The Doors- Light My Fire

Light My Fire is a member of the group of songs that without its solo/jam section would be a waste of tape space. The verses and chorus of this song are so boring and dull that I almost always consider fast forwarding over them when I turn the song on. However, if you listen to the version of Light My Fire that appears on the Doors' first album, you will recognize that the chorus actually is more exciting than if you were to hear it on the radio or the greatest hits album. This is because it follows the strangely western sounding "Whiskey Bar." The end of Whiskey Bar ends cleverly and almost seems to be the perfect bridge into Light My Fire. If only the producer of this album had realized this, he would surely have chosen not to end Whiskey Bar with that final thump and instead, he would have used the initial drum beat of Light My Fire as a bridge between the two songs. Luckily, this is not completely lost, because after enough listens through the album, it becomes second nature to begin thinking of Light My Fire at the end of Whiskey Bar. The connection is automatically made.
As I said before, neither is the beginning of the song. I wonder if the fact that the song is not actually in a key (it lays somewhere between C maj and C# maj) makes it a little eerier in a less attractive way.
One thing is for sure, the very beginning of the song sounds completely stupid, and its a terrible way to open and close the song. It isn't exciting, it doesn't do anything musically, and that organ sound sounds like circus music. Good thing Morrison can sing, cause what a relief it is when his booming voice comes on sounding deep and on-tune as ever (especially for Off Key Morrison). So the verse is nice, even the organ sounds ok, and the guitar sure is eerie in a neat way. But, as soon as those drums come in for the chorus, you know its getting bad. "Come on baby light my fire." Ugh, its like a bad commercial with those circus organ sounds again. Once that happens, I give up on the rest of the singing and I'm pretty much out until the jam section begins.
It doesn't take longer than the first chord of the jam section to grab me back in. The organ starts out with a few accompaniment/preparation chords, and then the solo begins perfectly. I always wonder if this was written out before hand. Is there much improv going on here? I doubt it.
As the organ solo starts, the bass begins its everlasting chugging of the same riff over and over again. This is actually fine. It isn’t distracting, and the bass sound is almost hypnotizing, probably one aspect that makes this song so good, in fact. Although, the closer you listen to it, the more you realize that the notes of the bass really sound pretty rough, not so musical, and unprofessional. So the organ solo starts at 1:14 with multiple hits of that one note that he sticks with throughout the rest of the solo, its THE note of the solo. The solo builds up for a bit, until at 1:52 is the next exciting point. Here he plays around with the time signature, giving us some 3/4 over the 4/4 time signature. Makes you rock to a different beat if only for a moment. And that builds right back to the normal time at 1:59 with a dissonant and exciting chord. That lasts till 2:15 where all of a sudden it’s up even higher. Then again at 2:30 another rise and this time the drums and guitar joins in on the rise of excitement. The drums probably highlight this part beginning around 2:32. Sadly, at 2:42, with nowhere left to go, the drums signal the beginning of the end of the solo, the organ starts to slither down and die, and by 2:48, the drums are just banging away, and the organ can't pick up the lost energy. The only redeeming quality of this part are the guitar's sliding licks that occurs at 2:43 and again at 2:47 and then happen a little more frequently starting at 3:05. 3:08 marks the end of the keys solo, and a much welcomed break from thinking.
For those of us who don't yet know what is coming next, the organ starts its accompaniment sounding chords again at 3:14, signaling another solo is about to occur. Prepare yourselves, folks!
At 3:18, the real song begins. The first note of the guitar signals a shift in the music. All of a sudden, we are being hypnotized. I almost feel as if I am in india and there are snakes floating out of baskets. The guitar sound is so pure and full. Not a note is missed. Every note sounds well prepared, and just plain old sit back and listen beautiful. Then, at 3:34, there is not more melody. All of a sudden, it is conversation. Twice, the guitar makes some kind of nervous statement almost like a kid playing hide and seek nervously searching in a dark room pleading blindly, "Jimmy I can see you there, hear me I can see you there!" Snap back to melody.
After a strange but unique note to end a phrase at 3:45, a bold conversational statement appears once again at 3:46! An excited, "I knew Id find ya! I knew Id find you!" Four times in a row, followed by a great one phrase melodic response 3:53. Some dissonance at 4:05, and some LA Womanesque doors guitar sliding.
4:28 starts the next excitement with the high reaching note played again and again, just like trying to reach the top drawer where the cookies are (on tiptoes). And then, a little harder and harder, and explosion of high guitar notes with some help from the drums until, crash, down we go dully until we reach THE low point of the solo at 4:40. A group of three notes, the third being a badly fit (accidental?) distortion. A great alternative would have been for the second note in the group to be distorted instead, but I imagine this was less of a musical decision and more of an accident.
After this mess, we end up with some really meaningless guitar noodling. I do not enjoy it, I find not substance in it at all, and I wish it would go away. It sounds like the beginning of the solo, and if were trying to build up, this is a let down. If they're trying to bring the energy down, WHY??? What a waste of time where they could just skip this and go to those booming end notes. But no, they start over from scratch. Finally, the beginning of the end at 5:08 with some triplets again. These continue until 5:14, (where the radio edit version picks up the solo) with booming guitar and organ notes/drum beats that no one can mistake as being powerful.
And back to the circus music, actually a good entrance, but come on, its so corny! A nice verse (good bass, I am noticing now). And then a nice twist in the last chorus starting at 6:13. Back to a not so enthralling "light my fire" chorus again, and some circus music to send us home. The ending would leave a sour taste in my mouth if it was any more drawn out. Luckily its not, and I'd merely call it harmless.
Overall, the solo makes the song. But without the song, would the solo be as good? For some reason I think not. The contrast between the song part and the solo seems to be the cause for the solo's sounding so damn good. If the song was just the solo, I think it might not be as eerie and attractive. That’s probably why i never fast forward over the song part.

Best Moment(s): 3:34, 3:46
Worst Moment(s): 4:40, the circus music
Song Rating (out of 16): 14