Album: Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
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Songfacts®:

  • In this heartfelt love song, Marty Balin sings about discovering his best self through the love of another. It's a sentiment that made the song very popular at weddings and tributes.
  • Unlike Jefferson Airplane's debut album, which includes many songs written by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner, this is the only song on Surrealistic Pillow that is credited to both founding members. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mark - Desperate Hot Springs, CA
  • Marty Balin told Shindig magazine (issue 86, December 2018) that he wrote this song in order to get to know Tony Bennett.

    While the Airplane were recording Surrealistic Pillow in Studio B, the Rolling Stones were in Studio A and Bennett was in C. Balin and the Stones got to hanging out and decided they wanted to meet Bennett, so Balin wrote "Today" with the intention of presenting it to him.

    He never got to meet the elder musician, however, so "Today" became an Airplane song. It went on to become one of their most enduring, in fact, though it wasn't released as a single.
  • Jerry Garcia played lead guitar on this song, although he was not officially credited when the album was released. Garcia played a big role in the development of Surrealistic Pillow.
  • Jazz musician Tom Scott covered the song on his 1967 album, Honeysuckle Breeze. His version features a long saxophone solo that was sampled in the Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth song, "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" as well as by Lupe Fiasco for his 2012 single "Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)."

Comments: 2

  • Rick from Great Falls, VaCheck out the killer totally electric cover of "Today" by Translator. Awesome!
  • Linc from Beaumont, TxThis song and almost all of the Surrealistic Pillow album is used in the Movie Walk on the Moon (1999) with Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Anna Paquiin and Liev Schreiber
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