"Somebody to Love" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Jefferson Airplane | ||||
from the album Surrealistic Pillow | ||||
B-side | "She Has Funny Cars" | |||
Released | February 1967 [1] | |||
Recorded | November 3, 1966 [2] | |||
Studio | RCA Victor (Hollywood, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:54 | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Darby Slick | |||
Producer(s) | Rick Jarrard | |||
Jefferson Airplane singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio | ||||
"Somebody to Love" on YouTube |
"Somebody to Love" (originally titled "Someone to Love") is a rock song that was written by Darby Slick. It was originally recorded by the Great Society, and later by Jefferson Airplane. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jefferson Airplane's version No. 274 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [5]
Written by the Great Society guitarist Darby Slick [5] after realizing his girlfriend had left him, and first performed by that band, which included his then-sister-in-law Grace Slick on vocals, the song made little impact outside of the club circuit in the Bay Area. The song was recorded on December 4, 1965, and released in February 1966 as a single with the B-side another Darby Slick composition titled "Free Advice" on the Northbeach label (Northbeach 1001) and received minimal circulation outside of San Francisco. [6] San Francisco in the mid-1960s was the center of free love, but Darby Slick saw a downside to this ethos, as it could lead to jealousy and disconnect. The song champions loyalty and monogamy, as the singer implores the listener to find that one true love that will nurture them and get them through the tough times. [7]
When Grace Slick departed to join Jefferson Airplane, she took this song with her, bringing it to the Surrealistic Pillow sessions, [5] along with her own composition "White Rabbit". Subsequently, the Airplane's more ferocious rock-and-roll version became the band's first and biggest success, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. [5] The group's first hit song, "Somebody To Love" was also one of the first big hits from the San Francisco Bay area and West Coast counterculture scene, to which numerous artists and musicians would be drawn in following years.
Slick's original performance of the song with the Great Society is more subdued, with the Jefferson Airplane version sounding far more accusatory and menacing on lines such as "Your mind is so full of bread" and "Your friends, baby, they treat you like a guest." [7] The lyrics are in the second person, with each two-line verse setting a scene of alienation and despair, and the chorus repeating the title of the song, with slight variations such as: "... / Don't you need somebody to love? / Wouldn't you love somebody to love? / ..." Like the album on which it appeared, this song was instrumental in publicizing the existence of the Haight-Ashbury counterculture to the rest of the United States.
Billboard described the song as a "wild dance number loaded with vocal excitement," calling it a "hard driver, featuring powerful female vocal in the lead [which] never stops from start to finish." [8] Cash Box called the single a "bright, pulsating, rhythmic, sometimes-frenetic, funky rock outing." [9] Brett Milano of udiscovermusic.com rated Jorma Kaukonen's psychedelic guitar solo at the end of the song as one of the 100 all-time greatest, stating that it opens "with those three sustained wailing notes and [closes] with those sign-off chords that leave the song forever unresolved." [10] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated it Jefferson Airplane's best song because "it drives harder than almost anything else they ever recorded," "Slick checks in with her all-time greatest vocal" and "the hook is bigger and brighter than most of the band's psychedelic folk-outs." [11]
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Italy (FIMI) [19] | Gold | 50,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [20] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [21] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Somebody to Love" | ||||
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Single by Boogie Pimps | ||||
Released | April 7, 2003 | |||
Studio | Phuture Wax Soundlab (Germany) [22] | |||
Length | 2:59 | |||
Label |
| |||
Songwriter(s) | Darby Slick | |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Boogie Pimps singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Somebody to Love" on YouTube |
A remix of "Somebody to Love" was the debut single of German electronic music duo Boogie Pimps. It was first released in Germany in April 2003 and became a worldwide hit the following year, reaching No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 7 on the Irish Singles Chart. The song also became a top-twenty hit in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. In most of these territories, this was their only hit single, as the follow-up single "Sunny" failed to chart. [23]
In December 2001, Mark J. Klak and Mirko Jacob of Boogie Pimps decided to cover the song after watching the 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , in which "Somebody to Love" is featured. The band's result initially failed to attract attention from German record labels, but the song soon became popular via underground white label releases. [24] It was then picked up by German label Superstar Recordings and released as an official single on April 7, 2003. [25] In the United Kingdom, it was released on January 5, 2004, while in Australia, it was issued as a CD single on January 26, 2004. [26] [27]
German maxi-CD single [22] [25]
UK CD single [28]
Australian CD single [25] [29]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [52] | Gold | 35,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [53] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Germany | April 7, 2003 | Maxi-CD | Superstar | [25] |
United Kingdom | January 5, 2004 |
| Data | [26] |
Australia | January 26, 2004 | CD |
| [27] |
Jefferson Aiplane's studio release was used at the beginning of the Coen brothers' A Serious Man , just after the opening short story about the dybbuk and the title graphic. The Coens invited their longtime musical scorer, Carter Burwell, to compose a musical bridge for the title graphic to help transition from a pre-WWII Ashkenazi shtetl to St. Louis Park, Minnesota in 1967, where Danny Gopnik is listening to the song on an earpiece during his Hebrew language class at school. Burwell responded by adding a dark, brooding introduction to Somebody To Love using the same model electric guitar and bass used in the original studio recording, and played through similar amps by selected musicians. Referring to the sound fidelity, Burwell commented, "it was difficult to reduce our overall sound quality to that of the original recording. We did our best." [54] [55] [56]
The song was also heard during the opening scene of El Santos vs. La Tetona Mendoza.
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Surrealistic Pillow is the second studio album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on February 1, 1967, by RCA Victor. It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is considered to be one of the most influential and quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock era and 1960s counterculture.
Grace Slick is an American retired musician and painter whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.
"P.I.M.P." is a song recorded by American rapper 50 Cent for his debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003). It features production from Mr. Porter of D12 and was mixed by Dr. Dre. The song was released as the third single from Get Rich or Die Tryin' alongside its remix, featuring American rappers Snoop Dogg, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck, on June 24, 2003, by Interscope Records, Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment.
Boogie Pimps are an electronic music duo from Erfurt, Germany. It was formed by two DJs: Mark J Klak and Mirko Jacob.
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"Somebody's Watching Me" is a song recorded and written by American singer Rockwell, released by the Motown label in December 1983, as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name. It features guest vocals by Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson, and Jermaine Jackson performing. The song became a major commercial success internationally, topping the charts in Belgium, France, and Spain, and reaching the top 5 in Canada, West Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the UK, it reached No. 6 and is Rockwell's only top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart. Rolling Stone magazine called the song "an international and enduring smash hit that, more than 30 years later, remains the perennial paranoia-rock anthem and Halloween mix go-to song."
"Always on Time" is a song by American rapper Ja Rule from his third studio album, Pain Is Love (2001). Produced by Irv Gotti, it was written by Ja Rule, 7 Aurelius, and Gotti. Originally set to feature Brandy, it features guest vocals from singer-songwriter and labelmate Ashanti. The song was released as the album's second single on November 27, 2001, through Island Def Jam Music Group, Def Jam Recordings and Gotti's Murder Inc. Records.
"White Rabbit" is a song written by Grace Slick and recorded by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane for their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. It draws on imagery from Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass.
Bless Its Pointed Little Head is a live album by Jefferson Airplane recorded at both the Fillmore East and West in the fall of 1968 and released in 1969 as RCA Victor LSP-4133. The album reached #17 on the Billboard Top LP's chart in March 1969.
The Great Society was a 1960s San Francisco rock band that existed from 1965 to 1966, and was closely associated with the burgeoning Bay Area acid rock scene. Best known as the original group of model-turned-singer Grace Slick, the initial lineup of the band also featured her then-husband Jerry Slick on drums, his brother Darby Slick on guitar, David Miner on vocals and guitar, Bard DuPont on bass, and Peter van Gelder on flute, bass, and saxophone. Miner and DuPont did not remain with the band for the duration of its existence.
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Now 05 is a compilation album released by EMI Music Australia and Warner Music Australia in 2004.
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