"The fire is in the minds of men, not on the roofs of houses"
--Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The Possessed"
"METROPOLIS", 1927
https://youtu.be/Q0NzALRJifI?t=1h24m12s
Posted on 07/31/2017 11:34:18 AM PDT by Twotone
Exactly half a century ago - July 29th 1967 - this song hit Number One on the Billboard Hot One Hundred. This essay is adapted from Mark's book A Song For The Season:
It was 50 years ago today-ish that Sgt Pepper was going on about how it was 20 years ago today. That's to say, the "Summer of Love" is half a century old: It's longer ago today than the summer of flappers and charlestons and bootleg gin was back in 1967. But, boomers being the most self-absorbed generation in history, we're going to be living with boomer pop culture until the very last one keels over at the age of 130 singing "Give Peace A Chance". So we might as well get used to it. And, to be honest, there's one aspect of the Summer of Love I'm quite partial to. What was America's Number One song in that bright new hazy psychedelic dawn? Oh, come on, baby...
Come on, baby, Light My Fire Come on, baby, Light My Fire Try to set the night on fire...
It set the summer on fire five decades back. The single was edited down to under three minutes, but the disk jockeys played the original seven-minute album track anyway, from the Doors' eponymous album The Doors.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Great song, great band. Morrison should have been more careful with his various recreational activities.
Morrison hated that song.
Certainly better than the Jose Feliciano version.
I remember first hearing Light my Fire when I came home on my Extension Leave from Vietnam in March ‘67. I liked it just fine and told everyone about it when I got back “in country” later in the month.
Doors would hands down be worst band of all time if there weren’t myriad worse bands.
"The fire is in the minds of men, not on the roofs of houses"
--Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The Possessed"
"METROPOLIS", 1927
https://youtu.be/Q0NzALRJifI?t=1h24m12s
“Doors would hands down be worst band of all time if there weren’t myriad worse bands.”
Darn it. I wish you had told me this before I spent money on buying The Doors records. I could have saved money.
Yep.
Live and learn.
Morrison was starstruck as he recognized it as the same mike used by Frank Sinatra - Jim was a HUGE fan of Frank.
When they performed it on the Ed Sullivan Show, they were told not to say the word “Higher”.....Of course, Jim made a point of emphasizing the word “Higher” when they performed it.
I always thought “Touch Me” was Jim trying to do his best Sinatra imitation.
Jose Feliciano did the song, very well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx0meyQf62w
The youth culture was what it was, but the music is timeless.
That is why it is still played, and talked about.
I’m very blessed to have CDRs of “The Doors” first album and “LA Woman” - both burned from the original studio master tapes.
When Morrison’s voice comes in at the beginning of “Break on Through”, it explodes into the listening room as if he was “right there”.
Kudos to Bruce Botnick’s superb engineering and especially his miking of Morrison by not using a normal “shield” on the Telefunken U47 mikes.
When in doubt about a song-lyric, always translate it into German for fun.
Morrison was definitely channelling Sinatra on parts of “Touch Me”.
The Doors used Curtis Amy on saxophone.
Still have the "DOORS" 8-track & the 69 Chevelle I played it in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.