you don’t need to be an english major to love this song. but it sure helps.
i suppose it could also be said that you don’t have to be on acid to appreciate this gem. but i suspect it helps as well. (of course, i wouldn’t know about that sort of thing.)
this little gem, rejoyce, is grace slick at her most experimental and trippy, straight off of the epic after bathing at baxter’s. i often wonder whether fans freaked out or rejoiced when they caught a whiff of this beauteous work, as the airplane definitely moved away from their commercial hits like somebody to love on this LP. in fact, this is the sort of overblown psychedelic music that gets pooh poohed in certain circles and doesn’t usually withstand the test of time. (i mean, seriously –titles like schizoforest love suite?)
but even though i have been known to poke fun at some works by artists who started to take themselves waaaay too seriously, i adore this song. quietly and stealthily, of course. after all, its the sort of piece that is an acquired taste.
in short, sid vicious would not have approved.
so you are welcome to listen to it. and laugh at me.
and wonder whether i require medication because i love this piece so.
I had not heard this song before, so it was an unexpected pleasure for sure. I like it.
Your point about artists taking themselves too seriously makes me think of Pink Floyd. I’ll always be a fan, but I cannot stomach their over-the-top “Atom Heart Mother” LP, which totally fits your “overblown pyschodelic” descriptin to a T.
omg, atom heart mother is exactly the sort of thing i was thinking of, lol. (the best thing about that one is the cow on the cover.)
I just listened to this for the first time. Absolutely amazing. I was totally unfamiliar with Jefferson Airplane’s work – this and “The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil” served as my introduction, deliberately chosen by a friend whose musical taste I trust. “Rejoyce” is clearly an experimental song but what really strikes me is that nothing about it stands out as being very era-specific. If I had not known the artist, I’d never have been able to pin down when it was written – it could have been written yesterday. Fantastic.
glad you enjoyed it! …you and me and pooneil is definitely a classic, too!