morrison hotel

The Doors made it real and let it roll with this mysterious union of hard rock and roadhouse blues.   The band had been in a slump with the poor response to 'The Soft Parade' and 'Absolutely Live'.  Legal problems came as Morrison's antagonistic onstage behavior made him the first rock artist to be arrested while performing when he was dragged off by police in New Haven.  After another show in Miami, he was charged for exposing himself in public.  

Morrison would reflect on the recent charges from police and critics:   "I think that really it was a life style that was on trial more than my specific incident. I guess that what it boiled down to was that I told the audience that they were a bunch of fucking idiots to be members of an audience...you know...what were they doing there anyway? The basic message was...realize that you're not really here to listen to a bunch of songs by some fairly good musicians. You're here for something else, and why not admit it and do something about it...I think that the music has gotten progessively better...tighter...and more professional...more interesting. I just think that people resent the fact that...three years ago, if you remember, there was a great renaissance of spirit and emotion and revolutionary sentiment. When things didn't change overnight, I think people resented the fact that we were just still around doing good music...A hero is someone who rebels, or seems to rebel, against the facts of existence and seems to conquer them, but obviously that can work at moments. It can't be a lasting thing...but that's not saying that people shouldn't keep trying to rebel against the facts of existence...Who knows, someday we might conquer death....and disease and war... I think of myself as...a...as an intelligent...sensitive human being with the soul of a clown...which always forces me to blow it at the...a...most important moments."


'Morrison Hotel' featured Jim Morrison on lead vocals, maracas, and tambourine;   Ray Manzarek on tack piano, Gibson G-101 organ, Vox Continental organ, piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Hammond C-3 organ, Rocksichord, and Moog modular synthesizer;   Robby Krieger on guitar;   and  John Densmore on drums;     with Lonnie Mack and Ray Neapolitan on bass guitar;   John Sebastian (as "G. Puglese") on harmonica.   Produced by Paul A. Rothchild with Bruce Botnick engineering, the album was a return to the heavy blues sound of their earlier albums.  Two of the songs were recorded during earlier sessions:   "Indian Summer" in late August 1966 during sessions for The Doors  and  "Waiting for the Sun" during sessions for Waiting for the Sun in 1968.  

'Morrison Hotel'  went to number thirty-two in France, thirteen in Norway, twelve in the UK, six in the Netherlands, four in Australia and the US, and number three in Canada.  









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"Peace Frog"



"Roadhouse Blues"





'Morrison Hotel' 
full album:




Side A: Hard Rock Café
1. "Roadhouse Blues"   (The Doors) 4:03
2. "Waiting for the Sun"   (Jim Morrison) 3:58
3. "You Make Me Real"   (Morrison) 2:53
4. "Peace Frog"   (Morrison, Robby Krieger) 2:51
5. "Blue Sunday"   (Morrison) 2:13
6. "Ship of Fools"   (Morrison, Krieger) 3:08
Side B: Morrison Hotel
7. "Land Ho!"   (Morrison, Krieger) 4:10
8. "The Spy"   (Morrison) 4:17
9. "Queen of the Highway"   (Morrison, Krieger) 2:47
10. "Indian Summer"   (Morrison, Krieger) 2:36
11. "Maggie M'Gill"   (The Doors) 4:23

waiting for the sun

The Doors went through creative differences and alcoholic binges to create the psychedelic blues experiments of this pop celebration.  The massive success of their eponymous debut had eclipsed their second album 'Strange Days' and the band was under pressure from Elektra Records to come up with another hit song.  They went into T.T.G. Recording Studios in Hollywood, with its state of the art 16-track recording capabilities to record 'Waiting For The Sun' with engineer Bruce Botnick and producer Paul A. Rothchild.  Jac Holzman was production supervisor on the sessions that featured Jim Morrison on lead vocals and percussion; Ray Manzarek on keyboards, backing vocals, and percussion; Robby Krieger on guitars, backing vocals, and percussion; and John Densmore on drums, backing vocals, and percussion;  with Douglas Lubahn and Kerry Magness on bass guitar; Leroy Vinnegar on acoustic bass.  

During the sessions, Morrison's drinking had gotten out of hand and it affected his ability to perform in the studio when he actually showed up.  It was enough to make Densmore quit the band...twice.  Kreiger reveals:    "That’s when the liquor really started being a problem. Before that, everything was more or less fine. LSD was no problem because it was a creative thing. There’s nothing good about liquor — it just fucks you up—though at first it relaxes you, which is what you probably need after taking eight-zillion acid trips... By that time, Jim was being taken advantage of by various hangers-on. He would bring them to the studio and Rothchild would go crazy — all these drunken assholes would be hanging around, fucking in the echo chamber and pissing in the closets. It was a mess.  Jim would drink with anybody because we wouldn’t drink with him. He would take on all these assholes, who used him: 'Hey, we’re hanging with Jumbo.' And they wouldn’t care how fucked up he got—they’d leave him on somebody’s doorstep in his own puke...I never drank with him because I didn’t like to drink to excess and he loved to go until he couldn’t see. I knew what was coming and hated to see it, so I would usually be gone by that point. John and Ray felt the same way...The fact that Jim was using so much made us use even less. The romance was definitely gone. Once in a while he would talk me into taking acid — just like you saw in the movie — but not often."

Morrison fought to get his 'Celebration of the Lizard' on the record, which would have taken up an entire side; but the rest of the band vetoed him and only part of the song was included as 'Not To Touch the Earth'.   Morrison considered at the time:  "We tried that, but it didn't work out. But we did use part of it. I think we're going to wait and do that later, maybe as part of a live album. Our new album is called 'Waiting For The Sun'. We're thinking of adding something else to it...It's.....just songs. There are no real long ones."

'Waiting for the Sun' went to number twenty in Germany, sixteen in the UK, three in Canada, and number one in France and the US.  It became their only album to hit the top spot in the US; but critics were not kind.  Manzarek recalls:    “When we got negative reviews from San Francisco, we thought, ‘Hey, wait a minute.  We came out of John Coltrane and Muddy Waters and Miles Davis, out of Beat poetry, Sabicas ‘flamenco guitar, Coltrane’s drummer Philly Joe Jones, Bill Evans on the piano. We’re not underground? ‘I think it all had to do with ‘Hello, I Love You, ‘which we consciously set out to make a hit single. People were like, ‘Bloody damn hell, you can’t manipulate things. ‘We’re the masters of space and time, of course we can manipulate. ‘You’re not the underground anymore. ‘We’re not starving. We made a hit. As a matter of fact, we hope you, the lovers, the hippies, join us. Let’s take over the fucking world. Is everyone ready to do the hard work that it takes to run this country?' They weren’t.”










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'The Unknown Soldier' was released as a single during the production of the album.  It only made it to number thirty-nine on the US pop chart.   Morrison would consider: "Well, I liked Soldier and I'm not sure what the trouble was. Most of the stuff at that time was real soft music, you know...There have been war songs before. It wasn't really a war song anyway."    Manzarek added: "It came out at a bad time. If it had come out maybe six months earlier or four months later or right now, it probably would have done all right. It was the war thing, you know. When it came out, the war was just sort of really coming to a head. I think it came out just when we started negotiations and that everybody was really into a funny thing about the war. But now, I don't know, I guess the war is over. Everybody assumes it's over. It's not, of course. They're still fighting."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcqVEWcO5RY




'Hello, I Love You' became the second and final number one hit for the band in the US.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzM71scYw0M







'Waiting for the Sun'full album:




1-Hello, I Love You 0:00
2-Love Street 2:16
3-Not to Touch the Earth 5:08
4-Summer's Almost Gone 9:03
5-Wintertime Love 12:25
6-The Unknown Soldier 14:19
7-Spanish Caravan 17:44
8-My Wild Love 20:43
9-We Could Be So Good Together 23:35
10-Yes, the River Knows 25:59
11-Five to One 28:36
bonus tracks:
12 Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor 33:04
13 Not To Touch The Earth (Dialogue) 37:37
14 Not To Touch The Earth (Take 1) 38:16
15 Not To Touch The Earth (Take 2) 42:19
16 Celebration Of The Lizard (An Experiment-Work In Progress) 46:36






'Feast of Friends' 
documentary

light my fire

The Doors couldn't get much higher than with this 
incendiary single during the summer of love.  Guitarist Robbie Krieger brought 'Light My Fire' to the rest of the band and they added to his unfinished song.  Krieger says:  "The one about the 'funeral pyre'...Yeah, that verse is Jim's...Ray wrote the introduction."  He adds:  "It's really a great feeling to have written a classic. I think I owe a big debt to Jose Feliciano because he is actually the one, when he did it, everybody started doing it. He did a whole different arrangement on it. It was a much more accessible arrangement as far as different types of musicians doing it. Nobody had covered it up until that time. Once he did it, everybody started doing it. Even though I really didn't like his version at first, like I say it was a lot more accessible. The very fact that that song was the key element in the career of both the Doors and Jose Feliciano, in two total different arrangements of the song shows how strong that song is."



Jim Morrison sang lead vocals; Robby Krieger played a Gibson SG guitar; Ray Manzarek used a Vox Continental, Keyboard bass, and added backing vocals; and John Densmore handled drums.  Manzarek not only wrote the keyboard intro but also added an extended solo.  He considers:  "It’s all different ways of seeking the one, which is what The Doors tried to do in their music – seeking the one, that oneness, that energy, the power of creation, the power of playing Robbie’s song, 'Light My Fire'. The power of playing 'Light My Fire'. After I came up with that organ part – and that was the last thing left to do – we were at the beach house in Venice and I told John, Robbie and Jim  'Hey, go out to the beach and let me think about this for a second. You guys just go.' And they walked out to the beach or walked out to the ocean because we were on the beach and I went (hums melody) and it just sort of fell into place as the introduction, the last thing needed for 'Light My Fire'. I said to the guys, 'C’mon back in. I got it.' And putting all of that together, Robbie’s brilliant creation, A minor to F sharp minor, 'Light My Fire', the solo section, that opening passage, that opening introduction, Jim’s second verse, John’s drumming, all of that coming together into this creation. See how good it is for brethren to dwell together in harmony, in oneness. The creation of you, all of us and our fellows together, we could take what we did as four guys and we could create the new American society. What a fucking goal, man! That’s the goal of my life. And I’m just waiting for the young guys to come along. Let’s do it. C’mon, guys. And now the girls can join us too. C’mon, let’s change this whole society."

Paul Rothchild had produced the sessions for their eponymous debut.  Elektra founder Jaz Holzman remembers: "We had that huge problem with the time length - seven-and-a-half minutes. Nobody could figure out how to cut it. Finally I said to Rothchild, Nobody can cut it but you. When he cut out the solo, there were screams. Except from Jim. Jim said, 'Imagine a kid in Minneapolis hearing even the cut version over the radio, it's going to turn his head around.' So they said, 'Go ahead, release it.' We released it with the full version on the other side."    'Light My Fire' went to twenty-seven in the Netherlands; sixteen in Australia; seven in New Zealand and the UK; two in Canada; and number one in France and the US.  

On September 17, 1967 the band performed the song on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'.  They were asked by the producers to change the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher" because sponsors were leery of any reference to drugs.  They changed it in rehearsals; but during the live performance Morrison sang the offending lyric.  The band was told that they would never do the Sullivan Show again; to which Morrison replied:  "We just 'did' Sullivan."








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You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher

Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre

Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah

The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre

Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah

You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher

Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire






The Story of 'Light My Fire' by The Doors

the doors

The Doors of perception were kicked wide open with the incendiary blues poetry of this dark and hypnotic debut. Shamanistic singer Jim Morrison got together with fellow UCLA film student and keyboard player Ray Manzarek and eventually connected with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. They cut their teeth at clubs in Los Angeles like London Fog and took up residency at the Whisky a Go Go. Jac Holzman caught their act and signed them to Elektra. Producer Paul A. Rothchild and engineer Bruce Botnick recorded the album over eight days in August of 1966 at Sunset Sound Recording Studios, capturing the band's dynamic live set on one of the most explosive debut albums ever. Manzarek's electric organ combines with Krieger's meditative guitar explorations to create a dynamic backdrop for Morrison's evocative performance poetry. 'The Doors' hit number four in Norway, three in France, and peaked at number two in the US.





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Light My Fire went to twenty-seven in the Netherlands; sixteen in Australia; seven in New Zealand and the UK; two in Canada; and number one in France and the US.  

single version

album version

on The Ed Sullivan Show

The Doors - Light My Fire (On Ed Sullivan Show) (Live) (1967)

The transcendent plea of 'Break On Through' hit number twenty-eight in New Zealand, and peaked at number eight in France. Listen to the full album to hear the unedited version of the song with the line: "She gets high."

"We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side"

A provocative performance of the Oedipal drama of 'The End' was so profane, it got Morrison kicked out of the Whisky a Go Go.

"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land"

The Doors
full album:

All songs written and composed by the Doors (Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore), except where noted. 

Side A

1. "Break On Through (To the Other Side)"   2:29

2. "Soul Kitchen"   3:35

3. "The Crystal Ship"   2:34

4. "Twentieth Century Fox"   2:33

5. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) 3:20

6. "Light My Fire"   7:06

Side B

7. "Back Door Man" (Willie Dixon, Chester Burnett) 3:34

8. "I Looked at You"   2:22

9. "End of the Night"   2:52

10. "Take It as It Comes"   2:23

11. "The End"   11:41

l.a. woman

The Doors rode the storm, sang a lonely song, and dug deep into our blue blue blues to come up with their swan song. After releasing five albums (The Doors and Strange Days in 1967, Waiting for the Sun in 1968, The Soft Parade in 1969, and Morrison Hotel in 1970) in four years, the band's music had became increasingly complex even as they embraced a more down and dirty rootsy sound; and Morrison's voice was more raspy due to the ravages of his excesses. Their long time producer Paul Rothschild had quit and their engineer Bruce Botnick took over. They decided to record very quickly with as few overdubs as possible. It all combined to a critical mass of earnest poetry and gutsy rock and roll that shows the strengths of the entire band.

Robby Krieger reveals: “We were pretty far down. People were saying we were over. We couldn’t play anywhere. Morrison Hotel hadn’t done much. Jim was getting fat. Nothing really seemed to be happening, and we didn’t have much material when we started the sessions. Before we even started recording, our producer walked out on us...I think we came up with an album so loose and cool that it has stood up for 40 years because there was no pressure. We figured we were screwed, so we started having fun again. We were so far gone that it was like a weight was lifted when Paul left. He was a great producer, and you can’t argue with the stuff we did with him, but he was always a very difficult guy to work for. He was a perfectionist, and we were looking forward to having the dictator off our back and just having some fun recording for once, which is exactly what happened." 

'L.A. Woman' went to number thirty-two in Germany, twenty-eight in the UK, fifteen in Norway, eleven in Canada, nine in the US, and number one in the Netherlands.

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The title track is the centerpiece to the album; a definitive statement of the contradictions of celebrity and desperation in the city of angels. Mr. Mojo Risin' is an anagram of "Jim Morrison". The reverb of the vocal comes from recording it in the bathroom at The Doors Workshop in West Hollywood.

"I see your hair is burnin'
Hills are filled with fire
If they say I never loved you
You know they are a liar"

Robby Krieger came up with album's shimmering pop moment in 'Love Her Madly'

"All your love is gone
So sing a lonely song
Of a deep blue dream
Seven horses seem to be on the mark"








'The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)'

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft 

We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping "









'Riders On The Storm' ends out the Doors' recording career in an understated opus that speaks of a transitional journey through an absurd life toward the inevitable end. 

"Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out alone "

'L.A. Woman' 

full album:

Side A

1. "The Changeling"   Jim Morrison 4:21

2. "Love Her Madly"   Robby Krieger 3:20

3. "Been Down So Long"   Jim Morrison 4:41

4. "Cars Hiss by My Window"   Jim Morrison 4:12

5. "L.A. Woman"   Jim Morrison 7:49

Side B

6. "L'America"   Jim Morrison 4:37

7. "Hyacinth House"   Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison 3:11

8. "Crawling King Snake"   Anon, arr John Lee Hooker 5:00

9. "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)"   Jim Morrison 4:16

10. "Riders on the Storm"   Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore 7:09