| Jefferson Airplane – Watch Her Ride Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Certain things can take you outside yourself, outside your ego, to blow your mind. Sex is certainly one of them. Losing oneself in the moment, to the moment, thereby fully being in the moment, fully conscious of the ride. This song really conveys the excitment of that experience. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Star Track Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A modern day blues for an upper-middle class white guy feeling the pressure of the big time as Jorma might say. There was also a concern in the sixties, before the advent of the PC, that computerization would dehumanize people, that the modern electronic age, that Airplane both celebrated and criticized, would destroy individuality and ones uniqueness. It would create a lifestyle that moves at such a fast pace that it would eventually catch up with the individual in the end and they would miss the whole point of living. I think therefore that going down slow means trying to hold on to life, to figure out what the hell happened, because one never fully lived in the moment, you have trouble accepting the end. Interesting to note; the guitar chord progression in the song is very similar to bluesman Rev. Gary Davis' song 'Death Don't Have No Mercy'. |
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| Paul Kantner – A Child Is Coming Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A song about the soon to be child of Kantner and Slick, China Kantner. What's interesting about this song is how it was used by the religious right in the 80's and their listening to rock recordings played backwards. In their distorted minds, the phrase; "It's gettin' better" came out backwards saying "Son of Satan". So to them the child in the song is their son of satan. These religious nuts really know how to spice up a rock song don't they. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Long John Silver Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Grace using Buckminster Fuller's theory of 'The Great Pirates' in song. Refer to 'Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth' by Fuller. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Bear Melt Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Grace at probably her most lascivious. The sexual revolution was really taking off when this song was recorded so it's no wonder that Grace saw fit to say something about it and society's repression of it, in her own unique way. Those little animalistic urges you know. You've probably heard a thousand different reasons why you can't go all the way. Bear melt refers to those little plastic honey containers and how they melt when placed on a hot stove. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – It's No Secret Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| What I love about this song, the first JA single written by Marty Balin, is the direct unambiguous declaration of it, how Marty embraces his declaration, shouts it out joyously which can be viewed as a personal love to another or to all humanity, showing from the start that Marty and his voice was the heart and soul of JA. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Share a Little Joke Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Marty's role in the Airplane had diminished when this song was recorded. He was no longer the front man leading the group, writing and singing all of the material like he was at the beginning. So he wrote this as a response to inquiries about his involvement with the band. An inside joke but also it follows a similar theme with the song 'If You Feel' being; don't take things too seriously, just let it go. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – If You Feel Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A purely hedonistic outlook on life. An observation at how serious we can take life to such an extreme that at some point, you have to let go, just let go and enjoy it for no other reason than just experiencing the pure pleasure of the moment and to laugh with Hesse's immortals at the ridiculousness of it all. Simply: don't take things too seriously, let go like a leaf falling from a tree and enjoy it |
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| Jefferson Airplane – She Has Funny Cars Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Trying to find oneself in changing, chaotic times. The narrative appears to be talking to another but could be talking to himself, trying to reassure himself that he can make it. Some appear to have found an answer thru the drug of the times, being lsd (flash, paradise!) but it's still ones mind that determines what will manifest, it's guaranteed to take you where you want to go, not an outside source that comes in a pill. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Too Many Years Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A sweet and sorrowful look at the breakup of a long relationship, so eloquently expressed by Jorma. You can hear the enduring love in there confronting the harsh reality of the inevitable. I love the second verse; She's feeling a time for a seasonal change and she's yearning to shake the trees of our love in the streets where the leaves are for burning |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Turn My Life Down Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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What's really interesting about these lyrics, written by Jorma, is how depressing it sounds by itself in contrast to the music which is lively, bright and positive. Still, these conflicting emotions mix nicely, thanks in great part to Balin's superb gospel sounding vocal. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Wooden Ships Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Interesting observations dcba. The JA version does indeed start off more subtly then build to a crescendo with a scream of desperation, due to Nicky Hopkins piano on the intro to Jorma's searing guitar work. It's also interesting to note the distinct parts that each composer, being Kantner, Crosby and Stills, brought to the song. Here's Kantner's: Sail away where the mornin' sun goes high Sail away where the wind blows sweet and young birds fly Take a sister by her hand Lead her far from this barren land And here's Stills: Horror grips us as we watch you die All we can do is echo your anguished cry Stare as all your human feelings die We are leaving You don't need us I believe Crosby contributed the chorus; "Wooden ships on the water...etc." The end result is a masterpiece work by three very talented musicians. |
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| Paul Kantner – Hijack Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| The song was a science fiction story (nominated for a Hugo Award) so it wasn't meant to be taken literally. Yes, it was naive idealsim but utopias usually are unrealistic, but again, it was a work of fiction for one's entertainment and a great piece of work nonetheless. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Hey Fredrick Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Grace is talking to herself here I think, about her beliefs on sex and lasting relatinoships and living a lifestyle that is moving so fast it will come crashing down on her. One correction, the word gasket should be "casket". |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Milk Train Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Grace talking about that great rock n roll subject: SEX! A time when taking someone's milk required no protection. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – High Flyin' Bird Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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One of the early covers that JA used to do, this one is written by folk singer Billy Edd Wheeler. Just about having the blues. Left out the verse that Paul Kantner sings: Well the sun comes along And lights up your day now And when he gets tired He just moves on his way now East to West, he gets gone every day |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Third Week in the Chelsea Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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It is about contemplating the break up of Jefferson Airplane (not Starship) from the perspective of Jorma Kaukonen while staying at the Chelsea hotel in NYC. Jorma had thought about leaving JA since 1968 and by 1970, with HT going, he wanted to move on. "Straining every nerve" line refers to trying to keep up the image of a counter-culture rock band when that dream was fading fast. The line "So I walked into a little room that whistled like a sigh" is about walking into a room with one of those old steam radiators for heat that make a noise and that are found in older buildings like the Chelsea. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – The Farm Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| A rather sarcastic, tongue in cheek look at the growing "back to nature" movement that started in the late sixties. People started moving out of the cities and into the country with their new found perspective on things (Frogs and toads instead of horses and mules, boulders that whinny, you get the picture.). | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Somebody to Love Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. It just depends on how you smoke it. First of all, the song was written by Darby Slick, Grace's brother-in-law, who was in the band Grace and her husband were in called Great Society, who originally performed the song before Jefferson Airplane. Like many of the songs in 1966, it was basically just a boy-girl song, a bit more adult than I Want To Hold Your Hand, but basically the same. But, like ANY song, it's open to interpretation by the listener. If you want to hear Vietnam in there, then, by all means, it's about Vietnam. Enjoy your smoke. |
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| Paul Kantner – When I Was A Boy I Watched The Wolves Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| One of Kantner's best. The wolfpack are the bohemian outsiders of society. They band together as a tribe and live on the fringes. The myth of the werewolf is used to show how one can be transformed into this cultural anomaly, sometimes overnight, revealing the hidden animalistic traits beneath our consciousness. | |
| Paul Kantner – Sunrise Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This song was actually written by Grace Slick for Kantner's album Blows Against the Empire. A first impression might be the division between younger and older generations but it goes much deeper. Sometimes the snake has to shed its skin, an old analogy for revolution. Old traditions and institutions, like religion, need to be questioned and evaluated, concerning sex, gender, orientation and a number of other issues, on whether these institutions contribute to our well being or never did to begin with. They may have once worked when we were children, to be told that our natural desires are just some dirty little animal and need to be controlled but at some point the child grows up and discovers just what he or she really is and outgrows the cocoon. Bodhi svaha! |
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| Jefferson Starship – Ride The Tiger Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| To ride energy, the natural forces, being human as in culture or in nature itself. To ride them into our next evolutionary stage. Don't try to analyze it, as the West will do, but intuitively understand it as a natural occurrence of life, a natural force to ride. | |
| Jefferson Starship – Lightning Rose Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The character Rose appears in more than one JS Kantner songs. She is the archetypal female warrior who battles against the oppressors of her time. Sort of a Joan of Arc of the future. She is also the symbol for eternal love, both romantic and humanitarian. This song itself is sort of a science fiction story, taking place in the future. There is a group of survivors after a holocaust and they carry on with Rose as their leader, to guide and inspire them. She is romantically involved with one of the group and he and the rest call out to her, to help them CARRY THE FIRE of hope for the human race. |
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| Jefferson Starship – Sunrise Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A first impression might be the division between younger and older generations but it goes much deeper. Sometimes the snake has to shed its skin, an old analogy for revolution. Old traditions and institutions, like religion, need to be questioned and evaluated, concerning sex, gender, orientation and a number of other issues, on whether these institutions contribute to our well being or never did to begin with. They may have once worked when we were children, to be told that our natural desires are just some dirty little animal and need to be controlled but at some point the child grows up and discovers just what he or she really is and outgrows the cocoon. Bodhi svaha! |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Written about the Human Be-In which took place on a Saturday afternoon in January 1967 in Golden Gate Park. The beginning of an era. A time for growing and a time for knowing love, if only for a brief period. Perhaps it will happen again, but you have to try to make it so.... when the time is right. | |
| Jefferson Starship – Have You Seen the Stars Tonight? Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Written by David Crosby for Paul Kantner's album Blows Against The Empire. It's about imagining being on a starship heading for the fringes of outer space and looking in wonder and awe at the beauty of the Universe. Beautiful song. |
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| Jefferson Starship – Hyperdrive Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Hyperdrive is a name given to certain methods of traveling faster than light in science fiction. It's also about using magic to time travel and Grace the sorceress does it better than most. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| From a poem written by A.A.Miln who wrote Winnie the Pooh that Kantner was fond of. Kantner applies it to the psychedelic times of the sixties with its colorful childlike prose. The lyric as well as the music was meant to take the listener on a journey or "trip" in the mind as it was called. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – In Time Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| One of the best Balin/Kantner collaborations. Coming down from a long high, the wonder and discovery of sex in a profound sense, dreaming of and living utopia with the comraderie of others. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Martha Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Martha was a young girlfriend of Kantner's during this period of JA. The song is simply about the pleasure and enjoyment of being with this girl done in the poetic tone of the times. It's also a pleasure to listen to! | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Two Heads Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Two heads refers to hypocrisy, in our institutions like religion concerning its repression of sexuality. Once again, Grace uses stream of consciousness prose and allegorical nonsensical imagery to convey feeling more than thought. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Wooden Ships Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The song is sort of a science fiction story about a post nuclear holocaust world and a group of survivors who take out on wooden ships and escape the radioactive nightmare on the mainland. It could also be seen as analogous of the counter-cultures plight against mainstream culture and wanting to escape to their ideal of utopia. Kantner took this further with his Blows Against the Empire story, where they escape off into space. At the end of the song they try to appeal to the younger generation, to "ride the music" and bring the much needed change to society. A beautiful love song to humanity. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Calling for CHANGE (revolution), for America to live up to her ideals, is as relevant today as it was then. It's a challenge that one chooses to do out of love for one's country not because they are told to do so because those ideals actually mean something, they're not just words. This song conveys the triumphant joy of taking on that challenge. A challenge I'm proud to see many young people still take on today and MAKE IT HAPPEN (Obama). This song is for all those courageous warriors, of today and yesterday. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – ReJoyce Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Like so many of Grace's songs during this time, and like Ulysses itself, it's a fairly stream of consciousness prose, in this case critique about societal norms and mainstream culture. Lyric is not accurate in many cases, like; "go out looking like a star", should be "grow up looking like a car." "War's good business so give your son and I'd rather have my country die for me" was and still is a fairly strong anti-war statement, based partly on JFK's slogan; "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." A fairly strong and cynical look at mainstream culture that Grace was very good at. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – 3/5's of a Mile in 10 Seconds Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Life changing at a fast pace and trying to cope with those changes while at the same time "digging" the whole trip. Know I love you baby, yes I do. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – We Can Be Together Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Kantner wrote it as a call to arms to mobilize the liberal to radical left and all it's various factions. I believe Abbie Hoffman inspired him to write it. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Lather Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Grace wrote it as a composite, based mostly on Spencer Dryden, whom she was having an affair with, because he was so childlike, and Jack Casady and his nude "trip" on the beach playing in the sand. But it's also a poignant look at trying to hold on to innocence and questioning whether, on one level, it's really not so bad to some degree, not living up to society's demands on how one should be at any age. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Greasy Heart Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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How people, in this case many women, during that time (sixties)would live a cosmetic superfluous lifestyle. Grace has said that she wrote it partly about herself. A fairly harsh but honest self criticism but that's Grace for you. She wasn't afraid to tell it like it is. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Eskimo Blue Day Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Environmental concerns, yes, but more specifically, man's self-importance and the fact that all his great works, thoughts, institutions, etc., mean nothing to an Earth that has had many life forms come and go over its long history, the insignificance of man's pomposity. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Embryonic Journey Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Expresses perfectly the joy and optimism of the times, the beginnings of a journey. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Comin' Back to Me Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Words and images that convey a feeling more than meaning of a love affair in a dream state. One of Marty Balin's best. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Crown of Creation Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Based on the science fiction novel Re-Birth by John Wyndham, also called The Chrysalyds. Kantner wrote it as a reflection of the times being 1968 where the counter-culture was more in direct confrontation with mainstream culture. Human evolution has reached an apex and must change in order to survive. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Come Up the Years Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Written by Marty Balin about a young "teeny-bopper" girl (underage) who used to follow the band around during the early JA period (before Grace). | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Blues from an Airplane Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Pretty obvious. Losing and finding love and the meaning of one's life. Not so profound lyrically but a fine song from early JA period nonetheless. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – A Song for All Seasons Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Sort of a tongue in cheek look at the goings on in the life of a rock band partially based on Jefferson Airplane. Written by then Airplane drummer, the great Spencer Dryden. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Obviously no meaning other than having a good time in the studio making unusual sounds. It's all for fun ya know. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – D.C.B.A.-25 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The title itself are the chords to the song (DCBA)with -25 as a reference to LSD-25. The song itself appears to be about the changing times of the late sixties, culturally and socially, leaving one way of living behind and exploring new possibilities. |
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