A while back I mentioned that certain songs get stuck in my head while I play in a chess tournament even though I don’t listen to any kind of music player. The haunting melody and the bizarre lyrics of "White Rabbit" are a trip and I think they’d be perfect for rounds 5 and 6 when my brain is fried anyway. Apparently "White Rabbit" is some kind of drug culture hit veiled in Lewis Carroll imagery. I don’t do drugs and I hardly even drink, preferring the high of adrenalin, insomniac endorphins, and the fumes of electrical fire coming from my overheated mental circuits during a long weekend chess tournament.
Of course much of the imagery is from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and its sequel “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There”.
I’m going to try to add my own psychedelic spin by illustrating the lyrics of “White Rabbit” with some images from Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp.
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Recall Alice
When she was just small
When men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"FEED YOUR HEAD
FEED YOUR HEAD”
3 comments:
I loved that song when it came out. Yes, I'm old enough to remember it. My oldest sister was a Jefferson Airplane fan so it was frequently played in the house. At the time I didn't play chess I learned about a year later.
My other favorite chess themed rock song is "Your Move" by Yes.
I love the pictures you posted with the words. When you're stumped about what move to make...Go ask Alice.
this is random but did you draw those pictures that are to the right of the lyrics?
No I did not draw them. Those are screen captures from the arcade/PC game Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp.
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