Light My Fire

"Light My Fire" is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording. A year later, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 following the success of Jose Feliciano's version of the song, peaking at number 87. The song was largely written by Robby Krieger,^[1] and credited to the entire band. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1967, representing sales of one million units.^[2]

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 #22 on the ARIA chart. The single originally reached #49 in the UK in 1967, but experienced belated success in that country in 1991 when a re-issue peaked at #7. The re-issue occurred on the back of revived interest in the band following Oliver Stone's film biopic "The Doors". The song is #35 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[3] It was included in the Songs of the Century list and was ranked number 7 in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of All Time list. José 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 a Robby Krieger unfinished composition, which the other band members then expanded upon, namely the recognizable intro composed by Ray Manzarek.^[4] Although the album version was just over seven minutes long, it was widely requested for radio play,^[1] so a single version was edited to just under three minutes with nearly all the instrumental break removed for airplay on AM radio.^[4]

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.^[5][6] The band agreed to do so, and did a rehearsal using the amended lyrics; however, during the live performance, the band's lead singer Jim Morrison sang the original lyric.^[5] Ed Sullivan did not shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. The band had been negotiating a seven-episode deal with the producers; however, after breaking the agreement not to perform the line, they were informed they would never do the Sullivan show again. Morrison's response was "We just 'did' Sullivan."^[7]

The Buick Incident

John Densmore recalls^[8] 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".^[9]) 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 smash an Opel with a sledgehammer on television should the (presumably ready) commercial be aired.

Chart positions

Covers

The song's chord progression and catchy rhythm (particularly Ray Manzarek's swirling, barrel organ-style keyboard motif) lent itself readily to pop or MOR styled cover versions.

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 #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts, only a year after the original had been a #1 hit on the same chart. Feliciano's remake blended Latin influences, including a mixture of classic Spanish guitar and flamenco, with American pop sounds. 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. Song writer 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."^[17]

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 the spring of 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, 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 different instruments, he went on to release an album titled 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.

Tracklisting

1. "Light My Fire" (Booster-Remix Edit) -3.17
2. "Light My Fire" (Booster Mix) -5.05
3. "Light My Fire" (Shirley Bassey original version) -3.23
4. "Light My Fire" (Booster Jungle Mix) -4.23

Personnel

• Shirley Bassey - Vocal
• Nicolas Gueguen, Rob - Keyboards

Will Young

Pop Idol UK series 1 winner Will Young covered the song in 2002. Young originally performed a piano version 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

• Erma Franklin recorded a soul style version of the song in 1969. It was released on the album Soul Sister.^[18]
• Stevie Wonder performed a soulful version of the song for the album My Cherie Amour in 1969.
• Legendary movie star Mae West recorded the song for her album Great Balls of Fire in 1972.
• Etta James also covered the song. It can be found on the 3 CD set, Etta James: The Chess Box,^[19] a compilation of her songs recorded from 1960-1976.
• Baccara's 1978 version is the second known disco version of the song, and appeared on the album of the same name.
• Minnie Riperton (in a duet with José Feliciano) covered the song in 1979 on her last album Minnie shortly before her death from cancer.
• Bristol trip-hop group Massive Attack covered the song in 1994 on the album Protection. Massive Attack's version sampled a combination of the Young-Holt Unlimited cover of "Light My Fire" (1969) and the Jackie Wilson cover version of "Light My Fire" from his Do Your Thing album.
• British reggae band UB40 cover the song on their 2000 album, The Very Best of UB40 1980-2000.^[20]
• A piano version of the song was created by pianist George Winston in 2002 on his album Night Divides the Day - The Music of the Doors.^[21]
• Pianist David Benoit recorded a rendition of the song "Light My Fire" for his 2008 album Heroes.^[22]
• Warren Hill released a cover of "Light My Life" from his 2008 album La Dolce Vita.^[23]

Other cover versions were recorded by Clarence Carter, Astrud Gilberto, Amii Stewart (whose version got to number 5 in the United Kingdom, in 1979, and to number 7 as a remix in 1985) Natalia Oreiro, Nancy Sinatra, Julie London, Friedrich Gulda, Julie Driscoll & the Brian Auger Trinity, Birth Control, Cibo Matto, Divididos, The Mike Flowers Pops, the LN Elektronische Ensemble. Amorphis, Hide, Type O Negative, Al Green, Electric Screwdrivers, B.J. Thomas, 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.

References

External links

• Ray Manzarek of 'The Doors', an interview on Fresh Air
• Light My Fire from All Things Considered, 2000 interviews about the song with the surviving members of the Doors