveling and discovering your place in the world. Sometimes what you found was an empty existence that just keeps repeating itself day to day. Having to deal with everyday life when you were always waiting for some kind of revelation to expand your consciousness was often depressing. The Grateful Dead sang of acceptance of banality and the drive to continue their search for epiphany.
One verse in particular: “What in the world ever became of sweet Jane, she lost her sparkle. Well you know she isn’t the same. Living on reds, vitamin C and cocaine? All a friend can say is ain’t it a shame.” seems to refer to the endless desperation that overtakes some people. They turn to drugs to provide meaning in their lives. This of course fails and spirals their lives into deeper depression. Drugs are for enhancing a good time spent with good friends. They cannot provide answers to the meaning of life. The previous verse speaks to commonplace usage and the consequences of accepting illegal activities as a normal part of your life. You often get “busted” by the police.
Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir are the credited writers on this track along with their lyricist Robert Hunter.
The line, “Busted, down on Bourbon Street” refers to an incident on January 31, 1970 when members of the band were arrested in a drug bust that netted 19 people in New Orleans. The group was in town to play two shows at a club called the Warehouse, and the raid happened the morning after their first show at the French Quarter hotel where they were staying. Lesh, Weir and drummer Bill Kreutzmann were all arrested along with crew members and fans of the band who had joined them at the hotel.
The story made the front page of the New Orleans Times-Picayune the next day, and drew national attention, with Rolling Stone running an article on the incident. Owsley Stanley, a Dead associate known for his pioneering work with LSD, was also arrested and labeled the “King of Acid” in the Times-Picayune piece. According to the Rolling Stone article, the band paid for bail and legal fees for all 19 arrested.
Truckin’
Truckin’ got my chips cashed in. keep truckin’, like the do-dah man Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin’ on.
Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on main street. Chicago, new york, detroit and it’s all on the same street. Your typical city involved in a typical daydream Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.
Dallas, got a soft machine; houston, too close to new orleans; New york’s got the ways and means; but just won’t let you be, oh no.
Most of the cast that you meet on the streets speak of true love, Most of the time they’re sittin’ and cryin’ at home. One of these days they know they better get goin’ Out of the door and down on the streets all alone.
Truckin’, like the do-dah man. once told me “you’ve got to play your hand” Sometimes your cards ain’t worth a dime, if you don’t lay’em down,
Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me; Other times i can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been.
What in the world ever became of sweet jane? She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same Livin’ on reds, vitamin see, and cocaine, All a friend can say is “ain’t it a shame?”
Truckin’, up to buffalo. been thinkin’, you got to mellow slow Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin’ on.
Sittin’ and starin’ out of the hotel window. Got a tip they’re gonna kick the door in again I’d like to get some sleep before i travel, But if you got a warrant, i guess you’re gonna come in.
Busted, down on bourbon street, set up, like a bowlin’ pin. Knocked down, it get’s to wearin’ thin. they just won’t let you be, oh no.
You’re sick of hangin’ around and you’d like to travel; Get tired of travelin’ and you want to settle down. I guess they can’t revoke your soul for tryin’, Get out of the door and light out and look all around.
Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me; Other times i can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been.
Truckin’, i’m a goin’ home. whoa whoa baby, back where i belong, Back home, sit down and patch my bones, and get back truckin’ on. Hey now get back truckin’ home.
I really liked Winehouse when I first heard her. She combined a retro-soul sound with the 2000s.
Her previous management company wanted her to go into rehab but she said she didn’t need to. Her father agreed, adding that she wasn’t an alcoholic but had been drinking too much because she was lovesick.
The song is heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Winehouse did a few stints in rehab to treat her drug and alcohol addiction, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. She was found dead in her London home on July 23, 2011, of alcohol poisoning. She was one of the most influential singers of the 2000s.
The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK, #10 in Canada in 2007.
This won a Grammy for Song Of The Year, Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record Of The Year. Winehouse also won for Best New Artist, and performed a medley of songs that were televised from London. Mark Ronson won for producer of the year.
Amy Winehouse: “With ‘Rehab’ I was walking down the street with Mark Ronson, who produced my last album. I just sang the hook out loud. It was quite silly really.”
“Yeah, I sang the whole line exactly as it turned out on the record! Mark laughed and asked me who wrote it because he liked it. I told him that I’d just made it up but that it was true and he encouraged me to turn it into a song, which took me five minutes. It wasn’t hard. It was about what my old management company wanted me to do.”
At only 27 years old, she joined the “27 Club,” which I hope ends it’s membership…it has too many members as it is.
From Songfacts
This song is autobiographical. Many successful musicians are haunted by their own personal demons of drink and drugs, and Winehouse is no exception. In February 2007 her father gave a candid interview to the Sun newspaper in which he denied that his daughter was an alcoholic, although he admitted that like many single women of her age she sometimes overdid the drink. On one occasion, after splitting up with her boyfriend, she fell over and hit her head.
On August 14, 2007, Winehouse entered The Causeway Retreat, a rehab center in Essex, England, with her new husband (and fellow addict), Blake Fielder. Addiction specialists know that admitting a couple to rehab together is a bad idea, but The Causeway was not an ethical institution: it was shut down amid a host of violations in 2010.
In the documentary Amy, Fielder is shown at the facility badgering Winehouse, putting a video camera to her face and asking her to sing “the new, updated version of ‘Rehab,'” presumably making a joke out of it. She refuses.
This won the 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.
Backstage at the Grammy ceremony Mark Ronson recalled to Billboard magazine what it was like playing “Rehab” for Winehouse’s A&R for the first time. “About the first 15 seconds in, he said ‘Rewind, rewind!’ I didn’t think there would be dollar signs lighting up.”
The lines, “I’d rather be at home with Ray” and “There’s nothing you can teach me that I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway” are references to two of Winehouse’s soul music inspirations: Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. Hathaway is best known for his duets with Roberta Flack: “Where Is The Love?” and “The Closer I Get To You.”
Winehouse’s label Island Records originally didn’t foresee this song’s success. Island Records president Darcus Beese explained in a Genius annotation:
“When ‘Rehab’ dropped it was just like a newspaper being lit. I wasn’t expecting this song to be the one that did it. We wanted to come in with a cool angle. We thought putting Ghostface Killa on ‘You Know I’m No Good’ would be the big hit. It wasn’t until people heard ‘Rehab’ that they really got it.”
Winehouse was backed by they Brooklyn band The Dap-Kings on this track – longtime fan Mark Ronson hired them. The group, who typically recorded with vocalist Sharon Jones, ended up joining Winehouse on her 2007 US tour. Jones seemed to be left in the lurch, but the wave of interest in Winehouse drew attention to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, earning them many new fans.
Rehab
They tried to make me go to rehab I said, “no, no, no” Yes, I been black But when I come back, you’ll know, know, know I ain’t got the time And if my daddy thinks I’m fine He’s tried to make me go to rehab I won’t go, go, go
I’d rather be at home with a Ray I ain’t got seventy days ‘Cause there’s nothing, there’s nothing you can teach me That I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway
I didn’t get a lot in class But I know we don’t come in a shot glass
[Chorus]
The man said, “why do you think you here?” I said, “I got no idea.” I’m gonna, I’m gonna lose my baby So I always keep a bottle near He said, “I just think you’re depressed.” This, me, yeah, baby, and the rest
They tried to make me go to rehab But I said, “no, no, no” Yes, I been black But when I come back, you’ll know, know, know
I don’t ever want to drink again I just, oh, I just need a friend I’m not gonna spend ten weeks Have everyone think I’m on the mend
And it’s not just my pride It’s just till these tears have dried
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you, don’t do anything at all
I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting this week. I’m going to continue this for one more day and we will wrap it up tomorrow. Thanks Again!
This song was on the great album Surrealistic Pillow released in 1967. The intro is around 28 seconds before Slick starts singing. It’s well worth the wait…this song IS the sixties encapsulated in two minutes and thirty-two seconds.
Grace Slick got the idea for this song after taking LSD and listening to the Miles Davis album Sketches Of Spain, especially the opening track, “Concierto de Aranjuez.” The Spanish beat she came up with was also influenced by Ravel’s “Bolero.”
She based the lyrics on Lewis Carroll’s 1865 children’s book Alice In Wonderland (officially Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland).
Slick wrote this song and performed it when she was in a band called The Great Society with her first husband, Jerry Slick. The Great Society made inroads in the San Francisco music scene, but released just one single, “Somebody To Love”, before calling it quits in 1966.
The Great Society version of “White Rabbit” was released in 1968 on an album called Conspicuous Only In Its Absence (credited to “The Great Society With Grace Slick”).
Grace Slick moved on to Jefferson Airplane, and the group recorded both “White Rabbit” and “Somebody To Love.” The songs were the breakout hits for the band, with “Somebody To Love” reaching #5 US and “White Rabbit” peaked at #8 in the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1967.
Grace Slick: “I always felt like a good-looking schoolteacher singing ‘White Rabbit.’ I’d sing the words slowly and precisely, so the people who needed to hear them wouldn’t miss the point. But they did. To this day, I don’t think most people realize the song was aimed at parents who drank and told their kids not to do drugs. I felt they were full of s–t, but to write a good song, you need a few more words than that.”
From Songfacts
Grace Slick was raised in a tony suburban household in Palo Alto, California, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. This being the 1950s, women were expected to conform to the norms and aspire to be housewives. Slick identified with Alice; moving to San Francisco and forming a rock band was her “rabbit hole” moment. When she joined Jefferson Airplane, that was another journey down the rabbit hole.
Slick claimed to Q that the song was aimed not at the young but their parents. She said: “They’d read us all these stories where you’d take some kind of chemical and have a great adventure. Alice in Wonderland is blatant; she gets literally high, too big for the room, while the caterpillar sits on a psychedelic mushroom smoking opium. In the Wizard of Oz, they land in a field of opium poppies, wake up and see this Emerald City. Peter Pan? Sprinkle some white dust-cocaine-on your head and you can fly.”
This was one of the defining songs of the 1967 “Summer Of Love.” As young Americans protested the Vietnam War and experimented with drugs, “White Rabbit” often played in the background.
The song begins in F-sharp minor, which Slick chose to suit her voice. The minor chords evoke a darkness and uncertainty as Alice finds herself in a strange world. In the “go ask Alice” part, it shifts to major chords to celebrate her courage and resourcefulness as she finds her way.
The Alice character appealed to Slick because she wasn’t the stereotypical damsel in distress. Alice follows her own path to satisfy her curiosity – even when things get sticky.
Did the band ever get sick of this song? Grace Slick answered this question in a 1976 interview with Melody Maker when she replied: “I can play around with a song on stage without ruining it. We stopped doing ‘White Rabbit’ for a couple of years because we were getting bored with it. I like it again and we included it last year ’cause it was the year of the rabbit.”
The words “white rabbit” never show up in the lyric, but are alluded to in the lines:
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you’re going to fall
In Alice In Wonderland, the first chapter is “Down the Rabbit-Hole.” On the first page, the White Rabbit appears, leading Alice on her adventure. In 1971, Led Zeppelin released “Black Dog,” another song with a color-animal title that doesn’t appear in the lyric.
The Airplane were frequently found giving free concerts around the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco. They shared a large house with several musicians during the psychedelic ’60s, often applying for and receiving parade permits to walk the streets. Grace Slick was always a radical thinker, rejecting “daddy’s money.” She once appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour made up in blackface, causing a big controversy.
The line in this song, “go ask Alice,” provided the title of a 1971 book published by an anonymous author. The book was a “diary” of a young girl in the 1960s who had a drug addiction and died. Her name is never given, and the diary is suspected to be fictional despite being promoted as true. The anonymous author is likely Beatrice Sparks, the book’s editor.
This capped off Jefferson Airplane’s set at Woodstock in 1969. They took the stage at 8 a.m. on the second day (or, depending how you look at it, third morning), following a performance by The Who that started at 5 a.m.
According to Grace Slick’s autobiography, the album name came when bandmate Marty Balin played the finished studio tapes to Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead, whose first reaction was, “Sounds like a surrealistic pillow.” Slick says that she loves the fact that the phrase Surrealistic Pillow “leaves the interpretation up to the beholder. Asleep or awake on the pillow? Dreaming? Making love? The adjective ‘Surrealistic’ leaves the picture wide open.”
This is used in the stage production The Blue Man Group, and appears on their 2003 album The Complex. Music is a big part of the show, which features three blue guys engaging the audience with a combination of comedy, percussion, and sloppy stunts. They got a lot of attention when they were used in ads for Intel.
Grace Slick wrote this song on an old upright piano she bought for $80. Some of the keys in the upper register were missing, but she didn’t use those anyway.
This song is heard multiple times in the movie The Game with Michael Douglas. It demonstrates the madness Douglas feels as he is being manipulated by forces he can’t control. >>
In the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, there is a scene where Dr. Gonzo is in a bathtub and this song is playing on a tape player. In an effort to end his life, Gonzo implores Raoul Duke to put the tape player in the tub “When White Rabbit peaks.” Instead of doing as instructed, Duke throws a grapefruit at Gonzo and unplugs the tape player. >>
This was used as the theme song for a 1973 movie called Go Ask Alice.
On November 7, 1967, the St. Louis radio station made a bold move, switching from an easy listening format to “real rock radio.” The first song they played after the switch was “White Rabbit,” a clear signal that they were aligning themselves with the counterculture. The song was apropos, as they abandoned their reliable conservative audience to go down the rabbit hole, bringing the movement to the midwest.
The format stuck. KSHE became a vital and transgressive voice, breaking new bands, sometimes letting music play for hours on end without interruption, and doing segments devoted entirely to women in rock (their “American Woman” series).
Recalling the song in a 2016 Wall Street Journal interview, Slick said: “Looking back, I think ‘White Rabbit’ is a very good song… My only complaint is that the lyrics could have been stronger. If I had done it right, more people would have been annoyed.”
The UK version of the album didn’t include this track.
This was used in the first episode of Stranger Things, “The Vanishing Of Will Byers.” It plays as Eleven flees Benny’s diner.
White Rabbit
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
And 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
Not a big surprise here…this song is about marijuana, and makes little attempt to disguise it. The band did a lot of marijuana and many other drugs around this time.
The sound at the beginning is Tony Iommi coughing after inhaling marijuana smoke from a bong and it was looped.
They got the name from a pack of Irish Cigarettes that said “It’s the sweet leaf.” They thought that Sweet Leaf was a great description of marijuana, and the entire band wrote the song together.
The song was on Master of Reality. The album peaked at #8 in the Billboard Album Chart, #5 in the UK, and #6 in Canada.
From Songfacts
The guitar riff was taken from Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention’s “Hungry Freaks, Daddy.” This riff can also be heard at the end of the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Give It Away” and is the basis for the song “Rhymin’ and Stealin'” by The Beastie Boys.
A Sabbath tribute band from Denmark is named Sweet Leaf.
This has been covered by Next Step Up, Stock Mojo, Garbage, Ancient, Ugly Kid Joe, Butthole Surfers, Mogwai, Stereolab, Agent Steel, Pimpadelic, Cadaver, and Widespread Panic.
Sweet Leaf
Alright now Won’t you listen?
When I first met you, didn’t realize I can’t forget you, for your surprise You introduced me, to my mind And left me wanting, you and your kind, oh yeah
I love you, oh you know it
My life was empty, forever on a down Until you took me, showed me around My life is free now, my life is clear I love you sweet leaf, though you can’t hear, oh yeah
Come on now, try it out
Straight people don’t know, what you’re about They put you down and shut you out You gave to me a new belief And soon the world will love you sweet leaf, oh yeah baby
Come on now, oh yeah Try me out baby, alright, oh yeah I want you part of this sweet leaf, oh yeah Alright, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh try me out I love you sweet leaf, oh
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