Video Classics: ‘Somebody to Love’ – Jefferson Airplane

Grace Slick with daughter, China Kantner (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

Are you a morning maniac?  We’re not quite sure what one is, but to quote Grace Slick, here’s a little bit of ‘morning maniac’ music for you to listen to … 

http://www.youtube.com/v/ngtDdxLMF90&hl=en_US&fs=1&

While “Somebody to Love” is most-associated with Slick and Jefferson Airplane, it was another Slick and another band that first minted the tune.  Guitarist Darby Slick, of the band Great Society originally wrote the song for his then sister-in-law, Grace, to sing. While it enjoyed a release in 1966, it failed to make much of an impact beyond the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene, still in its early days.

Slick took the song with her when she went to join Jefferson Airplane. At their hands, the song got teeth and a much more aggressive, rock and roll treatment suited to Slick’s powerful vocal delivery. The reworked song became a huge hit, the band’s first true taste of success and went to #5. It also boosted sales of their 1967 album, Surrealistic Pillow. Ironically, the song that made them big was something of a departure to their earlier, more psychedelic works which, had they stuck to them, might have left them little better known today than Great Society.

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