“Light My Fire” begins, like Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, with a single snare-drum shot. And, as with Bob Dylan’s clarion call, when The Doors’ signature song topped the US charts in July 1967, it was a case of the pop mainstream embracing a counterculture beacon.
Recorded for their debut album, The Doors, released on Jac Holzman’s hip Elektra label, “Light My Fire”cast a malign shadow over the Summer of Love. It was the first song to have been composed by Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, who had the idea for a lyric that referred to the elements, and chose fire after hearing The Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire”.
“Write about something universal, something that will last,” The Doors’ singer, Jim Morrison, had advised him. Krieger duly delivered a lyric that was a heady mix of sex and drugs, of hedonism and nihilism (“And our love become a funeral pyre”).
The Doors used the song to showcase their musical dexterity. On the full-length version – but not on the hit single, a radio-friendly edit – there were long solos, first from keyboard player Ray Manzarekand then Krieger. For this section, Krieger used chords from John Coltrane’s version of “My Favourite Things”, whose melody he “quoted” in his solo during live performances, including in the 14-minute version The Doors played at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival.
The group often performed their best-known hit straight after “Celebration of the Lizard”, a theatrical piece centred around Morrison’s poetry. Bewildered fans would throw lit matches on to the stage and call for “Light My Fire”. This infuriated Morrison, who grew to detest the song. “It stinks,” he told an interviewer in January 1969. “We’re beyond that now.”
But they weren’t. When The Doors omitted “Light My Fire” from their set at a Chicago gig that year, the MC made them go back on and perform it.
The song got Morrison into trouble: his group had been banned from The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967 after he ignored the host’s insistence that they omit the line “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher”, which was taken as a drug reference. And Morrison’s increasingly wild antics at live shows during “Light My Fire”’s epic instrumental section culminated in his conviction for exposing himself at a Miami concert, causing many promoters to cancel bookings.
But “Light My Fire” had taken on a life independent of Morrison’s antics. “The very fact that that song was the key element in the career of both The Doors and José Feliciano – in two total different arrangements of the song – shows how strong that song is,” said Krieger in 1994.
Less than a year after The Doors’ breakthrough, Feliciano, the Puerto Rican singer and guitarist, had an international hit with a Latin-flavoured version of the song. The latent menace of the original was replaced by acoustic warmth. This reassuringly cosy interpretation spawned a host of easy-listening versions. The song’s jazzy chords and Feliciano’s vocal extemporisations opened up a panorama of possibilities for orchestrators, arrangers and producers. Ananda Shankar’ssitar instrumental retains some of The Doors’ sultriness, while groovy orchestral extravaganzas by John Tartaglia, Shirley Basseyand Julie Londonbecame much sampled in later decades.
The Doors’ influence touched a new wave of British bands in the 1970s. The Stranglersturned their sneering cover of the Bacharach-David song “Walk On By” into a homage to “Light My Fire”, complete with Doors-like instrumental solos over the “My Favourite Things” chords.
In 1979, when disco diva Amii Stewarthad a hit with a pumping, high-octane version, Feliciano re-recorded the song with Minnie Ripertonfor her final album, which also featured Stevie Wonder – who himself had recorded a breezy, harmonica-fuelled “Light My Fire”. There were also creditable soul versions by Al Greenand Erma Franklin.
The song’s popularity endured into the 21st century, Pop Idol winner Will Youngscoring a number one hit in 2002 with a version heavily influenced by Feliciano.
But the song remained most celebrated in its original incarnation. On December 12 1970 The Doors closed their set at the Warehouse in New Orleans with “Light My Fire”. It was the last song Jim Morrison ever performed.
We’re keen to hear from our readers. Whose version of ‘Light My Fire’ the best? Let us know in the comments below.
‘The Life of a Song: The fascinating stories behind 50 of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Rhino/Elektra, FourMatt Music, Sony BMG Music UK, Rhino/Warner Bros., Mixed Repertoire, Parlophone UK, EMI Catalog (USA), Parlophone UK, Legend World Music OMP, EMI UK, Fat Possum, Brunswick Records, RCA Records Label
Picture credit: Elliott Landy/Redferns