Friday, March 04, 2005

"White Rabbit"

There's a fantastic, dark feel to this, a vague, unsettling menace. I'm not at all sure where the danger comes from here. Perhaps it's the first looping rush into an acid trip, perhaps it's the martial snare drum, like the approach of the army of playing cards in "Alice in Wonderland". Maybe it's the lyrics, which are clearly from the depths of someone's addled reading of Lewis Carroll. Magic mushrooms, white mice and above it all, Grace Slick's foghorn voice soaring like some modern-day Valkyrie. It's short, perfectly-formed and builds into a terrific climax with Grace shouting "Feed Your Head!" It's almost as if this song, rather than Altamont, was the moment the 60s died. This was when innocence tipped over into overindulgence.

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