“Somebody to Love” by Jefferson Airplane

The purpose of Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” is to espouse the ideologies of romantic “loyalty and monogamy”. And this is presented specifically within the context of the free-flowing nature of 1960s San Francisco. Moreover, it should be noted that sole writer of this song, Darby Slick, had freshly been dumped by his girlfriend when he penned this tune.  As such it would logically be her whom, if even in a roundabout way, he is addressing. That being said, you should know that he doesn’t actually sing the song.

The singer is questioning the romantic goals of the addressee. That is, the vocalist is presenting the hypothetical of “don’t you want somebody to love”.  And the storyline reads as if it is the addressee has had her heart broken. She was in a relationship where “the truth” therein was “found to be lies”. Also she no longer feels “joy” for the romance. And basically, the singer is acknowledging that said relationship is indeed dead. In fact the emotional pain the addressee is going through is very perceivable.

So conclusively, the way the lyrics reads is something like the singer insinuating that the addressee made a mistake in her past choice of a romantic partner. Or another way of looking at it is that she chose to fall in love with a person who was not all that serious about the relationship. Thus the narrator is telling the addressee that next time around “she better find somebody to love”, as in a committed partner who is in it for the long haul.

Who wrote “Somebody to Love”?

The writer of this song is an American musician by the name of Darby Slick.  In fact “Somebody to Love” is the signature song of his career.

He originally wrote the tune for a band called The Great Society that he was briefly a part of in the 1960s. In fact they recorded their own version of “Somebody to Love”, which was released in 1966.

The lead singer of The Great Society was a former model by the name Grace Slick, who took up a career as a musician. Slick was actually the sister-in-law of Darby Slick.

In 1966 she left The Great Society and joined Jefferson Airplane. And when she did so, she carried “Somebody to Love” along with her.

Jefferson Airplane’s Version

And it is the Jefferson Airplane version which is actually the most-popular.  For instance, it was placed on Rolling Stone’s exclusive listing of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

And chart-wise it topped the RPM Top Singles (Canada), in addition to peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. And later, in 1970, it scored a number 3 on the Dutch Top 40.

Indeed “Somebody to Love” is recognized as Jefferson Airplane’s first hit song. And in that regard, it is also considered to be one of the initial hits to come out of California (San Francisco to be exact).

And reportedly, Darby Slick used the royalties he made from this song to sponsor his passion, which was the study of Indian music.

Release Date of “Somebody to Love”

“Somebody to Love” came out on 1 February 1967, via the efforts of RCA Records. Jefferson Airplane released it as part of the second album of their career ( “Surrealistic Pillow”). And a couple of months later is was also issued as the first single from that project.

Moreover the second single from “Surrealistic Pillow” is also another track which harkens back to Grace Slick’s The Great Society days. And that tune is entitled “White Rabbit”.