Backstage (The Doors – A Secret Weapon)

Welcome Backstage. I’m Damian DeadLove. Tonight’s band is, “The Doors”. I’m a huge fan of this group since the first time I heard them when I was 13 years old. Which was many, many, summers ago. They have such a distinct sound, mainly because of the organ. That was big part of it, but it’s not the whole picture by any means.

The Doors, formed in 1965. After some early lineup changes, these four men are recognized as the members of the band. They are: Jim Morrison – Vocals, Robby Krieger – Guitar, Ray Manzarek – Organ/Keyboards, John Densmore – Drums/Percussion. They were active from 1967 to 1971. Morrison passed away on July 3, 1971, He was 27. 

This band is very influential to me, especially lyrically. I’m a lyricist at heart I always have been. I studied lyrics constantly to develop my craft. But I’m also a poet. Jim Morrison, was the bridge for me between the two crafts. He considered himself a poet, and released poetry books. I own both books and have read them many times.

Sorry for the left turn there, we now return you to your regularly scheduled program already in progress. The point of this story is that “The Doors” had a secret lyrical weapon. Morrison, gets most of the credit and he did write a bulk of the words. But Robby Krieger was pretty efficient with the pen as well. 

In fact their biggest hit was “Light My Fire”. What some people don’t know is that Krieger had penned the words for the first verse and the chorus.. The title was his for sure. 

Another thing about, The Doors, is that the band was ran as a democracy. Everything was split between the four of them equally. That was agreed upon before they signed the deal with Elektra records.

In songwriting the lyricist makes a lot off the copyrights, that and who ever wrote the melody. It doesn’t go by chords or riffs. There are a lot of residual returns for a songwriter.

Here’s an example of what I mean. Nirvana, was a democracy in the beginning, they shared everything equally while they were a struggling band for those first couple of records.

Then Nevermind happens and the band blows up. The deal was still in place at the time. No one could have predicted the success of that album. 

Cobain noticed though, because in his case he was the main songwriter and all the lyrics and melodies were his. 

He restructured the contract before recording In Utero. My point is Morrison probably could of had more, had he wanted to push for that. But he choose to honor the original agreement.  

Anyways thru reading other books and studying “Doors” history. I’m gonna make a calculated guess and say Krieger probably had the first verse written. Which is repeated as the fourth verse. 

Morrison, I believe wrote the second verse which is also repeated as the third verse. I’m unsure about the Chorus. It’s possible it’s a combination of them both. But since Krieger had the song title it’s possible the chorus is his as well.

I said Krieger was a secret weapon earlier. Well this should help build my case to prove that point. He wrote or co-wrote three more hits. Including, “Love Me Two Times, Touch Me, and Love Her Madly”. Along with other deep cuts on their albums. Such as “Wishful Sinful, and Spanish Caravan” to name a few.

Well that’s another episode in the books. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember music is the soundtrack of our lives. Peace, Love, and Lennon.