Lather was thirty years old today
They took away all of his toys
His mother sent newspaper clippings to him
About his old friends who’d stopped being boys
There was Harwitz E. Green, just turned thirty-three
His leather chair waits at the bank
And Seargent Dow Jones, twenty-seven years old
Commanding his very own tank
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
But wait, oh Lather’s productive you know
He produces the finest of sound
Putting drumsticks on either side of his nose
Snorting the best licks in town
But that’s all over…
Lather was thirty years old today
And Lather came foam from his tongue
He looked at me eyes wide and plainly said
Is it true that I’m no longer young?
And the children call him famous
What the old men call insane
And sometimes he’s so nameless
That he hardly knows which game to play…
Which words to say…
And I should have told him, «No, you’re not old.»
And I should have let him go on… smiling…babywide
This is such an iconic psychedelic sound and for the era I always thought this was about the struggles of war. Lather is sent off to war and is no longer a boy and they replaced all his toys with guns as he had to kill a bunch of people and now he’s home snorting cocaine to dull the pain of war. It makes me feel better knowing it’s just about not growing up because you’re an adult. I still act 12 most of the time.
I remember going to boy scout camp and hanging a picture of Grace Slick and Janis Joplin on the inside of my tent. I believe Grace was wearing a girl scout outfit. coincidence?
The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane..... Man, we use to listen to this record ALL the time! Experimenting with...........things.Great album,,,, Wonderful memories !