Song of the Day 3/24: Jefferson Airplane, “It’s No Secret”

The second Trump administration is incompetents all the way down. The latest example: National Security Adviser Michael Waltz added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat on Signal. Goldberg initially thought it might be part of a foreign disinformation campaign, but soon realized it was the real thing, revealing details of the U.S. attack against Houthi targets in Yemen.

I knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.

But, you know, Hilary’s emails.

The pre-Grace Slick Jefferson Airplane had the perfect song for the occasion on their 1966 debut album, “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.” The Airplane was basically Marty Balin’s group at that point – he wrote or co-wrote every track and sang lead on most of them, with Signe Anderson and Paul Kantner providing the harmonies. Most of the tracks were love songs, and though “It’s No Secret” was released in its original form, vocals on several cuts had to be re-recorded because record company censors thought they were too sexually suggestive.