Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane song)
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| "Somebody to Love" | ||||
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| Single by Jefferson Airplane | ||||
| from the album Surrealistic Pillow | ||||
| B-side | "She Has Funny Cars" | |||
| Released | April 1, 1967 | |||
| Format | Vinyl record (7") 45 RPM | |||
| Recorded | November 3, 1966 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 3:01 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Writer(s) | Darby Slick | |||
| Producer | Rick Jarrard | |||
| Jefferson Airplane singles chronology | ||||
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"Somebody to Love" is a rock song that was written by Darby Slick and originally recorded by 1960s folk rock band The Great Society and later by the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jefferson Airplane's version #274 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
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[edit] Great Society version
Written by Great Society guitarist Darby Slick and first performed by that band, which included his then-sister-in-law Grace Slick on vocals, the song made little impact outside of the club circuit in the Bay Area. The song was released in 1966 as a single on the North Beach subsidiary of Autumn Records and received minimal circulation outside of San Francisco.
[edit] Jefferson Airplane version
When Grace Slick departed to join Jefferson Airplane, she took this song with her, bringing it to the Surrealistic Pillow sessions, along with her own composition "White Rabbit". Subsequently, the Airplane's more ferocious rock and roll version became the band's first and biggest success; the single by Jefferson Airplane scored at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is in chromatic-minor.[1]
"Somebody to Love" was also a track on their influential album released in February 1967, Surrealistic Pillow. Driven by Slick's forceful vocal, the song's hard-rock sound was atypical of the group's more folk-oriented psychedelia that comprised most of their previous style and some of the album. The lyrics are in the second person, with each two-line verse setting a scene of alienation and despair, and the chorus repeating the title of the song, with slight variations such as: "... / Don't you need somebody to love? / Wouldn't you love somebody to love? / ..." Like the album on which it appeared, this song was instrumental in publicizing the existence of the Haight-Ashbury counterculture to the rest of the United States.
This version appears in the film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when Raoul Duke reminisces about the first time he took LSD at The Matrix club in San Francisco in 1967. The song is also played during prologue in TV movie A Bright Shining Lie (1998), and in A Home at the End of the World (2004).
In the 1996 film The Cable Guy, Jim Carrey performs a karaoke version as his character Ernie "Chip" Douglas. Carrey's version is also on the movie's soundtrack.
The full, vocal version of the song can also be heard on a radio in the beginning of the Paramount film Four Brothers.
The song works as a metaphorical framing device for the Coen brothers' film A Serious Man.
The song is featured in episode five of season two of Being Human as the vampire Mitchell explores his residual humanity, through a relationship with a mortal woman.
The song was played on episode 3 of ITV drama Marchlands.
The song is a downloadable content for Rock Band 3.
[edit] Personnel
- Grace Slick – lead vocals
- Marty Balin – tambourine
- Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar
- Paul Kantner – rhythm guitar
- Jack Casady – bass
- Spencer Dryden – drums
[edit] Other versions
- Aguaturbia covered the song in 1969 on their self-titled debut LP. Their cover version is titled "Alguien Para Amar".
- The Lambrettas (a British mod-revival band) released "Somebody to Love" as a single on Elton John's Rocket Records label in 1982.
- The Irish band In Tua Nua covered the song in 1985.
- It was covered by Angry Samoans on their 1986 EP, Yesterday Started Tomorrow (with some lyric changes).
- The Serbian hard rock band Cactus Jack recorded a version on their live cover album DisCover in 2002.
- The song also received cover versions by Mother's Finest, W.A.S.P. in their 1995's album Still Not Black Enough.
- The Ramones (with vocals by Tracy Lords) on their 1993 cover album Acid Eaters.
- Jim Carrey on the soundtrack of the film The Cable Guy.
- In 2003 by Boogie Pimps (No. 3 UK) with the music video featuring Natasha Mealey.
- Salsoul Orchestra on the album Salsoul Orchestra.
- Kasabian covered it on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.
- Lo-Fi artist Zola Jesus covered it, featuring Dead Luke
- It was covered by Chaud on her 2010 EP, The Black Market Revealed
[edit] References
- ^ Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis, p.89. ISBN 9780300092394.
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