The Doors — “Light My Fire”

Let’s step into the way back machine and go back 41 years to 1967. The Beatles were still together, the Stones and The Who were just very young bands, Jimmy Page was still doing session work, psychedelia was in the air with bands calling themselves ridiculous things like Strawberry Alarm Clock and along comes Jim Morrison and The Doors. The Doors had been a somewhat fledgling for a couple of years on the Sunset Strip in L.A., but hit paydirt when they recorded their eponymous album in late ’66 for Jac Holzman’s hip record label, Elektra Records. The Doors debut album was cut in just over a week, their songs tight from playing the club/college circuit over the previous 18 months and they had the good fortune to be paired with hip scenester and Paul Butterfield (East/West) producing alum, Paul Rothchild.

Once The Doors debut album was cut, Elektra’s marketing and promotion departments went into over drive, as they were pushing the pride of their label, the “new and exciting Doors”. Morrison was to be the cover boy for The Doors and he was sent directly to celebrity hair stylist, Jay Sebring (to be brutally murdered by Charles Manson’s minions 30 months later) for an Alexander The Great-inspired haircut. The Doors hit the circuit, ready to set the world on (cough, cough) fire.

The Doors initially thought “Break On Through” was going to be their big hit. Wrong. It was released as a single and……….nothing happened. Then it did happen. The idea was brought up by Elektra brass to cut the mid-section (instrumental portion) of “Light My Fire” (Krieger penned) and release a single version. Actually there are three versions of the song, one is the album version (7:06), a long radio version (4:40), and the single version (3:07). The song was released as a single and The Doors started “performing” the song on every possible medium.

We all know that the song was a huge smash and has gone on to be considered one of the most successful songs of all time. VH-1 called the song the #7 song of all time and Rolling Stone called the song the song the #35 rock song of all time. Elektra was appreciative of the success of the song and bought each band member a gift of thanks. John Densmore (drummer) got a horse out of the deal, Robbie Krieger got a Porsche, Ray Manzarek received some recording equipment and Jim Morrison got a 1968 Shelby Mustang GT 500.

Here’s a clip of The Doors performing “LMF” on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on 7/22/1967.

An interesting footnote is the exchange between Dick Clark and Jimbo.

Clark: A lot of people seem to think you come from San Francisco. Is that true?
Morrison: No. We actually got together in LA. We do play in San Francisco a lot.
Clark: That’s the explanation of why you have that association. Why is so much happening in San Francisco? You figured it out yet?
Morrison: The West is the best!
Clark: (chuckling) All right! Fair enough!
Clark then asks Densmore a few questions about recording their first two albums and asks Robby about their future plans before turning back on Jim.
Clark: Have you selected a name for the new album yet Jim?
Morrison: I think it’s ‘Strange Days’
Clark: All right. Fair enough. Well do the thing that set the whole music business on fire. Ladies and gentlemen, again, The Doors!

Our second clip has a typical back story. This was shot for Malibu U, but the band couldn’t find Morrison. Was he drunk? Was he dead? Not yet. He just didn’t make it to the shoot on the day scheduled. Guitarist Robby Krieger’s twin brother Ronnie acted as a double for Jimbo on the band’s gauche fire engine bit. Morrison was filmed atop the 9000 building in downtown L.A. at a later point for closeups, but never appearing with the band.

Next is the famed performance on Ed Sullivan. Recreated (and over embellished) in Oliver Stone’s The Doors movie, the band had been asked to not use the phrase “girl we couldn’t get much higher.” Jim sang the song just as he always did, with no emphasis on the word ‘higher’, but appearing in America’s living rooms in S&M leather. The story goes: the show’s producer and Ed Sullivan’s son-in-law Bob Precht was so upset that the band didn’t censor their performance that he shouted to the band, “you’ll never do Ed Sullivan again!”, as the band walked off the stage. Morrison glared and Precht and retorted, “man, we just DID Ed Sullivan.”

(Note the cheesy doors on the stage set.)

The Doors closed out 1967 by performing their big hit of ’67 (LMF) and what they hoped would be a big song in ’68, Moonlight Drive. This is another early Doors performance with performances (Jim singing over the studio instrumental tracks). December 27th is the broadcast date, however the date of original filmwork is unknown. The Doors interrupt their performance at Winterland in San Francisco to watch themselves on a TV brought onstage during the original broadcast. (Note: Jim falls at the end of LMF and gets tangled up in the set. Notice the nervous smattering of applause and stifled laughter. Was it for dramatic effect or did Jim lose consciousness momentarily?)