Jefferson Airplane - The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil

[bbuggabugga]

The computer you write your notes on was originally developed by the people who were developing the tech behind the music you are listening to in this song, the music these folks developed helped fuel the revolution that brought you your little button box where you write your mindless inanities and criticize my generation... think about it - and we brought you this tech!!!

[1happy1little1emo1]

jesus christ dude theres more to 60s songs than drugs

[lagunaflyguy]

Voted one of my top twenty psycedelic songs of all time.

[Kostas4e]

Doesn't the sky look green today? so epic

[michaelpeirce]

@Kostas4e In Baltimore 1969 we called it the winter of the blue snow. Quite elegant - how it came down. We all saw it. North Charles and 2838 Calvert street were places were the thing that was happening was celebrated. Gone now, as I suppose it had to be - just a moment in time. Glad I was there though.

[pouchfreeman]

This was released as a single before "After Bathing at Baxters" came out a couple of months later. It probably freaked out a lot of AM listeners, as it never had the commercial impact of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit". I however LOVED it and thought it should have went straight to number 1. But I was only 10.

[pbrucpaul]

Too much of a conflict between Garce Slick and Marty Balin. Eventually through all the drugs and competition between the two, Balin got phased out. Grace Slick was good, but Marty Balin was the real artist. At 3:31 I love the way Spencer Dryden on drums brings up the Tempo and Kaukonen takes the rest.

[animascat]

@pbrucpaul drugs will always complicate and put an end to good things love the music .

[666INDIA]

This was the best of the airplane after balin left they were not as good vocally

[ScribTheTreeHugger]

@ruzz3ii: Some dank smellin' stuff huh?

[MaccabeeRidah]

This is one of the most badass mofo trucks I've ever heard.. Saves my every god damn day! Makes me think of my girl, swings my mood.. 'nam sound for life!

[SuperStuey2]

One of my fav albums.Thanks

[rowanmark21]

Oh! my Head .I was born 1958 too. muchness of L.S.D.mostly free.Once upon a time. My first experience of authority was at winsor free festival 1974 i think, it ended up with a riot and stonehenge free festival came from this.1973maybe. where are we going from here i am stuck now .bean to india seen some people.where and what next i do not know.

[pbrucpaul]

Feedback and a great band gettin' together. Jack cassidy is awesome on that Bass. Spencer Dryden on drums kicks in beautifully at 3:31. The rest is Jorma kaukonen on lead.

[jackdaws81]

@2'14'' doesn't it sound like TOOL???

[FirstUsedBooks]

When I'm high, when I die, will the moon still hang in the sky? Important questions when stoned on acid.

[Luigio2o]

ARMADILLO!

[moldret1]

let your spirit soar !!!!!!!!

[MultiStevo1]

Never fails to raise my mood or spirits..... What singing!

[hapi0dewa0HAPI]

this song moves me to tears and i can't really explain why. hits a part of me nothing else does.

[realestatefla1]

First time i heard this ablum i was in Stonybrook U.. I totally began to understand hat it was to enjoy life and the meaning of having a great time...

[linachao5]

This song is awesome! I love this album...

[1madpotter]

This was one of the first 5 albums I ever owned. My mother bought it for me for my 12th birthday in 1967. What a great mom!

[WillBradleyRomine]

Armadillo!

[9Iamthewalrus]

how the hell can you do that cool shit with the feedback in the begining?

[DeanRouch]

@9Iamthewalrus Cassidy was a master of bass guitar feedback. Listen to "Sunrise" off of "Blows Against The Empire." But, feedback is easy. It plays itself.

[pbrucpaul]

@DeanRouch Oh yeah. i do agree that Cassidy had the pulse. Then Jorma put it down with his lead guitar. this was definitely a San Francisco group.

[larconeptic1]

@9Iamthewalrus Gibson 335 semi acoustic. Feeds back like fuck.

[mindfoodprime]

This was my introduction to Acid Rock. I never looked back.

[Malkmusianful]

This song proves to me that you simply cannot fuck with Jefferson Airplane.

Much more powerful than anything on Surrealistic Pillow.

[pbrucpaul]

Now that's some good feedback. I like that Cassidy Bass line a lot. That drum beat ( i think Spencer Dryden) at 3:31 kicks it to Kaukonen Real nice.

[lakid87]

The Worst of Jefferson Airplane vinyl - $1 from garage sale

Listening to it from start to finish - Priceless

[Ljuuka]

What did Grace mean with "armadillo" @01:12

[23moksha]

@Ljuuka I think she meant armadillo, but I could be wrong.

[Stughalf]

@Ljuuka That is not Grace, it's Marty Balin. It's funny how often folks have difficulty telling their voices apart.

[Ljuuka]

@Stughalf Marty balin said armadillo @01:17, and grace sung it from 01:12 to 01:15.however the question was, what did she mean with it.

[pbrucpaul]

Good Bass at 2:12, then that Drum roll at 3:31 is just right! Classic '60's Rock

[23moksha]

Will the moon still hang in the sky...when I die?

[randlec6]

I'm 56 now, time has passed me by but I'm able to wander back to 1968 and enjoy quality music again. The Airplane always delivered!! loved this album cover!!

[gbcallahan]

armadillo!

[justmebuk]

Have this album in both mono and stereo versions,,,as well as the original CD, and the re-mastered extended version. Absolute classic!! The harmonies pre-dated anything that CSNY did.....

[SupernalOne]

A fine impassioned melodic frenzy - love the intertwined Balin/Slick vocal lines, and Casady's grungy bass lines - and that feedback intro - too cool

[Subway1s]

In 1971; I was 21 ... good ole RCA placed this album in every library in the world. Wish I still had that M16. Doesn't the sky look green today?

[TheClam88]

@Subway1s This album was released in 1967

[Subway1s]

In 1971; I was 21 ... good ole RCA placed this album in every library in the world. Wish I still had that M16.

[ruzz3ii]

I can smell the pot.

[vmanthekid]

This is still my fav Jeff Airplane tune :) Thx for posting

[wellspout]

amen

[wellspout]

buy the album and listen to the full sequence uninterrupted for full bore effect

[inhousevideo]

After Bathing a Baxters was the group at its creative best, they were all on the same drugs, were still in the SF lifestyle and didn't hate each other yet. They were really great at this point.

[Malkmusianful]

@inhousevideo And yet it does have some of the crazy eccentricities of what Moby Grape and the Dead would later abuse.

[darner123]

After Bathing at Baxters was the best.

[pbrucpaul]

At 3:28-3:32 that drummer(Spencer Dryden, I think) really puts a pulse together; picks the rythym up nice.

[Mfeller21]

wow, I soooo feel you Jackhillty, it happened to me the sane way!

[daddybug101]

A must have album in anyone's collection, absolutely. So much for classic rock. I should be the DJ for classic rock, then you'd know the definition of Classic Rock. This is one of the reasons.

[daddybug101]

A must have album in anyone's collection, absolutely

[prcauch]

I hadn't heard this in more than 30 years and then picked up the remastered Worst of JA CD and wow. These guys were innocent. sincere, and real. Anyone thing this song sounds a bit like "When I was a Boy I watched the Wolves" Sunfighter and BATE remain amazing even today!

[sugarhollowdaddy]

This album came out when I was 16. I was a dishwasher at a resort in Vermont, and they would let me hang out in the lounge in the afternoons when no one was around. I would put this record on the stereo and get goosebumps. Like a freight train, with Medusa straddling the cow-catcher, screaming down the track.

"Will the moon still hang in the sky . . . when I die.?"

[henrypeckstv]

another pooneil off my favorite airplane.

[zombiestars42]

ARMA FUCKING DILLOOOOOOOO !!!

[pbrucpaul]

Not to mention Jorma Kaukonen on lead guitar. Grace Slick does her thing. Awesome.

[pbrucpaul]

Spencer Dryden does his stuff with those drums! I think that's Jack Cassidy on Bass, he was incredible!

[emersontotalyconfuse]

The are wonderful,they looks like the Black Sabbath(ozzy times) and Led Zeppelin of the hippies,with their magic sound full of variations and powerful vocals!

[nicodagger]

whirlized, your story is my story exactly, except I mostly listened to this album with my first GF, Toni DeVito, in her livingroom. At my other friends' shacks in the backyard with the blacklight posters we listened to more Buffalo Springfield and yes the Mothers.

[jackhillty]

I got this album from the public library in 1971. I was 13. With the first note of feedback my brain ripped open and life began to make sense to me for the first time.

[VeryEvilPettingZoo]

lol - damn

[HippyTesla]

@jackhillty I didn't understand the album when I first heard it, when I was 14. It was way off from the Beatles and the Who, which always played on my record player. But, as time passed, I began to love it more and more. I'm 23 now. For a few years now, it's my favorite JA album, and 2nd of my top 5 albums, the 1st being Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.

The only reason why I have it on my PC is because I can't carry my record player around with me :)

[WaldoTunnel]

I forgot to mention... This album glowed green under a black light

[spacepatrolman]

@jackhillty They thought this was their best album because they produced it a songbook was issued [ i thought crown of creatrion was better]

[jackhillty]

@spacepatrolman I actually had a copy of that songbook - wish I'd kept it. I learned how to play rejoyce on the piano from that book

[spacepatrolman]

@jackhillty they have funny quotations in their like spenser sez he is going to assasinate himself

[estrelladembicer]

@jackhillty was it a library in san francisco? i just found this same album at my library

[jackhillty]

@estrelladembicer no, it was in south suburban chicago - the last place on earth you'd ever think of looking for Baxter's. thank god for libraries.

[ledzepguy]

Yes, Armadillo

[DocGeorge4U]

Oh, I forgot:  ARMADILLLO !

[DocGeorge4U]

IMHO, this IS one album that should be listened to from start to finish- so GO BACK and poke "play all 10" or "play all 9" and listen to the whole thing- or don't- I think that it's weird that some songs on this album have half as many plays as the others- they are ALL _excellent_

[MOFODIDLO]

why do they say armadillo is it some kinda of joke

[deanosky]

yes, indeed my friends, Arma..fucking..dillo! It has been so long since I heard this I forgot it was around......Cheers.

[iamther]

what is sad is that the "quote" classic rock radio stations only play somebody to love or white rabbit when they play any airplane at all, which are so played out, Im 55 and this is classic airplane to me

[TheClam88]

@iamther  Yep!

[MegaSoulSearcher]

@iamther But it's actually great that the radio does not play it out. Just keep the CD or MP3 in your car for that stressful time. Break it out and let it go...it's ours not theirs ;)

[theclassicrockkid95]

@iamther It's even better when you see both of those songs played live, side-by-side.

__TheClassicRockKid95__

[wbaranful]

@iamther The solution is; don't listen to classic rock stations. go to the source

[honkingonbobo]

@iamther Agreed man. The ones here in Houston play way too much Boston and Zeppelin. And they only play the two Airplane songs you listed

[DeanRouch]

@iamther I am an Airplane freak. I just threw a festival in Lakeville, IN. (Lakeville Folk & Blues Fest.) Starship were my headliners. Of course, they did those tunes, the rest was old Airplane. I got to play the Papa John stuff with them on fiddle. I lost $30,000. Totally worth it!

[looksea1]

@DeanRouch geez, if you want to do this again sometime, let's talk....

[maxauburn]

@iamther I'm 54 and I know exactly what you're talking about.

I can't even listen to classic rock radio stations any more!

All they ever play are the same exact songs by each group.

It's sad because there are many fantastic Airplane songs that they could be

playing, but they won't. I'm thankful for YouTube, where all the truly great songs live on!

[facelesshorseman]

I took my older brother's LP and played this song over and over on my little suitcase record player. It was so alien to me that it was like I couldn't remember what I had just heard, so I had to hear it again. I was 11.

A classic piece of tribal psychedelia, and as far as I'm concerned, one of the first great punk tunes.

[whirlized]

Great comment. I was in high school when the album came out and little cults formed around it in suburban towns where kids hung out in their parents' basements, "burning incense" and getting off on black light posters (with a little help from "our friends"). This album and Freak Out by The Mothers Of Invention were two of the best to help take us where we wanted to go...

[Behutet93]

whirlized, 1st album i ever heard stoned was East-West by Paull Butterfield Blues Band when was 15 in 1967....BTW this song by the Airplane stomps...one of my favorite albums from back then.

[gnaritasundique]

I just ADORE this song! It's simply great...

[kingsuji]

The feedback guitar intro is the best.

I practiced Jorma's licks on this cut until I had it. Whammy bar, tremolo, all the tricks of the trade.

I agree, Armadillo!

Kingsuji

[kvennis]

1:17 Armadillo!

[KIDAmnesiacBends]

my personal favorite song off the album

[DocGeorge4U]

Perhaps not my favorite album, BUT in the TOP 3...thanks for putting it on, entire...I hope that all of you people listening to this are on for the entire album and not just this one song...after all. "no man is an island".....

[JoaniePH51]

He's a peninsula!

[TEMPmichaelhansen]

type in Jefferson Airplane - The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil on here and look for the 45 rpm version of this song, greatly different (also hear the version on "Worst of Jefferson Airplane") Marty Balin rules, for me.

[fnnichols]

Saw Grace in shopping mall,selling her art,2 years ago in suburban Maryland!

[glimmer2158]

Will the moon still hang in the sky? Who's to say.

[putoncabron]

cool song ese!

[putoncabron]

this is one cool song. very trippin'. the guitar playing is so awesome. i hope the moon will stand in the sky when i die, ese!

[SkopTeocratico]

I love this song a lot!

[louiseduvee]

Craving this, so... How are you?

[NitaBMe]

man I was jammin this when I was 14 or 15

I'm 28 now, and this is still the SHIT!!

Thanks for posting this; I'm actually surprised someone thought to post this album, It's so freaking awesome

Where I live, few people know of this album, they've only heard "White Rabbit" or "Somebody to love"

I actually came to this cuz I had the lyrics

"any woman whose husband sleeps with his head all buried down at the foot of his bed. I got his arm, I've had it for weeks"

CLASSIC :-)

[elthambarrel]

Just to let you guys know, there is a really cool 11 and a half minute version of this on the 3 cd box set "jefferson airplane loves you" . Well worth checking out.

No mention of the armadillo on this version though :(

[HunterGio85]

thanks friend 5*****

[xShigureSohmax]

I love this song!! This song is awesome--it's so trippy and has great guitar. I love Jefferson Airplane. Armadillo. xD

[hummingharder]

The very best. Down the streets of SF...incense with fog.

[marijanie333]

haha...armadillo...that is what he says, isn't it?

[NoRosesForMe]

haha yes thats what he says. dunno why tho... funny

[uncledave53]

THIS is Jefferson Airplane.

[marktennantart]

before after bathing at baxter's

AFTER AFTER BATHING AT BAXTER'S

[katsimbalis7]

Jefferson Airplane é uma das melhores bandas do periodo Lisérgico e Grace Slick é uma das melhores vocalistas e muito bonita também.

[uncledave53]

Grace was one voice amoung many

[jackhillty]

ps - ah ah ah ma aa dilll oh. armadillo

[uncledave53]

Long,longtime ago ina Universe far away, I played this music. The jeff and the Dead were masters of theater music,combining jazz,rock and hedonism. A very 60's thang.(wink) This is my very favorite JeffAir song as it (now at this time in my life) IS THEM. This is who they were and how They didit. Listen to it stoned. You will be entertained.

[enorbet2]

I love the allusion of the bird and the wind describing the concept that free will acts within the constraints of the laws of nature and the illusion that we are somehow separate. We are the universe experiencing itself. And oh yes the music is pretty wonderful as well.

[pyrophore]

Nicely put. The words are actually from a poem by A. A. Milne who wrote Winnie the Pooh that Kantner was fond of. (the Poo in Pooneil, neil being Fred Neil).

Baxters was the dividing line, separating the hardcore fans from the more casual. It's like submerging in the dark pool of the subconscious and bathing in the hidden truths to be found there. Sublime.

[bobksf]

Definitely. Surrealistic Pillow was a commercial success but the Airplane had little control over how it (or their first album) was made. They produced Baxters themselves and it has that feel of a collaborative effort with no compromises. If I recall (I AM old enough to remember this), it took them FOREVER to get it together on Baxters, which may have undercut their popularity, but it was SO worth the wait. It is their best (along with "Bless it's Pointed Little Head").

[Zeitgeist74]

I love that ominous guitar intro with the feedback. Way cool. It still gives me goosebumps. Oh, and the rest of the song is awesome, too. :)

[scooterdudeofcopley]

After Bathing at Baxter's is a great album. It hints at what might have developed had the J A gone more jazz in time, as has been the case with Joni Mitchell, etc. This wasn't meant to be however and Tuna was the result.

[uncledave53]

It was a tremendous album. Hated by the critics abosulutely loved by me at 13.I formed my bass playing from JA and the Dead. Once you learn your instrument,You can play Everything. and I did

[enorbet2]

Well maybe. After all the following "Crown of Creation" had "House at Pooneil Corner" which was in 7/4 time, a few other odd ones and even the 4/4's often had odd accents. "Volunteers" wasn't as adventurous but I think band hassles had begun to dig deep by then since Grace gave the power to who she was with and since Marty was left out the politics got personal over time.

[Kumari58787]

Favourite song by Jefferson Airplane.

[ComputerND]

And I stil like it after a year.

[ComputerND]

I have listened to this song too many time in one year.

[jackhillty]

i was never the same after hearing this - thank god

[HerbDangerous]

I wore this album out when I was a kid.

[louiseduvee]

I've worn out so many copies in so many formats ,,,and I still do! LOL, know what you mean. I paint to this.

[ZzeppelinN]

yeahhhhh