B-side "The Crystal Ship" Format 7" vinyl | Released May 1967 Recorded August 1966 | |
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock Length 7:06 (album version)
2:52 (single version) | ||
"Light My Fire" is a song by the Doors, which was recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967 on their self-titled debut album. Released as an edited single in May 1967, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late July, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording.
Contents
- History
- The Ed Sullivan Show
- Buick TV commercial
- Speed discrepancy
- Personnel
- Appearances in other media
- Jos Feliciano
- Shirley Bassey
- Will Young
- Other covers
- References
A year later, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 following the success of José Feliciano's version of the song (which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard chart), peaking at number 87. The song was largely written by the band's guitarist Robby Krieger, and credited to the entire band. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in September 1967 for one million units shipped. As of December 1971 it was the band's best-selling single, with over 927,000 copies sold.
A live version was released in 1983 on their album Alive, She Cried, the first of several live albums released in subsequent decades to include the song. "Light My Fire" achieved modest success in Australia, where it peaked at number 22 on the ARIA chart. The single originally reached number 49 in the UK in 1967, but experienced belated success in that country in 1991, when a reissue peaked at number 7. This reissue was more successful in Ireland, peaking atop the IRMA chart for two weeks in June. The reissue occurred on the back of revived interest in the band following Oliver Stone's film biopic The Doors. The song is number 35 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was included in the Songs of the Century list. Feliciano's cover version won a 1969 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, the same year he won another Grammy for Best New Artist.
History
The song originated as an unfinished Robby Krieger composition. Although the album version was just over seven minutes long, it was widely requested for radio play, so a single version was edited to under three minutes with nearly all the instrumental break removed for airplay on AM radio.
Ray Manzarek played the song's bass line with his left hand on a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, while performing the other keyboard parts on a Vox Continental using his right hand. For the recording session, producer Paul A. Rothchild brought in session musician Larry Knechtel to play Fender Precision Bass guitar to double the keyboard bass line. When the Doors played the song at live concerts, Manzarek used the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass without augmentation.
The Ed Sullivan Show
The band appeared on various TV shows, such as American Bandstand, miming to a playback of the single. However, "Light My Fire" was performed live by the Doors on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast on September 17, 1967. The Doors were asked by producer Bob Precht, Sullivan's son-in-law, to change the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher", as the sponsors were uncomfortable with the possible reference to drug-taking. The band agreed to do so, and did a rehearsal using the amended lyrics, "girl, we couldn't get much better"; however, during the live performance, the band's lead singer Jim Morrison sang the original lyric. Ed Sullivan did not shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. The band had been negotiating a multi-episode deal with the producers; however, after breaking the agreement not to perform the offending line, they were informed they would never do the Sullivan show again. Morrison's response was "We just 'did' Sullivan."
Buick TV commercial
John Densmore recalled that Buick offered $75,000 in October 1968 to adapt the song for use in a Buick Opel TV commercial ("Come on, Buick, light my fire"). Morrison, however, was still in London after a European tour had just ended on September 20 and could not be reached by the other group members, who agreed to the deal in his absence. As the band had agreed in 1965 to both equal splits and everyone having veto power in decisions, Morrison consequently called Buick and threatened to personally smash an Opel with a sledgehammer on television, should the commercial be aired.
Speed discrepancy
The 40th Anniversary mix of the debut album presents a stereo version of "Light My Fire" in speed-corrected form for the first time. The speed discrepancy (being about 3.5% slow) was brought to Bruce Botnick's attention by Brigham Young University professor Michael Hicks, who noted that all video and audio live performances of the Doors performing the song, the sheet music, and statements of band members show the song in a key almost a half step higher (key of A) than the stereo LP release (key of A♭/G♯). Until the 2006 remasters, only the original 45 RPM singles ("Light My Fire" and "Break On Through") were produced at the correct speed.
Personnel
Appearances in other media
The song was made available to download on October 26, 2010 for use in the Rock Band 3 music gaming platform in both Basic rhythm, and PRO mode which takes advantage of the use of a real guitar / bass guitar, along with support for standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to main and backup vocals.
José Feliciano
Vocalist and guitarist José Feliciano experienced significant international success when he released his version of "Light My Fire" in 1968 as a single on the RCA Victor label. It is perhaps the best known cover of this song, reaching number 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts, only a year after the original had been a number 1 hit on the same chart. Feliciano's remake blended Latin influences, including a mixture of classic Spanish guitar, flute and flamenco, with American pop. Feliciano's version of the song is played at a slower tempo than the Doors. The single helped to spur the worldwide success of its album, Feliciano!, which was nominated for multiple Grammy Awards in 1969. Feliciano's arrangement of "Light My Fire" has influenced several subsequent versions, including that by Will Young. Songwriter Robby Krieger said in an interview about the cover: "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."
Feliciano revisited the song, singing a duet with Minnie Riperton on her 1979 album Minnie.
Shirley Bassey
"Light My Fire Remix" is a single released by Shirley Bassey in 1999. This is a remix of the vocal recorded in 1970 for the album Something, which is also included on this release. The single was issued by Blue Note, EMI Music France in two formats a 12" single and a CD single.
In spring 1998, Blue Note France and Radio Nova organised a competition to find the best remix, created from the Groove and Jazz back catalogues. The DJ had to be an unknown, who had not yet had any work published. DJ Booster was the winner and the hip-hop and club dance remixes of "Light My Fire" were released to the public. French musician DJ Olivier Armbuster, alias Booster, has origins in the suburbs of Paris. He is a musician, who plays a variety of instruments and went on to release an album entitled Loop in 2001.
Bassey's original recording of the song was arranged by Johnny Harris, who also recorded his own instrumental version using a similar arrangement for his 1970 album Movements.
- "Light My Fire" (Booster-Remix Edit) – 3:17
- "Light My Fire" (Booster Mix) – 5:05
- "Light My Fire" (Shirley Bassey original version) – 3:23
- "Light My Fire" (Booster Jungle Mix) – 4:23
Will Young
Pop Idol series 1 winner Will Young covered the song in 2002. He originally performed a piano version of the song in the final 50 of Pop Idol, and again, with a backing track, in the final 10. It was later released as his second single. It went straight to the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart, selling 177,000 copies in its first week of release. The single stayed at number one for two weeks. The cover version was recorded in the style of José Feliciano's version.
Young also performed the song on World Idol, where he came in fifth place.
Other covers
Singer and actress Amii Stewart. Who is most famous for her cover of the Eddie Floyd song Knock on Wood, also covered this is in 1979 as a double A-side with 137 Disco Heaven (medley). It was a substantial hit getting to #5 in the UK Singles Chart as well as #26 in Germany, #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #36 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
It was later re-released as a remix in 1985 as a double A-side with a remix of Knock on Wood, this remix was also successful returning Stewart to the British Top 10