Lather (song)

"Lather" is a song written by Grace Slick and performed by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane. It is the opening track on the 1968 album Crown of Creation and was the B-Side for the single of the same name.

Meaning

The song's lyrics tell of a fellow called Lather, who has just turned 30 and, much to his sorrow, is coming to the realization that he is expected to behave and dress in a manner that society deems stereotypically appropriate for the adult age group. The song was written for Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden's 30th birthday. The composer, Grace Slick, was actually poking fun at Dryden, her then-sweetheart, because he was the first person in the band to reach the milestone age of thirty - considered to be a "boring" age by contemporaries, as a person had grown up and could no longer have fun. Grace Slick herself, speaking on the Fly Jefferson Airplane DVD repeats these lines and remarks; "Spencer was very child like. He was more child-like than the rest of the other guys in the band, so it's a song about Spencer Dryden being the old guy but still being a child. I called him Lather because he used a straight-edge razor at the time and had a fairly thick beard - he used lather." ^[1] However, one passage of the song:

"But Lather still finds it a nice thing to do,
To lie about nude in the sand,
Drawing pictures of mountains that look like bumps,
And thrashing the air with his hands."

has been said by Bill Thompson, in his introduction of the liner notes to the 2003 reissue of Crown of Creation, to refer to the occasion when bassist Jack Casady was arrested nude on a beach in Santa Cruz, California, while on the psychedelic drug STP.

The song is also notable for its very distinct arrangement.

The band performed the song in their 1968 appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. It is seen as a music video for the song as it features psychedelic effects.^[2]

Cover versions

Tom Constanten performs a solo piano instrumental cover of this song on his album Morning Dew.
Small Potatoes performed as part of a medley "Lather Danish Misfortune Mad Mouth" on their album Waltz of the Wallflowers (A Dysfunctional Duet).

References

↑ Fly Jefferson Airplane DVD
↑ Jefferson Airplane performs "Lather" on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on YouTube

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