Go Ask Alice

Having recently revisited Jefferson Airplane and their brilliant “White Rabbit” in a blog about Woodstock, I decided to reread “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.  I’m not sure I’d read it since childhood. How close are White Rabbit and Wonderland to each other? Go ask Alice, I think she knows.

 I would guess people today are more familiar with “White Rabbit” than they are with the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (called Wonderland hereafter). In addition to the song itself and its ties to the ‘60s, it has been used in over 25 movies or TV shows.  If there is anyone out there who thinks you haven’t heard the song, you are wrong.  Trust me, you have . (Complete lyrics to White Rabbit are in the Addendum.)

 I’m not a drug user, but I’ve always loved the song and the imagery. Years ago at Christmas, Cathy gave me a Grace Slick signed etching of the White Rabbit. I don’t think most people who visit us at Rohan Farm actually notice it, but I frequently spend time with it. 

 As for Wonderland, the book, it was written by Lewis Carroll and originally released in 1865. It was one of the first children’s books published not for education, but just for fun. And it is a fun book. Full of nonsense and adventures for Alice, it’s a great little read. At 86 pages, it’s also a quick one and I finished it in a couple of sittings.

 I knew White Rabbit was tied to Wonderland, but what I hadn’t realized, or perhaps I’d forgotten, is that pretty much everything in White Rabbit is a retelling of Wonderland.  Sure, Grace Slick takes a few liberties, and rearranges some things, but it’s all there. There are some characters missing, including the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat. What IS curious, or as Alice might say, curiouser, is the inclusion of the White Night speaking backwards, who isn’t in Wonderland at all. He only appears in the book, “Through the Looking Glass”, another tale about Alice and an imaginary world by Carroll. 

From the moment Alice follows the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole, he weaves throughout the story. Sometimes an inadvertent guide, sometimes an opponent, and at the end of the book, an officer of the court.  He, and his ongoing concern about being late, features prominently.

 In the book, rather than pills, Alice drinks or eats different things to make her smaller or larger. And, it IS in fact a Hookah-smoking Caterpillar that advises her about eating the mushroom, one side of which makes her larger, while the other makes her small. Once she learns this, good ol’ Alice carries some of each side of the mushroom with her for the rest of the book, using it to her advantage.

The cards on the chessboard, who eventually attack Alice are of course there, while logic and proportion are indeed missing in Wonderland – It’s a crazy, mixed up world there. 

As to the queen, over the course of the story, she says “Off with his/her/their head” innumerable times. She is always wanting to execute someone, for the least of offenses. It reminded me very much of King Donnie in our world and his “You’re fired!”  Both the queen and King Donnie use it so often, it starts to lose its meaning. 

Ahhhh, but the Dormouse – what does the Dormouse say? During the trial at the climax of the book, we actually aren’t told what the Dormouse said. From Wonderland – 

 “Well at any rate, the Dormouse said ————-“,  the Mad Hatter remarked. “But what did the Dormouse say?”, one of the jurors asked. “That I can’t remember”, said the Hatter. “You must remember”, said the King, “or I’ll have you executed.”

 What did the Dormouse say?  We never learn, and so must imagine, or decide for ourselves. Feed your head indeed.

 Was the song about psychedelic drugs? Sure, but it was about a lot more than that. Over the years, Grace Slick insisted the song was more about following your curiosity and gaining knowledge. It was also a dig at her parent’s generation.

 From the Jefferson Airplane website: For Slick, the song “is about following your curiosity. The White Rabbit is your curiosity.” In 2016, at the age of 76, Ms. Slick also blamed it on lousy parents with their “glasses of scotch – They also seemed unaware that many books they read to us as kids had drug use as a subtext. Peter Pan uses fairy dust and can fly, Dorothy and her friends in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” cut through a poppy field and wind up stoned and fast asleep.”  Slick also sees the song as a liberating call to arms for intelligence and education. The closing line ‘feed your head, feed your head’,  “is both about reading and psychedelics. I was talking about feeding your head by paying attention: read some books, pay attention.”

No, Lewis Carroll didn’t tell us what the Dormouse said, but Grace Slick filled in the blank quite nicely. Feed your Head – Never stop learning my friends. Never stop learning.

Addendum:

• This is the recent Woodstock blog I mentioned, if interested – 56 years ago, from August 15-18, 1969, a three day festival celebrating Peace and Music took place at Max Yasgur’s farm in upstate New York. My friend Chuck, all of 19, drove there with three buddies, and experienced sex, drugs, and great Rock & Roll music […] Continue here: https://maxnhall.com/2025/08/12/woodstock/
• Here is a video of Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock, performing White Rabbit: https://youtu.be/ylYnzAWTq6Y?si=pA-xSMvsRM_Wd4GT

• Here are the Lyrics to White Rabbit:

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One pill makes you larger

And one pill makes you small

And the ones that mother gives you

Don’t do anything at all

Go ask Alice

When she’s ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits

And you know you’re going to fall

Tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar

Has given you the call

He called Alice

When she was just small

When the men on the chessboard

Get up and tell you where to go

And you’ve just had some kind of mushroom

And your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice

I think she’ll know

When logic and proportion

Have fallen sloppy dead

And the White Knight is talking backwards

And the Red Queen’s off with her head

Remember what the dormouse said

Feed your head

Feed your head

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