About “White Rabbit”

One of the most iconic songs of ’60s psychedelic rock, “White Rabbit” uses imagery from Alice In Wonderland to illustrate the surreal effects of taking hallucinogenic drugs.

“White Rabbit” was written by San Francisco-based singer Grace Slick while she was still a member of her original band, The Great Society. Upon joining Jefferson Airplane in 1966, she offered up “White Rabbit” while the band was recording their seminal second album, Surrealistic Pillow. The song became the band’s second biggest hit, peaking at #8 on the pop charts.

The song’s metaphorical drug references flew largely over the heads of radio censors, but “White Rabbit” did eventually end up on “blacklists” at several stations once its meaning became apparent. The Illinois Crime Commission released a list of “drug-oriented rock records” in which they said that “White Rabbit” was “extolling the kicks provided by LSD and other psychedelics.”

While the song is obviously about drugs, Slick also saw it as a metaphor for her own escape from society’s outdated rules:

“I identified with Alice. I was a product of ’50s America in Palo Alto, California, where women were housewives with short hair and everything was highly regulated. I went from the planned, bland ’50s to the world of being in a rock band without looking back. It was my Alice moment, heading down the hole. ‘White Rabbit’ seemed like an appropriate title.”

Musically, “White Rabbit” features a “march” tempo and instrumentation that was influenced by Spanish bolero music. A 1960 album by jazz icon Miles Davis was also a major influence. Slick remembers: “I took acid and listened to Miles Davis’s ‘Sketches of Spain’ album for 24 hours straight until it burned into my brain—particularly “Concierto de Aranjuez,” which takes up most of the first side. It’s hypnotic.”