It's the fourth! Happy birthday, America!
Love, the Jefferson Airplane.
Weird story here: I shoplifted a cassette copy of Volunteers from a supermarket when I was like, fifteen or something. I'm not proud of it, I don't do that shit anymore, I was young, what can I tell you. All in the past now. Funny thing is I barely listened to it. Once I read the tracklist, I realised it didn't have any song's I'd heard of (there were two... guess which ones). So then years later one night I'm in some bar whose name escapes me. Looking Glass? On 3rd Avenue and 13th Street. Changed names and owners a few times. One of the owners used to chat with me everytime I went in there. No idea why. I was just some dumbass college kid.
So one night the opening chords of this track come blaring out from the jukebox and I'm transfixed. This tall, hippie-looking dude across the bar goes, "Yeah!" So I ask him, "Who's this?"
"Jefferson Airplane, man!"
So I go over to the jukebox to see what album and it's the one I've got on tape but never listen to. I listened to it a lot for the next few weeks, and that's when I started really liking the Airplane, which led me to get into several other bands of their ilk, many not quite as... essential.
I can't remember where I picked up the record. Sticker says $1.99, looks like a Generation tag. Must have grabbed it one day on a whim, replacing the tape, filling in a gap in the library.
Kick back and listen. Think about America. Think about 1969. Think about today. Then get up and go start a revolution. I'll be like, right behind you. In a minute. Or so.
From my deck to you: Jefferson Airplane - "Volunteers"
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