from Rolling Stone Magazine  December 9, 2004

Issue #963

Special Collectors Issue:  The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

as voted on by 172 singers, musicians, producers, industry figures, critics, and songwriters

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#35:   17 weeks; No. 1   page 88

Light My Fire

It was the first song Krieger ever wrote -- with additional lyrics from Morrison and arrangement ideas from the rest of the band.  "It's like I'd saved up all the things in my mind until that time and had the chance to get it out all at once," Krieger told Rolling Stone.  The song catapulted the Doors to overnight fame, which Krieger says was part of Morrison's plan:  "Jim had this idea of the band being like a shooting star, going up real fast and becoming a huge success."  "Fire" ran for seven minutes on the LP and was cut down to three, with Krieger's and keyboardist Manzarek's solos excised, on the single.

#328:   non-single   page 144

The End

Morrison had worked on a student production of Oedipus Rex at Florida State.  But his exploration of its sexual taboos took on bold new life in the eleven minutes of "The End," which evolved during the Doors' live shows at L.A.'s Whisky-A-Go-Go.  "Every time I hear that song, it means something else to me," Morrison said in 1969.  "It could be goodbye to a kind of childhood."

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Ray Manzarek:  My Top Ten  page 124

1.  "Roll Over Beethoven" - Chuck Berry     The first great rock & roll lyric - and it had that infectious Berry beat.

2.  "Tutti-Frutti" - Little Richard     The great nonsense song of the Fifties.

3.  "Mystery Train" - Elvis Presley    Dark, brooding, mysterioso.  I first heard it on a blues station in Chicago.  Only later did I find out Elvis was white.

4.  "Hoochie Coochie Man" - Muddy Waters     The greatest electric-blues song of all time.  He taught all of us how to play.

5.  "Smoke Stack Lightning" - Howlin' Wolf    This is voodoo.   This is Africa brought to the New World.  This is the music of 10,000 years.  Feel it!

6.  "Light My Fire" - The Doors     Those California mystics lay down the Latin and then rock it.  Is that a John Coltrane homage in the solo section?

7.  "Blue Suede Shoes" - Carl Perkins     The Fifties in a three-minute capsule.  And then Elvis does it!  I actually owned box-toe blue suede shoes.

8.  "Who Do You Love?" - Bo Diddley     Danger.  Snakeskin.  Skulls.  Arlene.  How sweet she must have been ...

9.  "With A Little Help From My Friends" - The Beatles     English tunesmiths reveal they are actually stoners.  And it's all love, with your friends to support you.  Do we need anything else?

10.  "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones     It was now, mod, rock, birds, pot, stovepipe legs, Pucci, Biba.  What a time of freedom and discovery.  If only we could see it again.

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