1969 Song of the Day is Volunteers- by Jefferson Airplane. The title track from their 5th album- and the closer on that album it was released as a single and peaked at #65. I had that figured it was at least a minor hit but in checking- Jefferson Airplane only had two hit singles- they were big ones- from 1967- Someone To Love #5 and White Rabbit #8. The song was written by band members Marty Balin and Paul Kantner. How was it inspired? Balin was woke up one morning by a passing truck- on the truck had Volunteers Of America painted on its side. The b-side of the single also got its share of attention- because of the ‘up against the wall m.f’er” line -which was buried a little in the mix but can still be heard. In writing about The Rolling Stones mid 60’s period I mentioned session man Nicky Hopkins as appearing on a lot of the songs- he shows up here too- on the organ. I am not much of a Jefferson Airplane/ Jefferson Starship/ Starship fan but this is a pretty good song. Short- just coming in over 2 minutes. They played Volunteers at Woodstock in August 1969.