100 Greatest Songs of the 60’s #15 The Doors – Light My Fire

Released: 1967

Ah, the curious case of The Doors: Even now as many people hate them as those that profess devotion. Based on the polarised opinions of those you chance to speak with, they were opportunists who rode their talents roughshod over hippiedom, or alternatively they birthed a psychedelic phenomenon and sound tracked a counter culture.

We do know they were mortals, struggling at the outset before getting a residency at the Whisky A Go-Go thanks in no small part to the magnetism of Jim Morrison. The profile brought them a deal with Elektra, but whilst the bluesy first single Break On Through did well locally, it wasn’t until a meeting with DJ Dave Diamond that the band found out Light My Fire was doing for the public well, precisely that.

Written by Robby Krieger, the original version’s seven minute running time allowed for a lot of introspection, but the suits deemed it necessary to do some less than kind editing for radio. Did it matter that in doing so, the song’s essence had been stripped away? Evidently not to those folks buying records, people who, whatever the musical debate about anyone or anything, tend to always have the final say.