White Rabbit lyrics

[The Carpenter]

Why, at the end of the song, does Grace put in that the Dormouse said, "Feed your head"? He didn't say this in any of Carroll's works. Is this just a reference to the dormouse's story of the treacle well in Alice in Wonderland, in which he obviously made a reference to the three little girls smoking pot, when he said they were drawing things that begin with M? This is the only part of the song I can't figure out. Any Ideas? Thanks.

[jimmie ray]

Let me give this a shot, although others are far more versed...
The Dormouse never said "Feed your head". He did tell a story of 3 girls that were not just in a well, but "well in". They were confined to their drawing, and the well contained the sweetness that imprisoned them. These could have represented the 3 girls that the author (Reverend so and so) originally told the tale to, before actually writing it. There may have been a moral there of being trapped by your own choices in life.
The caterpillar never said "Feed your head". But he did explain to Alice how the mushroom worked. She could finally control her size, by eating the right amounts of each side. When Alice ate one side, her body shrank and her head became trapped. When she ate the other side, her neck stretched and she exclaimed " My head is free at last!"
Did Grace originally sing "Free your head" or not remember the story exactly?
O.K. - who's next?

[DonRico1967]

My own personal take on the subject has always been that Grace was advocating that listeners eat those little sugar cubes that were not exactly nutritious but perhaps "psychedelicious"...

[brynrees]

I'm sure I read somewhere Grace saying 'Feed your head' meant feed your head with knowledge. Or am I being naiive?

[peds]

im inclined to go with donrico here - and not just sugar, but fungi, cacti, herbs... im sure she was advocating all kinds of mental delicacies

[Guest]

So perhaps we do not have to assume that Grace is quoting any character, when she concludes the song with "Feed your head"?
It is her own imploring us to...
I see she has a painting with that title. It has the dormouse juggling the letters of the alphabet (I don't see the letter "M", but there are 3 letters together that many of you would be familiar with). A short description of it - in her words, says he is "delighting in the beauty of words".
She also says the song "reflects her own stream of consciousness"...

[FreedomMan]

No it isn't a direct quote from the story im pretty sure, but as we all know, Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick were centered directly within the vortex of the great san fransisco acid wave. "FEED YOUR HEAD", the fantastic peak of white rabbit is their obvious message to their listeners to free themselves by expanding their consciousness through acid(or other hallucionagenics), in buying peace and understanding for three bucks a hit. I constantly sruggle with whether this time in history meant something extremely valuable or the opposite, i guess in our lives we will never know, but in hundreds of years when intelligence has skyrocketed our society might look back and laugh at people exceeding the hip generation that didnt take there drug induced message seriously.

[jimmie ray]

I think that the time in history is relavent - but alas, the gifts of freedom can many times be more corruptive to the general population than enhancing. The society that you ponder hundreds of years from now will be more technologically advanced - but in terms of pure intelligence, the trend does not conjure that possibility.
Sorry to say - there may be alot less laughter then, too...

[Guest]

Yes i clearly see what you are saying there. I guess i was just attempting to shed a glimmer of hope in thinking that maybe with the ever growing field of psychology and social psychology most importantly that there could possibly be the emergence of a greater understanding and empathy towards humanity as a whole. If only each person would just give their empathetic side thowards the same creature as themselves a chance each day when confronted with a decision, instead of letting the darker, greedy, ignorant, egocentric side of ourselves take over creating a state of war between people then this world would be just that much better. Yes i know as right now the grim-hook realities point towards furthur destruction, but who knows, maybe the voices of just you or i could make a huge difference someday.

[FreedomMan]

That last one was mine man i forgot to log in i guess, but i think i should have ended that post with a quote from Thomas Hobbes "It is not wisdom but authority that makes laws."

[jimmie ray]

I'll bet that same dude said "The more laws a society has, the more lawless it becomes". There is a certain point about an individual's responsibility to reach within themselves to know the right things to do. Many think they are upholding this, but they are only really concerned with themselves - or their own family, at best. That's not going to cut it...

[Guest]

Chapter 11, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland:



`But what did the Dormouse say?' one of the jury asked.

`That I can't remember,' said the Hatter.



there you have it.

[FreedomMan]

You hit the nail on the head with that Jimmy. If only people would strive to REALIZE what humanity actually is and that us as humans actually need to try to be humane with all our power to benefit all. And not to be egosentric and slfish with what they think will bring themselves the most happiness. We are only on this strange earth for so long and we need to work together to bring about the most happiness and love that we posibly can for everyone and not just a small amount of people that just lust off their money and hoard it all.