#367: An Anti-Drug Song?
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I take it these lyrics, in black below, appeared on the Jefferson Airplane album, Surrealistic Pillow, released in 1967. I say this because in a few instances there are other words I've always 'heard' in my own mind--of course this is true of many situations where the listener doesn't own the recording, and so doesn't see the words in print.
This questioning of 'official' lyrics got me to look up the song on Wikipedia, read the commentary, as well as history, and look closer. (Note: Slick originally wrote this song, in '65 - '66 when with a different band.)
So, a few comments (in red):
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all
(A comment I read suggested that the initials to the words "larger", "small" "don't" spell out LSD. That seems like cherry picking, in the case of "don't". Instead, the word in question is "you", which if it began with a 'd' would be "dou". So, no dice. The lyrics even continue with "don't do", so that's that.)
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
(Here, one can make the case that the word shouldn't be 'call', but 'cord'. Perhaps it was, originally, but was considered too direct, plus it didn't rhyme as well as "call". But it's perfect, otherwise, since it could also be spelled 'chord'. On the other hand, there are but two, linked "call"s in the song. What's the 'link'? Perhaps, the "oh ok, ah" attitude to taking drugs needs to be discussed with a female friend who's sober.
Also, the "...and you know..." could be imagined as "and, you know, you are going to fall")
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
(Grace Slick once, famously, claimed that "White Rabbit" was an anti-drug song, which most laughed at. But, that's ignoring "...the men on the chessboard...", and possibly, the "...hookah-smoking caterpillar..." If we remember that this is a female perspective--one of the first with a confident, decided tone--one can read it as advice for situations in which men seek to dominate (..."tell you where to go"). The advice is that Alice will know when she is 'small'. In other words, it's easiest to judge situations when sober.
Note: Also, there is one female on a chessboard, and 'she' is as powerful as Slick's delivery.)
Go ask Alice, I think she'll know
When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
(Here's one I've also heard differently. The end of the line would be standard English if it were "...by the way". But of course it can't be, since "...sloppy dead" rhymes with the song's final three lines. Besides, it's fun, and could even be a snide comment: "BTW, aren't the Dead (a contemporaneous band) a bit sloppy compared to us? Ha ha.")
And the white knight is talking backwards
(Here, "knight" can become "king...ht" if the 'ni' is read or spoken backwards.)
And the red queen's off with her head
(A commenter noted that it's actually the queen of hearts that says "off with her head" in the books by Lewis Carroll, and, furthermore, that the white knight is not the character who talks backwards. Which makes the pairing of the white knight and the red queen in the song's lyrics quite telling, and fitting, especially with the "larger...smaller" imagery, earlier)
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head
(The five last words of the final five lines are, in order, dead, backwards, head, said, head, which could be a nice play on the word "head", using it as a verb as well as a noun. But where is 'backwards', anyway, if we did want to head that way? If it rhymed, it would be "backweds", so, possibly, Alice's knowing advice is for a woman to wait for her White Knight to turn into a forward-facing king, rather than following orders on a chessboard, or accepting a "cat's" pill, when one's mind is "...moving low...".)
So, overall, the listener hears a buffet table of ambiguous meanings, which is the mark of a well-rounded, mature song. I highlight an alternate interpretation to underline that ambiguity.
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