The Psych Ward–Waiting for the Sun by The Doors
The Psych Ward–Waiting for the Sun by The Doors
Caveat emptor: Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” movie from 1991 has indelibly burdened this writer with visual associations for many of the band’s songs – and a lot of those songs appear on Waiting For the Sun, the third studio LP from The Doors. To the point that I have always thought Stone constructed the script or at least some of the scenes in a very literal fashion around the songs. See parenthetical comments below.
Where many artists struggle with writing the follow-up to a successful debut, The Doors were lucky in that they produced two groundbreaking albums: The Doors and Strange Days, both released in 1967. Creatively speaking, both albums were the realization of Jim Morrison’s notebook of lyrics that inspired many of the songs (see the beach scene in “The Doors” where Jim runs into Ray Manzarek and they “spontaneously” decide to form a band).
Waiting For the Sun and Elektra’s demands for a new record proved that the vein of gold mined from Morrison’s notebook was all but used up. The opening track “Hello, I Love You” is an existing song from before The Doors were named as such. Originally written and recorded by Rick & the Ravens (the surf rock group that predated the Doors), once Robby Kreiger joined in 1965, the song apparently evolved into its final composition–a composition it should be noted that resulted in lawsuits from Ray Davies of the Kinks for its similarity to “All Day and All of the Night.” A Billboard number one and certified gold, the song was a huge hit and helped propel the album to become The Doors’ only #1 album.
“Love Street” (see the scene where Jim climbs Pamela Courson’s tree at her house on…Love Street) is another example of Oliver Stone’s literal interpretation of song lyrics for a scene. “My Wild Love” is sung a cappella by the band in the desert hallucination scene when Jim sees the naked and white rider that figures in several scenes in “The Doors”.
“Summer’s Almost Gone” is the other preexisting song from the Rick & the Ravens era and the infamous notebook. The balance of the songs on Waiting for the Sun with one exception were written collectively by the band during recording sessions. Kreiger’s interest in Spanish/flamenco guitar is particularly present in “Spanish Caravan.” Morrison’s problems with alcohol inhibited the studio sessions – to the point that he needed to be propped up to sing the closing track “Five To One.”
The exception mentioned above is “Not To Touch the Earth” which was originally one of a longer piece in seven poetic parts intended to be an entire album side known as “Celebration of the Lizard.” Difficult to record and recognized by the band and producer Paul Rothchild as lacking commercial viability, the composition was ultimately recorded for a live album. The complete lyrics to “Celebration of the Lizard” were included in the gatefold jacket for the album. “I am the Lizard King, I can do anything…” are the final lines of “Not To Touch the Earth” and serve as dialog in the scene on Sunset Strip in “The Doors” where Jim jumps on a car roof to the delight of the crowd and confusion of his bandmates. Raise your hand if you understand…
Related: The 100 Best Psychedelic Rock Albums of the Golden Age
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