Everything about Light My Fire totally explained
"
Light My Fire" is a song originally performed by
The Doors on their
self-titled first album, which was recorded in August
1966 and released in January
1967. It peaked at number one on the
Billboard Pop Singles chart in
1967. It was re-released in
1968, peaking at number 87. The first verse of the song was written by Robby Krieger. The second verse was written by Jim Morrison. The Doors took credit evenly each receiving the same share so credit to the song was given to "The Doors". The track also appeared on the first season of
WKRP in Cincinnati on the episode "Fish Story"
Cover versions were recorded by
Astrud Gilberto,
Will Young (whose version hit number one in the
United Kingdom),
Amii Stewart (whose version got to number 6 in the United Kingdom, in 1979, and to number 8 as a remix in 1985)
Natalia Oreiro,
Jose Feliciano (whose version won a Grammy in 1969 Best Pop song of the year),
Nancy Sinatra,
Julie London,
Friedrich Gulda,
Julie Driscoll & the
Brian Auger Trinity,
Shirley Bassey,
Erma Franklin,
Baccara,
Cibo Matto,
Lil Brown Divididos,
UB40,
Massive Attack, the
LN Elektronische Ensemble.
Amorphis,
Hide,
Minnie Riperton,
Stevie Wonder,
Al Green,
Ananda Shankar,
Trini Lopez, John Tartaglia, Zacharias and
Train, whose version can be found on the tribute compilation
Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors.
The Challengers did an instrumental version in 1969, as title track to one of their last albums.
Style
"Light My Fire" is a prime example of
psychedelic rock and an early example of
jazz fusion, with long, seemingly extemporaneous instrumental solos (though it was shortened from seven to three minutes for the radio version) and some Eastern influences. There was also a radio edit that was shortened to just under 5 minutes with about half the instrumental portion in place, released to radio stations only. Stations playing the under 5 minute version tend to be 60's/70's leaning oldies or classic hits stations. Traditional oldies stations as well as some Adult contemporary stations only played the 3 minute version. Classic rock and album rock stations play the long version. Some classic hits stations, though, play both the long and short versions depending on the time of day. Its
harmonic progression (which is based on
John Coltrane's version of
My Favorite Things) and catchy rhythm (particularly Ray Manzarek's swirling,
barrel organ-style keyboard motif) lent itself readily to
pop or
MOR styled
cover versions. Interestingly, neither of the single versions has ever been re-released on CD — not even included on any "Greatest Hits" compilations that the group has released — while the long version has been on Greatest Hits Albums.
Performance
"Light My Fire" was performed by The Doors on a famous appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show September 17 1967. In an oft-told legend, The Doors were asked to change the lyrics of the song (specifically, the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher" to "girl, we couldn't get much better") to be more suitable for a coast-to-coast live audience. The band promised to do so, but according to
Jim Morrison he forgot to change the lyrics at the last minute and performed the unedited version live on-air, which he attributed to having been nervous.
Years later,
Ray Manzarek wrote that even after being told to change the lyrics, the band never even considered changing them. Despite applause from the crowd,
Ed Sullivan was so upset that he refused to shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. Backstage, the band was told that, despite being on the verge of signing a seven-episode deal to continue appearing on the program, they'd never be on the Sullivan show again. Reportedly, Morrison's cavalier response was: "Hey, man, so what, we just
did the Sullivan show!"
Conflict with Buick
John Densmore recalls that when
Buick wanted to buy the piece for use in a 1968 TV commercial ("Come on, Buick, light my fire") and Morrison, who had been out of town, learned that other group members agreed, Morrison called Buick and threatened to have a Buick smashed with a sledgehammer on a TV show should the (presumably ready) commercial be aired.
Acclaim
This song as performed by The Doors is #35 on
Rolling Stone's list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also included in the
Songs of the Century list and was ranked number 7 in
VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of All Time list. According to acclaimedmusic.net, it's the 33rd most acclaimed song in music history and the fourth most praised from 1967.
Other covers
Shirley Bassey recorded this song on her 1970 album "Something"
The song was also covered by
disco artist
Amii Stewart in 1979 as "Light My Fire/137 Disco Heaven". In 1977, the song was covered by the Spanish group
Baccara. The song was called "Light My Fire (Baby, Won't You Reach Out)", and included on their album with the same name.
Peter Steele of
Type O Negative has performed the song live, although no recordings other than
bootleg versions are available.In 1988 the Argentinian band
Divididos covered the song on their debut album "40 Dibujos Ahi en el Piso" (40 Drawings there on the floor) .The song was also covered by
Scott Stapp with the rest of
The Doors on
VH1's
Storytellers, as well as on a recorded version. Baccara's version is the second known
disco version of the song, and appeared on
the album of the same name. The Finnish
death metal band
Amorphis covered the song as a bonus track on the re-release of
Tales from the Thousand Lakes. Bristol
trip-hop group
Massive Attack covered the song on the album
Protection.
Beastie Boys covered the song for the vinyl release of
Aglio E Olio.In 2006 French singer
Laurent Voulzy covered the song on the album
La Septième vague.
Jackie Wilson's 1968 cover is sampled in track 2 of
Lemon Jelly's Triptych Mix.
The lyrics from the song's chorus were used by
hip hop artist
Necro on the track "Light My Fire". The song is off of his 2002 album
Gory Days and has nothing in common with the original song other than its chorus lyrics.
A piano version of the song was created by pianist
George Winston on his album
Night Divides the Day - The Music of the Doors.
Amanda Overmyer of
American Idol Season 7 performed her own rendition of the song on Hollywood Week.
Trivia
- The song is referenced in the America song, "Simple Life," when Dan Peek sings "And at the end of the day/ You're going to say/ We couldn't get much higher," referencing the infamous line "Girl we couldn't get much higher."
Further Information
Get more info on 'Light My Fire'.
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