Miracles

"Miracles" is a song written by Marty Balin and originally recorded by Jefferson Starship, appearing on its 1975 album Red Octopus. The song was inspired in part by the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba, whose followers believe him to have been a miracle worker. It was also inspired in part by a woman Balin was in love with at the time. According to Jeff Tamarkin's book Got a Revolution! The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane, Balin labored over the song "for some time" and "slowly but deliberately crafted" it. However, author Robert Yehling has written that Balin wrote the song in 30 minutes or wrote the lyrics in 45 minutes. According to Balin, when he presented the song to the rest of the band members, "Everybody went, 'I don't know about that. That's pretty weird, man.' I was really worried; nobody liked it. But I told myself, after about five days, 'Maybe they're wrong.'" In order to secure more radio airplay for the song, the full-length album version of "Miracles" (6'52") was cut by more than half its length for the single, which was released at a length of 3'25". This edit was done not only for length, but to remove the sexual reference in the line "I had a taste of the real world when I went down on you, girl."