Gathering of the Tribes / Human Be-In

 Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon -- Jefferson Airplane


 "The Be-In was a great long stare in the mirror for the psychedelic community, both at the event and in the awed coverage given it by the news media -- everybody was impressed by the fact that the notorious Hell's Angels had stood guard over the generator for the PA system. The temptation to admire the image was too great."
  -- Charles Perry, Rolling Stone  #207  26 February 1976

The above Ralph J. Gleason column published 55 years ago today in the San Francisco Chronicle, reports on the Gathering of the Tribes / Human Be-In on the Polo Field at Golden Gate Park, Saturday 14 January 1967. The hyperbolic, if good-natured, review of the event reflected the view of many in the new-generation Hip community (derisively named "Hippies" by the previous paragons of Hip, the "Beat" generation) who saw this event as the heralding of a new utopian era.

But it marked instead the high-water mark of a short-lived cultural renaissance. Within less than a year, the "Hippie" transformed from a seeker of transcendental awareness -- whether from pursuing art, music, literature, philosophy, science or some other sort of intellectual endeavor, with the aid of occasional ingestion of psychedelic substances -- to a grubby, lotus-eating slacker chasing stoner dreams of hedonistic excess. The original Hippies, overwhelmed and stunned by the flood of the new breed flooding into the Haight, vainly tried to turn the tide with events like the "Death of Hippie" on 6 October 1967. But it was too late. The squalor, the drugs, the violence brought the dream to an inglorious end, yet another example of the tragedy of the commons.

All the above, though, just a preface to today's post.

Paul Kantner swiped images from the Gleason column above and combined them with his experience playing with Jefferson Airplane at the Be-In when he wrote "Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon". Recorded on Oct 26 1967 at RCA Studios in Hollywood, it's the last cut on the "After Bathing at Baxter's" album.

According to Scott Abbot's essential JABase, there are only three known instances of this song being played live before the studio recording, although it was probably played many times, since recordings or set lists for most shows of that era don't exist. I've got a live recording, on or about 12 May 1967, from the "Jefferson Airplane Loves You" CD box set. I've also a live version from the widely circulated "Baxter's Rehearsal" tape, which JABase lists as having taken place on 5 October 1967. Click below to hear that version.

     Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon -- Jefferson Airplane -- 5 Oct 1967

It's interesting that the 12 May live recording and the 5 October rehearsal version are quite different from the studio version, both with a markedly upbeat tempo and a long instrumental after the first verse. They're both also lacking the "bringing on the cannons" bass line from the "Baxter's" version. The first live version in my collection after the release of "Baxter's" (1 Feb 1968 at the Matrix) follows the arrangement of the studio version almost exactly.

But it's Grace Slick's lead vocal on the verse following the break that makes the rehearsal version of "Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon" one of my all-time favorite Airplane recordings.

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