| "My Best Friend" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Jefferson Airplane | |
| from the album Surrealistic Pillow | |
| Released | January 1967 |
| Recorded | November 4, 1966 [1] |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:01 |
| Label | RCA Victor |
| Songwriter(s) | Skip Spence |
| Producer(s) | Rick Jarrard |
"My Best Friend" is a song by the Jefferson Airplane. It was written by the band's former drummer Skip Spence. [5] The song appeared on the band's second album, Surrealistic Pillow and was released as a single. The single stalled at number 103 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart, which Jefferson Airplane biographer Jeff Tamarakin attributes to it being a "slower-paced song" that was not what the public expected from a San Francisco acid rock group. [5]
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By the time the album was recorded, Spence had left Jefferson Airplane to join Moby Grape. Tamarakin described the song as "Set to a lazy hop-along rhythm, the mostly acoustic ballad is the embodiment of the love-power ethic, sung in uplifting tandem harmonies. [5] Joe Viglione of Allmusic praised the song as "a beautiful blend of original Jefferson Starship sound with a harmony-ragged Mamas & The Papas meets Spanky & Our Gang's loose folk vaudeville." [2] George Starostin praised it as a slow "catchy pop song." [6] Rolling Stone called it a "country charmer." [4] Doug Collette of Glide Magazine compared the song to tracks on the debut album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off and noted it as "polite, sweet harmony-laden." [7]
