"L.A. Woman" | |
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![]() Morrison's handwritten original lyrics | |
Song by the Doors | |
from the album L.A. Woman | |
Released | April 19, 1971 |
Recorded | December 1970 –January 1971 |
Studio | The Doors' Workshop, Los Angeles |
Genre | Blues rock [1] |
Length | 7:49 |
Label | Elektra |
Songwriter(s) | The Doors [2] |
Producer(s) |
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"L.A. Woman" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. The song is the title track of their 1971 album L.A. Woman , the final album to feature Jim Morrison before his death on July 3, 1971. In 2014, LA Weekly named it the all-time best song written about the city of Los Angeles. [3]
In 1985, fourteen years after Morrison's death, Ray Manzarek directed [4] and Rick Schmidlin produced a music video for the song. It was aired on MTV and included in the Doors film Dance on Fire . [5]
Band guitarist Robby Krieger has repeatedly cited "L.A. Woman" as the "quintessential Doors song". [6] [7] [8] In 2013, it was labeled the 40th best classic-rock song by the New York radio station Q104.3. [9]
"L.A. Woman" has been viewed as Morrison's "final goodbye" to Los Angeles, before his move to Paris, France. [10] The song's lyrics draw inspiration from John Rechy's transgressive novel City of Night , published in 1963, [11] [12] while its title is expressed as a metaphor, personifying L.A. (Los Angeles) as a woman. [4] In author Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith's description, it is also used to describe the city's topography and atmosphere. [13]
In the bridge, Morrison repeats the phrase "Mr. Mojo Risin'," which is an anagram of his name "Jim Morrison". [14] Doors drummer John Densmore later explained the story of the line:
After we recorded the song, he wrote "Mr. Mojo Rising" on a board and said, "Look at this." He moves the letters around and it was an anagram for his name. I knew that mojo was a sexual term from the blues, and that gave me the idea to go slow and dark with the tempo. It also gave me the idea to slowly speed it up like an orgasm. [15]
A yellow sheet of lined A4 paper with the lyrics of the track, handwritten by Morrison, was auctioned in Berkshire, UK for £13,000 on August 4, 2009. [16]
The Doors
Additional musicians
"L.A. Woman" | ||||
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Single by Billy Idol | ||||
from the album Charmed Life | ||||
B-side | "License to Thrill" | |||
Released | July 23, 1990 [19] | |||
Length |
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Label | Chrysalis | |||
Songwriter(s) | The Doors | |||
Producer(s) | Keith Forsey | |||
Billy Idol singles chronology | ||||
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"L.A. Woman" on YouTube |
English singer Billy Idol recorded a version of "L.A. Woman" for his fourth studio album Charmed Life (1990). As the album's second single, Idol's version reached number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1990. [20] The song's music video was directed by David Fincher and received heavy rotation on MTV. [21] [22]
The Doors and Jim Morrison were an influence on Idol during his early years in the music industry. [23] In a 1990 interview with the Associated Press, Idol commented on his interpretation of the song in comparison to the Doors' original, "Jim Morrison was singing about America or L.A. as a microcosm of an America he was very jaded with, really, to the extent that he left it go to Europe, whereas I'm the other way around. I'm still having a bit of a love affair with America and so it's exciting to be the 'lost angel'." [24]
Chart (1990) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA) [25] | 34 |
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [26] | 40 |
Ireland (IRMA) [27] | 28 |
Italy ( Musica e dischi ) [28] | 17 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [29] | 25 |
UK Singles (OCC) [30] | 70 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [31] | 52 |
US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [32] | 18 |
US Radio Songs ( Billboard ) [33] | 99 |
US Cash Box Top 100 Singles [34] | 46 |
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts of the 1960s, primarily due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona and legal issues. The group is widely regarded as an important figure of the era's counterculture.
The Doors is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released on January 4, 1967, by Elektra Records. It was recorded in August 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders, in Hollywood, California, under the production of Paul A. Rothchild. The album features the extended version of the band's breakthrough single "Light My Fire" and the lengthy closer "The End" with its Oedipal spoken word section. Various publications, including BBC and Rolling Stone, have listed The Doors as one of the greatest debut albums of all time.
Robert Alan Krieger is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Touch Me", and "Love Her Madly". When the Doors disbanded shortly after the death of lead singer Jim Morrison, Krieger continued to perform and record with other musicians including former Doors bandmates John Densmore and Ray Manzarek. In the 2023 edition of Rolling Stone's 250 greatest guitarists of all time, he was positioned at number 248.
John Paul Densmore is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band the Doors and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recording made by the band, with drumming inspired by jazz and world music as much as by rock and roll. The many honors he shares with the other Doors include a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Morrison Hotel is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Doors, released on February 9, 1970, by Elektra Records. After the use of brass and string arrangements recommended by producer Paul A. Rothchild on their previous album, The Soft Parade (1969), the Doors returned to their blues rock style and this album was largely seen as a return to form for the band. The group entered Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles in November 1969 to record the album which is divided into two separately titled sides, namely: "Hard Rock Café" and "Morrison Hotel". Blues rock guitar pioneer Lonnie Mack and Ray Neapolitan also contributed to the album as session bassists.
L.A. Woman is the sixth studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released on April 19, 1971, by Elektra Records. It is the last to feature lead singer Jim Morrison during his lifetime, due to his death exactly two months and two weeks following the album's release, though he would posthumously appear on the 1978 album An American Prayer. Even more so than its predecessors, the album is heavily influenced by blues. It was recorded without producer Paul A. Rothchild after he quit the band over the perceived lack of quality in their studio performances. Subsequently, the band co-produced the album with longtime sound engineer Bruce Botnick.
An American Prayer is the ninth and final studio album by the American rock band the Doors. Following the death of Jim Morrison and the band's breakup, the surviving members of the Doors reconvened to set several of Morrison's spoken word recordings to music. It was the only album by the Doors to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Spoken Word" category.
Full Circle is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released in August 1972. It is the second album after Jim Morrison's death, and their last until the 1978 album An American Prayer. The album includes "The Mosquito", the last Doors single to chart.
"Light My Fire" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. Although it was principally written by the band's guitarist, Robby Krieger, songwriting was credited to the entire band. Recognized as one of the earliest examples of psychedelic rock, it was recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967 on their eponymous debut album. Due to its erotic lyrics and innovative structure, the track has come to be regarded as synonymous with the '60s psychedelic and sexual revolutions.
"Riders on the Storm" is a song by American rock band the Doors, released in June 1971 by Elektra Records as the second single from the band's sixth studio album, L.A. Woman. It is known for being the last song that Jim Morrison recorded prior to his sudden death in Paris on July 3, 1971.
"Love Me Two Times" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. First appearing on their second studio album Strange Days, it was later edited to a 2:37 length and released as the second single from that album. The single reached number 25 on the charts in the United States.
"People Are Strange" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It appears on the band's second studio album, Strange Days, released in September 1967. The song was written by the Doors' vocalist Jim Morrison and guitarist Robby Krieger, although all of the band are credited on the sleeve notes.
"Love Her Madly" is a song by American rock band the Doors. It was released in March 1971 and was the first single from L.A. Woman, their final album with singer Jim Morrison. "Love Her Madly" became one of the highest-charting hits for the Doors; it peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and reached number three in Canada. Session musician Jerry Scheff played bass guitar on the song.
"Soul Kitchen" is a song by the Doors from their first album The Doors. Singer Jim Morrison wrote the lyrics as a tribute to the soul food restaurant Olivia's in Venice Beach, California. Because he often stayed too late, the staff had to kick him out, thus the lines "let me sleep all night, in your soul kitchen".
"Runnin' Blue" is a song written by guitarist Robby Krieger and performed by the Doors. Elektra Records released it in August 1969 as the fourth single from the band's fourth album The Soft Parade, backed with "Do It". The single peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at No. 40 on the Cash Box Top 100 chart.
"Break On Through (To the Other Side)" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It is the opening track of their debut album, The Doors (1967). Elektra Records issued the song as the group's first single, which reached number 126 in the United States. Despite the single's failure to impact the record sales charts, the song became a concert staple for the band.
When You're Strange is a 2009 music documentary film about the American rock band the Doors. It was written and directed by Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp. The film covers the band's formation in 1965, its development over the next two years, the release of its debut album and subsequent albums, and vocalist Jim Morrison's extensive use of alcohol and drugs, which led to his death in Paris in July 1971. The film features archival footage of rehearsals, TV broadcasts and concert performances, private cine-film and the background to Morrison's arrest at a 1969 Miami concert and later trial. It also includes the first public release of material from Morrison's 1969 featurette HWY: An American Pastoral.
Manzarek–Krieger was an American rock band formed by two former members of the Doors, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, in 2002. They were also known as "The Doors of the 21st Century", "D21C", and "Riders on the Storm" after the Doors song of the same name. They settled on using "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors" for legal reasons, after acrimonious debates and court battles between the two musicians and Doors co-founder/ drummer John Densmore. They performed Doors material exclusively until the death of Manzarek in 2013.
"Been Down So Long" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It appears as the third track on L.A. Woman, the last studio album that lead singer Jim Morrison recorded with the group. It has been called, notably by critic Robert Christgau, as a "take-off" on the album.
"The Changeling" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It appears as the opening track on their sixth album and final with Jim Morrison, L.A. Woman. Released in April 1971, as the B-side of "Riders on the Storm", the single peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.