It’s possible that somewhere among Robby Krieger’s possessions is a rare leather bound inscribed copy of Jim Morrison’s book An American Prayer. It’s also very possible that the book is moldering in a storage unit or was misplaced long ago and discarded.
The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger is not quite sure. Continue reading
I love when you can focus on the musicianship of a song you know very well by hearing it in a completely new way.
The following audio isolates The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek’s playing on Love Her Madly from the 1971 album L.A. Woman.
Hidden by the final mix are Manzarek’s deft touches which can be fully appreciated when heard like this.
One surprise that I had never previously picked up was discovered at the 2:03 mark. Continue reading
Pére Lachaise Cemetery photo: Stuffnobodycaresabout.com
“Is there really a body in there?” is usually not one of the questions you ask yourself when visiting a grave. But this is no ordinary grave. Continue reading
Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics to Mr. Tambourine Man
Maybe you’ve wondered; how did some of the greatest songs in the history of rock ‘n’ roll get written? When a creative artist puts pen to paper in a moment of inspiration, what does it look like?
If you are Paul McCartney or Keith Richards, sometimes melodies and words come in a dream.
McCartney’s melody for “Yesterday” was penned right after he dreamed about it. The original words he thought of were very different from the final version. Instead of,
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they’re here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday.”
the words McCartney originally thought of were,
“Scrambled eggs. Oh, my baby, how I love your legs. Not as much as I love scrambled eggs. Oh, we should eat some scrambled eggs.”
MCartney obviously worked on those lyrics for what has become one of the all-time great Beatles songs, with John Lennon apocraphally changing the title to “Yesterday.” Unfortunately there is no trace of McCartney’s original handwritten lyrics for Yesterday.
Keith Richards said he recorded Satisfaction, the breakout song for The Rolling Stones while dreaming as well. Instead of a pen, Richards had a tape recorder by his bed in a hotel while on tour in 1965. In the morning he checked his portable recorder and was surprised it was at the end of the tape. He rewound it to the beginning and discovered he had laid down the main riff and chorus and the words “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” He had no memory of actually recording the song, but surmises he woke up while dreaming it and proceeded to record what he had dreamed and went back to sleep! Richards presented the song to the band, and singer Mick Jagger later helped with the lyrics.
Outside of dreams, words come to musicians in a variety of ways. We will not look at the story behind the songs, but the actual drafts of the lyrics to those songs.
Searching the internet for the early drafts of songs with corrections yielded few results. But this assemblage is still interesting to look at.
Jim Morrison singer and poet of The Doors wrote the haunting Riders on the Storm, and it was placed as the last song on the final album Morrison performed on, L.A. Woman. It was also the last song to be recorded for that album.
Interestingly guitarist Robbie Krieger’s name is crossed out. Well, we know Morrison didn’t write the entire melody, but Krieger quite possibly contributed some of the words. It is the only song on the album where all four band members receive writing credit.
Next, Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel with The Boxer from the 1970 album Bridge Over Troubled Water. Here you can see Simon’s thought process at work with most of the words never making it into the final version.
If Gruhak ever does a concert in the United States, I’m going to see it.
Since the 1970s I’ve seen over 300 concerts. Among them: AC/DC, Deep Purple, Paul McCartney, Motörhead, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, The Clash, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Rush and countless other classic bands.
Sometimes the shows have been great, other times it’s been a disappointment. Especially now because as the older the bands get, the harder it is for them to perform live. In the past 10 years I’ve mostly stopped going to shows rather than see my rock ‘n’ roll illusions shattered.
Enter the tribute or cover band, that in some cases can deliver a performance that sounds better than the band they are copying. Cover and tribute bands are a dime a dozen, many of them are not very good and they play the bar circuit. There are a handful of bands that can make a full time living at it and have developed their own fan following.
It is rare that there is a band that can have the energy, the vibe and the talent to cover multiple groups and do it well.
That fits the description of Gruhak, a five piece band from Dubrovnik, Croatia. The word “gruhak” means a loud and obtrusive person.
Rather than go on and on about their talent, have a look and a listen.
First up – The Who – We Won’t Get Fooled Again.
Now performing in a totally different style, Gruhak takes on The Doors with Love Me Two Times.
It’s not that Gruhak sound like The Doors. It’s not an imitation, but an interpretation and it’s a damned good one. Gruhak’s singer Boris Kosović, has Jim Morrison’s intonations and the band sounds more like the Doors, than the band that Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger put together a dozen years ago with Ian Astbury, formerly of The Cult, on vocals.
As far as Gruhak’s version of We Won’t Get Fooled Again, it’s as if we’re hearing Roger Daltrey and company in their prime. The other musicians in Gruhak are equally accomplished. Continue reading
What The First Doors Album Cover Could Have Looked Like
Doors debut album photo session © Joel Brodsky
Almost every rock fan is familiar with The Doors 1967 eponymous debut album containing the hit songs Light My Fire, Break On Through, Soul Kitchen and The End. The album’s iconic front and back covers were photographed by Joel Brodsky. The back cover photo was also used for a billboard advertisement; the first album to ever get that treatment on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood.
As we pointed out in our article about Carole King and her photo session for Tapestry, there are always other photographs from a photo session that the public rarely sees.
In these sessions, photographer Joel Brodsky took many pictures of The Doors that could have ended up on the cover. Some of the photos were later used on album sleeve inserts and on greatest hits collections.
Below are some of the other photographs from these famous sessions. Do you think any of them would have worked better than what was chosen?
Forty-five years ago, on September 17, 1967, The Doors performed for the first and last time on The Ed Sullivan Show. The variety program which had introduced America to The Beatles three years previously, was consistently one of the most watched shows in America and could help establish a successful career for a comedian, singer, band or any entertainer.
Before singing their hit Light My Fire, live on national television, the band was warned by a Sullivan show staff producer not to sing the word “higher” when the phrase “girl we couldn’t get much higher,” came up. It was suggested Morrison the poet, come up with another word; “flier”, “wire”, it didn’t matter, just not sing “higher.” The band was told the word “higher,” could imply illegal drug use and was inappropriate for a family program like The Sullivan Show. The Doors were furious and argued their point, but eventually relented and told the producer they would alter the lyric. As soon as the producer left the room, The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison declared to the rest of the band “We’re not changing a word.”
The Doors first performed “People Are Strange” and then launched Continue reading
