Light My Fire

Robby Krieger wrote most of it, and songwriting was credited to the whole band. He said he was inspired by the melody of Hey Joe and the lyrics of the Rolling Stones' Play with Fire. Densmore suggested a Latin rhythm and an opening snare hit, Morrison wrote the second verse and part of the chorus, and Manzarek added the introductory organ motif, influenced by Bach. Manzarek said the instrumental sections were an homage to John Coltrane. The band started playing it live in April 1966, and recorded it over three sessions on 19, 20 and 23 September 1966 at Sunset Sound. Larry Knechtel overdubbed a Fender Precision Bass to double Manzarek's keyboard bass line, Rothchild suggested repeating the introduction at the end, and the finished take was spliced from two recordings.

The long album track was widely requested for radio play, so Holzman asked for a shorter version, and Rothchild edited a single of under three minutes. It spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the first Elektra single to get there, and was certified gold in September 1967. In Britain it reached 49 in 1967 and 7 when reissued in 1991. Rolling Stone ranked it number 35 on its 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs, and it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ed Sullivan and Buick

On 17 September 1967 the Doors played it on The Ed Sullivan Show. The producer Bob Precht asked them to change the line girl, we couldn't get much higher, and at rehearsal they sang much better. On air Morrison sang the original, and they were told they would never perform on the show again. In October 1968 Buick offered $75,000 for a commercial built on the song. Densmore recalled that the others accepted while Morrison was in London and could not be reached, and Morrison phoned Buick to threaten to smash a Buick on television if the advertisement ran.

Live

It is the most logged song in the Doors' setlist records, appearing in 209 of the 296 setlists that list songs.