One of Slick's earliest songs, written in either late 1965 or early 1966, it draws parallels between the hallucinatory effects of psychedelic drugs such as Magic Mushrooms and the imagery found in the fantasy works of Lewis Carroll: 1865's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass. Events in these books, such as changing size after eating mushrooms or drinking an unknown liquid, are referenced in the song. Alice, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the White Knight, the Red Queen, and the Dormouse are all mentioned in the song, but the details are incorrect. The White Knight does not talk backwards, as the song states. The Queen of Hearts, not the Red Queen, says "Off with her head!" (although, of course, the queen of hearts, as a playing card, is a "red queen"). The last lines of the song are "Remember what the Dormouse said. Feed your head. Feed your head." and do not explicitly quote the Dormouse as is often assumed.
Set to a rising crescendo similar to that of Ravel's famous Boléro, and having a strong Spanish influence to it, the music combined with the song's lyrics strongly suggest the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens and the song was later utilized in pop culture to imply or accompany just such a state. "White Rabbit" is one of two songs, along with "Somebody to Love," that Slick brought with her to Jefferson Airplane from her earlier group The Great Society when she replaced original Airplane vocalist Signe Toly Andersoncitation needed.
The drug-themed novel Go Ask Alice takes its name from this song's lyrics. The book's protagonist is never named, but reviewers generally refer to her as "Alice" for the sake of convenience. The Columbia University health website Go Ask Alice!, however, does not take its name from the song.
The song is featured in the end of the 1997 thriller The Game, starting in the scene where the film's main protagonist is considering following the mysterious girl on what might be a new adventure, and not indulging in his climatic surprise party.
Richard Nixon's Head sings this song in the Futurama episode "A Head in the Polls," while making his futuristic presidential bid, telling his audience, "I'm meeting you halfway, you stupid hippies!"
""White Rabbit." I need rising sound … And when it comes to that fantastic note where the rabbit bites its own head off, I want you to throw that fuckin' radio into the tub with me!"
The scene is also featured in Terry Gilliam's 1998 film version of the book.
The song and part of its lyrics are mentioned in Stephen King's book Insomnia in the surreal scene at the beginning of chapter 3.
The song was featured in Oliver Stone's Platoon; it is played in the background of the "Feel Good Cave" as the soldiers are getting high.
An instrumental version of the song is used as the main menu music of the PC game Battlefield Vietnam.
The song was used on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jay Leno talked about a town that has baseball "the way it used to be"; the hometown of that team is known for smoking cannabis, and this song played while people in a park smoke.
Also in 2005 "White Rabbit" was featured in a delicate drug-related scene in Atom Egoyan's movie Where the Truth Lies.
A "White Rabbit" cover portion has been a consistent part of Blue Man Group shows since their inception, and was released on their 2003 album "The Complex" featuring the vocal talent of Esthero
The song was played during the "Down Neck" episode of HBO's The Sopranos. During a scene where Tony Soprano takes Prozac for his panic attacks. It is also played again at the end of the episode.
In the movie Stoned from 2005 the song is played when Brian Jones takes LSD for the first time.
The song is played during a drug-related skit on an episode of The Daily Show.
A commercial for No.7 make up used the song as well.
The song was played in the background in the 3rd Rock from the Sun episode, "The Dicks They Are A-Changin'" when Dick comes to Dr. Albright's apartment to remember the sixties.
The protagonist of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, Kaye, listens to this song whilst lying in her bedroom letting her pet rats roam on the shelves with her old dolls.
The song is used as the base beat for the song "Rabbit Hole" by the Underground Hip-Hop artists Living Legends.
The song both serves as an opening and is discussed in episode 2 of VH1's Drug Years series which tells of the 1960s counterculture.
In 2006, excerpts from the song were used in a show entitled Volume 2: Through the Looking Glass performed by The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, which is filled with references to Alice in Wonderland.
In Zero Skateboard's Dying to Live skate video, the song is skated to by Lindsey Robertson in his part.
A cover of the song, performed by Collide, plays in the ending credits of the film Resident Evil: Extinction in regards to the main character whose name is Alice.
1996 – by the Norwegian heavy metal band In the Woods for their White Rabbit EP and later (2000) included in their Three Times Seven on a Pilgrimage album
1999 – by the Cincinnati-based Gothic/Garage Rock band Stop the Car for their final album Crash, after having featured the song regularly in their live set lists since the '80s
"It's No Secret" ·"Come Up the Years" ·"Bringing Me Down" ·"My Best Friend" ·"Somebody To Love" ·"White Rabbit" ·"The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" ·"Watch Her Ride" ·"Greasy Heart" ·"Crown of Creation" ·"Plastic Fantastic Lover (live)" ·"Volunteers" ·"Mexico" ·"Pretty as You Feel" ·"Long John Silver" ·"Twilight Double Leader" ·"Summer of Love" ·"Planes" ·"True Love"
