Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love & White Rabbit

The Smothers Brothers show was one of the few places where you could watch bands like JA on TV, and those freaky visual effects were definitely not used on Hollywood Palace. But the versions here sound like they are the original instrumental tracks with re-recorded vocals, so maybe the audacity/authenticity level wasn't quite as high as we were led to believe. Anyway, here you go, the eyes, ears, and minds of America's youth being polluted in 1967 or '68.

3 comments:

Undercover Black Man said...

How did this not get censored? How could she be singing about shrooms on CBS in, like, 1969?

estiv said...

The Smothers Brothers fought the censors throughout the three-year run of that show--check out the Pete Seeger/Big Muddy controversy. But in this case, the song was already a big hit, and network execs have always been more about following the crowd than anything else.

Undercover Black Man said...

By the way, here’s an interesting cover of “White Rabbit.”

I’m gathering string for another “Black Singers, White Songs” playlist... hopefully I can find three or four more psychedelic ones. (Suggestions invited.)