B-side "Love Street" Recorded February–May 1968 Label Elektra | Released June 1968 Length 2:13 | |
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock | ||
"Hello, I Love You" is a hit song by the American rock band The Doors from their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun. It was released as a single that same year, reaching number one in the United States and selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone. In Canada, it hit number one as well. The single also became the band's first big UK hit, peaking at number fifteen on the chart.
Contents
- Composition
- Plagiarism controversy
- Real life influences
- Personnel
- Cover versions
- In popular culture
- Chart performance US
- References
This was one of the six songs performed by The Doors on the demo for Aura Records in 1965.
Sometimes the title is listed as "Hello, I Love You (Won't You Tell Me Your Name?)" or "Hello, I Love You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name?" The title that is printed depends on how early of a pressing the record is.
At the time this 1968 single was released, stereo 45 rpm records were generally unknown — especially in the Top 40 format. This recording by the Doors was promoted as the first rock 45 rpm record in stereo. It includes a long musical sweep about 1:20 into the song, starting at the left channel and panning across into the right channel, in a very ostentatious demonstration of stereo effect. This release, along with the Rascals' hit song, "A Beautiful Morning," are credited with initiating the industry changeover to stereo recordings as the norm for 45 rpm singles.
Composition
Jim Morrison wrote the song in 1965. The track was one of six demos, and wasn't released until three years later.
While the band was recording their third album, Waiting For The Sun, there was some difficulty as Morrison's drinking was making work impossible. Drummer John Densmore threatened to quit the band and the rest of the band decided to look through some of Morrison's old poems in an effort to calm him down. One of the poems, "Hello I Love You", had been written one afternoon, while Morrison and Ray Manzarek watched a girl walking on the beach.
Early American pressings of the single used the title "Hello I Love You Won’t You Tell Me Your Name".
Plagiarism controversy
In the liner notes to The Doors Box set, Robby Krieger has denied the allegations that the song's musical structure was stolen from Ray Davies, where a riff similar to it is featured in The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night". Instead, he said the song's vibe was taken from Cream's song "Sunshine of Your Love". According to the Doors biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, courts in the UK determined in favor of Davies and any royalties for the song are paid to him.
In an interview with Mojo magazine in 2012, Ray Davies said, "The funniest thing was when my publisher came to me on tour and said The Doors had used the riff for 'All Day And All Of The Night' for 'Hello, I Love You.' I said rather than sue them, can't we just get them to own up? My publisher said, 'They have, that's why we should sue them!'"
Real life influences
The last verse was written by Jim Morrison three years prior to the album recordings, reportedly about a woman he saw walking while living on Venice Beach.
"Sidewalk crouches at her feet
Like a dog that begs for something sweet.
Do you hope to make her see you, fool?
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?"
Personnel
With:
Cover versions
The song has been covered by Oleander, Buddy Rich, Missing Persons, The Cure (on the 1990 compilation Rubáiyát), Eurythmics, Simple Minds, Anal Cunt, Neil Young, Adam Ant, Adam Freeland, Siouxsie Sioux, Kiyoharu, the Lithuanian postmodernist rock band Antis, and the Persian alternative singer Mohsen Namjoo.
It is also referenced in the Dresden Dolls' song "The Perfect Fit" and Pulp's "Dogs Are Everywhere". Hip Hop artist Necro mixed and released this tune as "You Ho".
In popular culture
The song was used in the movies Platoon and Casualties of War. The song was also used in the 1981 movie Neighbors and can be heard at the beginning of the Mad Men series finale Person To Person. The show Glee has Cory Monteith sing a cover of it in the episode entitled "Hell-O".
Chart performance (U.S.)
The song spent two weeks at #1 (see below), and was also in the Top 5 at the same time as Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire". This put two of the Doors' tunes simultaneously in the Top 5.