“Light My Fire,” today’s classic song of the day, was a huge hit for two vastly different artists—the Doors and José Feliciano. Let’s revisit the tale.
The Doors’ guitarist, Robbie Krieger, wrote “Light My Fire” in early 1966, although it credited to all four members of the band—Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and singer Jim Morrison. It was Manzarek who provided the little Bach-like organ bit in the intro, Densmore who suggested it start with a single snare drum hit, and Morrison who wrote the second verse and the “Try to set the night on fire” lyrics in the chorus.
The band first played “Light My Fire” live during a few concerts in April of 1966. They recorded a seven-minute version, complete with jazzy solos in the middle, for their self-titled debut album, which was released in January of 1967. A shortened three-minute single version, with all the jazzy bits taken out, was released in April of 1967 and went to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. It became an instant classic.
A year later, Puerto Rican singer and guitarist José Feliciano recorded a more mellow, Latin-influenced cover of the song. Feliciano’s version of “Light My Fire,” released as a single in July of 1968, hit #3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 and was a #1 hit in Canada.
“Light My Fire,” with its vaguely psychedelic feel and trippy lyrics, inspired a bit of controversy when the Doors were slated to appear on the September 17, 1967, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Ed, thinking that the “girl, we couldn’t get much higher” line was a reference to drug use, politely asked the band to change the line—which they did during rehearsals, singing “girl, we couldn’t get much better,” which was really kind of terrible. But come show time, Jim Morrison sang the lyrics as originally written, invoking the ire of Mr. Sullivan and the promise never to have the band back on his show ever again. Ed stuck to his promise and the Doors appeared only that once on the Sunday night showcase.
Which brings us to tonight’s daily bonus video of the day, the Doors’ one and only appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, singing “Light My Fire” as it was always intended. Bravo to the boys in the band for standing up to the man.
