The song “White Rabbit” by the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, is a key song to explore when discussing Patti Smith’s development both as an artist and as an individual, In her memoir Just Kids, she specifically remembers this song playing from the open doors of the Electric Circus when she is strolling down St. Mark’s Place, during one of her very first days in New York, shortly before meeting Robert Mapplethorpe, and the song, along with its content, speaks to Smith’s shifting mindset, as she begins to embrace the bohemian lifestyle, and taps into something that for her is both current and of her past.
The song deals primarily with the effects of drug use and opens with the lines, “One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all”. This quote is perfect in context, as this song is playing just as she is seeing “Long-haired boys scatting around in striped bell-bottoms and used military jackets “and smelling “the earthy stench of hashish”, while watching “great tears of wax spilling over the sidewalk”
The line “the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all”, which besides playing quite clearly as a message against mainstream, references both the childhood experience of taking vile and often ineffective medications to combat sickness, and the rise in drugs like LSD, which usually came in tablet form, and usually had very drastic effects, much like the pills taken in the Carroll classic.
It is also apparent that Smith took inspiration from vocalist Grace Slick, in her drawn-out and almost hymn like delivery, which she repeats in her own song “Gloria”, which similarly starts slowly, and gradually increases in pace, as the song reaches its midpoint, and much like “White Rabbit “echoes a similar sentiment, regarding organized religion, with the line “Jesus died for somebody’s, sins not mine”, a battle cry for independence, and something that fits perfectly with Smith’s exploration of ideas like Satanism and Buddhism during her time with Mapplethorpe, they both of them refusing the pills that their mothers gave them, Mapplethorpe, Catholicism, and Smith, a traditional job, as a waitress, which she left along with the uniform, “like wilted lilies “in a public sink, according to her reflections, which speaks volumes to Smith’s ideology and mindset, which aligns very much with Slick’s. It is also clear that she finds the music to be more important than the artist, as she neglects to identify Jefferson Airplane, but gives credit to Blue Oyster Kurt, who she shows a much greater reverence and respect for, so much to mention them by name, but only makes a passing reference to Slick, where she notes
Another testament to “White Rabbit’s significance is that it takes much of its thematic and lyrical ideas from the Lewis Carroll classic Alice In Wonderland, which is about the surreal and mind-expanding adventures of a prim and proper, but adventurous young girl by the name of Alice going into a strange and mysterious world full of colorful characters. In a sense, one can see the very same patterns in Smith’s life. A young freethinking woman, stifled by a traditional education, moving into a magical place, the “Wonderland “of New York City. There’s also an element of historical relevance to the political and social climate of the time, as the song uses several lines that allude to the novel that can also be interpreted as a cry from the youth.
“Chasing white rabbits”, refers most likely to chasing impossible dreams, that seem pure and unblemished, but knowing that you will fall and be lost in the process much like Smith has been at this point, wandering, the village with her own cast of odd characters, including the Black Cherokee, Saint, who much like “the hookah smoking caterpillar “from the song gave Smith the call to jump down the rabbit hole, to join, as she calls it “. The brotherhood of La Boehme”, The song continues drawing parallels between the culture shifts at that moment in time, by mentioning “men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go”, which references the prevailing political attitude towards young people at the time, which post-Kennedy assassination, had turned away from the youth, with the ultrapatriotic attitudes of the Vietnam War, forcing many, both men and women to support and die in war that they did not agree with. After all, their “white knight”, whether that is JFK or MLK had passed away, both from tragic and violent circumstances.
There is also the prevailing theme of expanding the mind, which introduced with the idea of “the hookah smoking caterpillar “is brought to its logical conclusion with the final lines, being “feed your mind”, a reference to the rise in new philosophies and ideals that were sweeping the minds of the youth, something that is also touched upon in the chorus which is “Go ask Alice”, which besides being a reference to the titular character of Carroll’s work is a call to listeners to embrace their inner child. To look back to a freer time to deal with a world where “logic and proportion have fallen sloppy and dead, all in all, the song reflects a child of the Baby boomer generation, whom in the words of Grace Slick, “grew up with parents who “ read us stories like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, They all have a place where children get drugs, and are able to fly or see an Emerald City or experience extraordinary animals and people…” Fitting that Smith would choose to single out the song, as she herself claimed as a child that she “protested vehemently and announced that I was never going to become anything but myself, that I was of the clan of Peter Pan and we did not grow up”. In fact that clan may have been, the artists in the Village, the young people looking back to their youths to think forward, and the presence of this song, speaks volumes to the atmosphere of the community that Smith is about to find her home in.
Thus “White Rabbit” speaks to not only the rise in drug use in the 1960s among young people, but to a freer, more idealistic childlike way of viewing the world, that many of this generation, including but not limited to both Smith and Slick, who saw the world of art and music as their own Wonderlands, to work, play and experiment, Thus from being a touchstone in time, to a source of inspiration for Patti Smith, “White Rabbit “marks the beginning of Smith’s journey down the rabbit hole, as an artist and as a person, away from the stifling structure of mainstream society, free to chase her dreams and leading her in the perfect mental and physical place to meet Robert Mapplethorpe, and begin her transformation from child of the 60s to the visionary artist she became.