Charles Dodgson and the "White Rabbit"

[TeaSea]

I was about to steal the thread on the "80's" so rather than be that rude I thought I'd start another....

Charles Dodgson is "Lewis Carroll" a mathematician and writer of the Victorian Era. He is the one who created "Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland", as well as "Alice through the Looking Glass".

Note that these are two separate stories tied together with one main character. That's important because the two stories and their characters are often intermingled and confused.

"White Rabbit" is a song originally written and performed by Jefferson Airplane. It's a good song, however it exploits the assumption that Dodgson was referring to some kind of "drug" trip in his, rather than engaging in an imaginative childs' story.

Unfortunately for Airplane...there's no evidence to support the claim that Dodgson is writing of a drug trip. Indeed, the hallucinogenics Airplane alludes to in it's song do not exist in Victorian England (LSD was invented in the 30's). In Victorian England you could obtain Cocaine, and Opium freely, but neither of these drugs produce the effects so often associated with the hallucinogenics of later times, specifically the 60's and 70's.

The idea that Dodgson is writing of some drug trip is more a 1960's notion than an 1860's notion.

If there's one consistent theme it's that Dodgson's pokes fun at certain characteristics of Victorian society, and specifically pokes fun at certain concepts of mathematics that were emerging. These are seen throughout the stories.

I stand by my contention that Grace Slick probably had no idea who Charles Dodgson was when she sang "White Rabbit".

Also, the Dormouse never says "feed your head"....that's made up by Airplane.

[Ken Stallings]

The author was writing as a satire on the royal family, and monarchies in general. No drug references at all. It was simply a children's story masquerading as social commentary.

The song may have been a drug reference, but to me it was also a reference to the story. So, I think Grace Slick did know the story and wrote a really cool song directly referencing it. The lyrics contain direct references to the book.

I also recall that the line of the song is "feed your hare."

Addendum: Nope, just checked the written lyrics. You were right, it is head. All these years I thought she was singing hare, which I thought made perfect sense in reference to rabbits in the song.

Cheers,

Ken

[cheezyflier]

you don't need lysergic acid diethylamide to have a hallucinigenic experience. the psilocybin mushroom is certainly available anywhere. according to wiki it is one of hundreds of psychotropic fungi species.
aside from that the same effect can be had from other plants and flowers and animals. i'm not saying alice in wonderland is about drugs. all i'm saying is the lack of availability of lsd is no indication of that, because there are lots of ways to trip without it. nearly every aboriginal culture in the world used some form hallucinogenic substance in religious or coming of age rituals.

[Bjoern]

Here I was thinking the lyrics were just inspired by the book. Probably written dead high somewhere in a tour bus while reading the original story.

[redriver6]

Here I was thinking the lyrics were just inspired by the book. Probably written dead high somewhere in a tour bus while reading the original story.

exactly...i don't think 'white rabbit' is commentary on anything other than maybe the 60's hippie lifestyle...