If you don't know Alice In Wonderland, you won't get the song.

this song is heavy with Alice in Wonderland references. remember the hookah smoking caterpillar? the red queen? the white rabbit?

The best psychedelic song ever which was written by Grace Slick, and released in 1967. The lyrics and her haunting vocals just take you on that trip through Wonderland.

Hookah smoking has been around for hundreds of years. Hookahs originated in India, Persia and North Africa in the 16th century. From there they spread throughout the British empire during the 1800's and finally became popular with the hippie culture of the US in the 60's. Alice in Wonderland features a hookah-smoking caterpillar that sits on a mushroom and gives Alice advice.

The only thing wrong with this song is that it's too short. 🔥🔥 Later in their career they changed the name to Jefferson Starship and even later, to Starship. As great as Grace Slick is (Lead Singer), when they added Co-Lead Singer, Mickey Thomas it took the band to another level. His voice greatly complemented hers.

Being a child of the 60s… This song was huge to all of us growing up! Psychedelic😊

Based on Alice in Wonderland. Hookah’s are very old, used in Asia minor.

San Francisco in the Sixties, tourists came from thousands of miles away to see the Hippies! It was a revolution in music, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Janis Joplin (Big Brother & the Holding Company) and so many more... I was in Junior High and ate up all the Psychedelic music I could get. I don't know if the band got their name from this or vice versa but we called a split match used as a roach clip for smoking joints a Jefferson Airplane. Check out more of Airplane's stuff and you'll find Grace holding the low parts in the vocals!

The other hit, Somebody To Love, is excellent, too. Quite a number of songs on that first album are lovely!

The ultimate drug song that somehow got past censors! It was just Alice in Wonderland after all. LOL!!

Glad you did the research afterwards. Most reactors who react to this song are left confused after & don't realize they're referencing Alice in Wonderland. It all makes sense after research.

Gotta ♥ the crescendo in this! Top 50-100 all time songs, no doubt!

Grace is still alive and well and living in the Bay area

Yeah baby, SF was it. Summer of love, Haight- Ashbury was the center of the universe for a time. Hookahs are ancient, so so ancient, like Samarians ancient They have always been used throughout history - opium dens!

Ah,, the good old psychedelic decade of the '60's and '70's!!!! First they were Jefferson Airplane, then became Jefferson Starship and then just Starship! Just a random fact! I think this is Alice in Wonderland on acid! LOL The name was to honor a blues singer named Blind Lemon Jefferson. It ended up Jefferson Airplane.

I think it would be a mistake though to think of it as being only about drugs. In the sense that the Alice in Wonderland books talked a lot about curiosity and trying to make sense of the world, there was a definite part of that whole psychedelic movement in the late sixties that not only used drugs to expand consciousness, but it was a time of great upheaval and it really has this feeling of everybody needs to wake up from the dream world that we live in and see the reality of what is happening. It ends with repeating the phrase, feed your head. In other words, feed your intellect and your curiosity, don't just drown it with unquestioning normalcy. As a musician though, I've always loved this one, and you really ought to hear their other big hit from that album, Somebody to Love. It's a total banger.

Hookah is ancient. Your awareness of hookah is new.

sf was definitely a hub.... we had the grateful Dead, Jefferson airplane, Janis Joplin and big brother and the holding company, Santana, country Joe and the fish.... just to name a few

I recently checked out your reaction for Elvin Bishop’s- Fooled Around And Fell In Love featuring Mickey Thomas who later joined Jefferson Starship in 1979 ( formally Jefferson Airplane). I strongly suggest you react to Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around and Fell In Love performance on The Midnight Special… they killed it.

The moral of the story is don't go smoking a Hookah with anything of the insectoid variety.

A “Jefferson Airplane” is a roach clip. Great classic song!

This song is about the activities in "wonderland" , not about mind alternating drugs. The question is about which road to take. The red or the blue pill, or the one that mother gives you which does nothing at all. Which road is best for our future and our freedom?

👍👍Awesomely awesome performance. Love this song. 🖖❤

Grace Slick wrote the song and Jefferson Airplane were initially the headliners at the 1969 Woodstock Festival you also need to react Somebody to Love live on the Dick Cavett Show

Her vocals in this song are incredible, and her voice’s natural vibrato makes her who she is! The build up and ultimate crescendo makes you want to listen to it over and over! There is a KZfaq version of this song which is the exact recording with her voice only, no music! Very interesting to try singing to it and try to get the timing right. If you know it well enough, you can pace the first line by tapping your foot for the beat then try to come in with all her lines, but it’s really hard to come in exactly at the same time! Otherwise, just a beautiful voice to listen to!

For a followup from these guys, I suggest the oddly named The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil -- apparently they knew a guy named Neil who reminded them of Winnie the Pooh - but it's a good psychedelic sound, worth hearing

Grace wrote this song. I think Grace's voice I stronger than Sinead O'Connor's. Someone have describe this song and Grace's voice as "the voice that launched a thousand trips".

Some good ones are "Two Heads", "Rejoyce", "Lawman", "Eskimo Blue Day", "Wooden Ships", "War Movie", and "Aerie". After JA broke up, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick did a couple albums together and Grace did some solo work. She also had a daughter by Kantner who they named China. Some good songs from that period are: "Sketches of China", "Silver Spoon", "Starfighter", The Ballad of The Chrome Nun", "Across the Board", and " White Boy (Transcaucasian Airmachine Blues)".

Classic 1960's psychedelia, with the song centered around the "Alice in Wonderland" story. This was done in a time of our recent history that was all about broadening one's consciousness - which meant, in the '60s, via various chemical means. Grace Slick was a phenomenal singer. (There is a track of her singing this song sans music that you can find here on KZfaq - highly recommend it to hear her sonorous vocals. Def worth it!)

The hookah smoking caterpillar is an Alice in Wonderland character reference.

I saw Jefferson Airplane in concert in 1969 and 1970. At the 1970 concert I was right against the stage with the band 5 feet away. Jack Casady is one of my favorite bass players. They were hugely popular.

Man, you'll have to check out some Hot Tuna, see the change of direction regarding the two dudes who left the band, joining up with the unique Pappa John Creach.

"Miracles" by their other name JEFFERSON STARSHIP. Is their best song, IMO.

Hookah has been around for centuries. Like from the 1600s or thereabouts.

This is my karaoke song. But when I tell people that, NOBODY has ever asked me to bust it out on the spot, go figure.

Another one of the 60's bands that while being a part of the music of their times they are unique. Grace Slick is amazing in so many ways. It's a Hookah smoking caterpillar. In my book Rolling Stone has no credibility whatever.

The Jefferson Airplane was a band in continual evolution. They went from Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship and then to just Starship. THis song leans heavily on the story of Alice In Wonderland.

Another of their great early hits was "Somebody to Love"" (not to be confused with the Queen song of the same name).

One of my ringtones ❤

I was mesmerized by this song as a child. Have always liked it but it was later used prominently in a tv drama about a girl who sold her body to support a drug addiction. I think she was in chronic pain and descended into degradation from that but I remember it scared the crap out of me and reinforced my fear of illegal drugs. So, in some ways it scared me straight!

Must Do. Jefferson Starship "Jane"

You're seriously going to need surround sound for music from this era. In many songs, sounds will move from one speaker to another. Giving you the feeling of the music swirling around you.

I was hearing this as a 2 year old. Lol

Tell them a Hookah smoking caterpillar. That is the line. It is a reference to Alice in Wonderland.

The hookah was invented in India in the 16th century (1500s). It is most definitely not new paraphernalia, lol.

The Great Society version is only much longer due to an over 4 minute instrumental intro.

It was rumored that the author of Alice in wonderland liked a little opium now and then.

Think an acid trip. The phrase “rabbit hole” comes from “Alice in Wonderland”. They fell far into this rabbit hole.

Welcome to 50 years ago.

Created for people who took LSD, and tripped out while listening to it.

Songs of the Vietnam War Era

Very trippy, dude.

You should check out Hot Tuna. A great, original sound.

Xlnt choice, MMB. Not too long ago, I saw a video by P!nk where she covers this song live. It seriously KICKS, and was an obvious homáge to Slick and the band. Check it out. Thanks.

Monterey, not monetary.

I know I'm too OCD sometimes. BUT that crooked Michael Jordan picture drives me NUTS. Honestly, I see that and I'm trying to remember why I subscribed. LOL... To me, it screams : "I don't give a shit". Ignore me.

A problem is that today, youngsters only take mind-numbing drugs and not certain mind-opening drugs. I see a lot of these comment videos critical of psychedelics which they know nothing about. They are so very conservative and never read anything.

Feed your head..

Was Alice in Wonderland banned in the US because when I watch reactions to this song I noticed that a lot of Us citizens are not familiar with the book

Feed your head. Man.

mmmmmmmmmmm...........drugs

Southern Calif was known for Surf Bands in the early '60s... then SF became Psychedelic Rock in mid'60s... LA transitioned into Rock Central. Congrats in doing some research. "I don't know where they got their names from" - ha ha... NO ONE DOES. You wondered if everyone had a band, "Yes" is the short simple answer but, no- everyone WANTED one, though. There are tons of weirdo names, especially out of SF. (All live performance videos from TV are lip-sync'd to some record.)

The band name? Seriously? Smh

Bro, too much talking!