THE DOORS

Disc One - Without A Safety Net

Five To One 7:29

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED LIVE AT THE DINNER KEY AUDITORIUM, MIAMI, 1969

Ray: Miami! Live, crazy, out of control. Prelude to a riot. A hot, southern, Tennessee Williams night when swamp madness prevailed. Did Jim expose himself? We'll  never know for sure. No photo was ever taken of his substantial member at the concert. Two hundred photos were offered in evidence at the trial but not one contained even a glimpse of the "ivory shaft." This, however, is what he said at the infamous Miami concert: "I'm talkin' about love!"

Robby: Jim figured that by 1969, there would be five times as many people under the age of 21 as would be over, therefore, why not rebel? We could take over. Chris Jones who was a big fan of Jim's, made a movie about the idea called Wild In The Streets. They got the guns but we got the numbers (joints?). Gonna win, yeah, we're taking over! This track was one of the predecessors to Heavy Metal.

John: Jim did not expose himself at Miami... 'cause if he had, he would have tripped.

Queen Of The Highway 3:32

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED AT ELECTRA STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, 1969

Ray: Cool jazz. A trio with a nightclub singer. John playing very hip brushes on the snare, Harvey Brooks on bass. I'm on a Bill Evans homage acoustic piano. Imagine yourself at a smoky jazz joint in the Village circa 1962 with Jim as a world-weary, existential balladeer singing a tale of love. That's the mood we were going for.

John: Love this cocktail, lizard-lounge version.

Hyacinth House 2:40

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

DEMO RECORDED AT ROBBY KRIEGER'S HOME STUDIO, 1969

John: Possibly the saddest song Jim ever wrote. Edith Hamilton's book on mythology, a book Jim carried around in the early days, illuminates the Hyacinth myth, which I quote in my book Riders On The Storm: "Another flower that came into being through the death of a beautiful youth was the hyacinth." There was a contest in which Hyacinthus was accidentally slain by Apollo, and his blood made a wondrous flower bloom, making the lad's name known forever. Jim's lyrics speak of sacrifice and regret, wanting a new friend who doesn't ask for anything to "please to the lions." Jim has crossed over to the other world, and, again from Riders: "Our songs (flowers) have bloomed with wondrous longevity."

Robby: 'Hyacinth' was written at my house. Jim and John came over one day and we turned on the tape recorder. "Hyacinths" refers to some flowers growing outside my living room. "I see the bathroom is clear" is Jim's friend. Babe, finally leaving the bathroom so Jim could use it. The "lions" refer to my pet bobcat Poppy. "I need a brand new friend" alludes to one of many break-ups with Pam.

Ray: The first test run of the song. Robby on acoustic guitar. John on Arabic dunbek drum. I'm not there. This song became one of my favorites when we finally recorded it. I played a Chopin Polonaise in the solo. Here it is at its inception, I love John's cool drums.

My Eyes Have Seen You 2:01

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

DEMO RECORDED AT WORLD PACIFIC STUDIOS, LOS ANSELES, 1965

Ray: The Doors demo, recorded with my brothers Rick and Jim on guitar and harp, respectively. I don't know who the bass player was. This was recorded at the World Pacific Srudio, home of the great West Coast jazz Libel; the home of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Chico Hamilton, Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers and even Ravi Shankar. Dick Bock was the head of the company and he introduced me to the teachings of the Maharishi. That's how I first met Rubby and John. My brothers' band. Rick and The Ravens, were signed to World Pacific's rock and roll subsidiary. Aura Records.

Robby: A real guitar player's song! I still play this one to this very day. Some great lyrics in this one. Someday, people will discover songs like this one.

John: Jim's most erotic lyric.

Who Scared You 3:16

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED AT ELECTRA STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, 1969

Ray: Originally recorded for The Soft Parade album but not released until the Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine compilation album. Jim took the title from a line in a letter that William Burroughs had written to Alien Ginsberg after Alien had taken yage - the powerful hallucinogenic, ayahuasca - in the jungle and gotten "the fear!" It's in Burroughs' book The Yage Letters. I know that fear.

Robby: Harvey Brooks played bass on The Soft Parade album. He was a great help in arranging many of the songs that I wrote for the album. Since we knew there would be horns added to the songs, the bass had to be written with that in mind. Listen to the horns on 'Who Scared You' and how they sit with the bass. Paul Harris, who arranged The Thrill Is Gone' for B. B. King, did our horn charts.

John: Nice groove, nice lyric.

Black Train Song 12:22

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

'Mystery Train’ written by Parker/Phillips. Published by Unichappell Music/Hi-Lo Music Co. (BMI)

RECORDED LIVE AT THE SPECIRUM, PHILADELPHIA, 1970

John: This jam starts out with 'Mystery Train' in which the lyric refers to a funeral train, it goes "Away to India," and finally arrives at the crossroads. Funerals were held at crossroads, because the person dying is crossing over to the other world. Crossroads can also signify a collision of different perspectives, like the weight of ideas in Jim's head - "I got the H-bomb on my mind." It reminds me of another line of Jim's that I like: "1 had a splitting headache, from which the future is made." The song could be the meeting place of Western Civilization (Elvis's version of 'Mystery Train' is the classic), and Eastern thought ("Away in India"), although it wasn't conscious, we just jammed on all of these sections, like a living pot of gumbo. At the end, the sorcerer releases us all from the train ride with: "I woke up this morning, nothin' on my mind!" The self-described soul of a clown says: "I took you through all that, but what I'm really saying is 'Just kidding!'" Jim LOVED to perform this one.

End Of The Night 2:59

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

DEMO RECORDED AT WORLD PACIFIC STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, 1965

Ray: Taken from the title of the book by Ferdinand Celine: Journey To The End Of The Night. This is one of our earliest songs, I love the fact that Jim would mix literary quotes and allusions into his poetry. It's one of the things that first attracted me to his writing. He was at once original and uniquely creative; and able to cop a line from the past masters and weave it seamlessly into his lyrics. I tried to do the same thing with my musical quotes. Some people have said Jim was stealing. All I can say is I wish more rock and roll poets would do the same thing. It would make the art form a little more referential, a little more allusion... and a whole lot broader in scope. Wouldn't that feed the mind?

P.S. That's my brother Jim on harp. What a sweet sounding cat and what a good human being. "Thanks, brother."

John: Lines Jim stole - excuse me. plagiarized - from William Blak: "some are born to sweet delight/some are born to the endless night."

Whiskey, Mystics And Men 2:19

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED AT ELEKTRA STUDIOS, LOS ANCELES 1970

Ray: A sea chantey. We're on port leave. New Bedford, in a grog tavern in the middle of the 19th century. I'm playing mellotron and marxophone. Fritz Ritchmond is on jug. John's on a reggae kick drum. Jessie McReynolds on mandolin. Robby's on bottle-neck. This is part of the Morrisun naval oeuvre. Jim comes from a long line of navy men. There was even a Morrison on the Bounty. This is the mystical sea. This is Herman Melville. The freedom of water.

Robby: The low bass noise you hear is a guy blowing air into a whiskey jug. Fritz, who played it for us, is probably the world's finest jug player. He played for The Jim Kwcskin Jug Band. A great jug band, A little known fact is that I played in a jug band in high school in Menlo Park, California. 1 played guitar, harmonica and voice. We were called The Back Bay Chamber Pot Terriers.

I Will Never Be Untrue 3:56

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED LIVE AT THE AQUARIUS THEATER, HOLLYWOOD, 1970

Ray: Robby and Jim originally did this for a Norman Mailer for Mayor of New York City benefit held at the Cinematheque 16 on the Sunset Strip in 1968. They did it so well together that we decided to try it with all four Doors. This track has never been released before.

Moonlight Drive (Demo) 2:31

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED AT WORLD PACIFIC STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, 1965

Ray: This is also from the demo. Compare this version with the next cut with Robby. Quite a difference, huh?

Moonlight Drive (Sunset Sound) 2:40

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED AT SUNSET SOUND STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, 1966

Ray: The very first song Jim sang to me on the beach in Venice, California after we'd graduated from the UCLA Film School. Contrary to the Oliver Stone movie, Jim did not quit college. He received his Bachelor's degree and I received my Master's degree in June of 1965. This is the first song we cut with Paul Rothchild and Bruce Botnick at Sunset Sound in late August of 1966. Without them, it never would have happened. All six of us were equally responsible for the magic. I love them very much and most of all Jim and Paul who will always be with us in the air... in the light.

Robby: I was the last to join the group. The very first rehearsal /get together, we worked up 'Moonlight Drive'. It turned out to be a perfect song for my bottle-neck guitar style which Jim had never heard before. He loved it so much that he wanted me to use it on all the songs. That first day went so well that we knew we were a band.

John: Psychedelic love song.

Rock Is Dead 16:39

Written by The Doors. Published by Doors Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

RECORDED AT ELEKTRA STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, 1969

Ray: Four Doors drunk as skunks. Morrison Hotel sessions. Dinner at the Blue Boar just down the street from the Elektra recording studio on La Cienega Boulevard. Too many beers and glasses of wine and far too many toasts by Paul Ferrara, our buddy and cameraman, and Babe Hill our sound man reprobate. "Here's to the Doors and their jazzy music,' said Paul. "Here, here,' said Babe. "Rock and Roll! Come on everyone, drink up!" And we all had to stand and drink-Paul chug-a-lugged his glass of Cabernet and then hurled it into the fireplace. It fucking exploded! He was Errol Flynn in some swashbuckling flick that was unreeling behind his eyes. We were in a private room, thank God, so the shattered glass called no attention to itself- But Paul was emboldened and toasted again, and then Babe, and then Jim toasted. Soon we were all joining in, toasting, drinking, laughing, and eating great haunches of beef and chops of pork and huge bowls of steaming vegetables - it was friends. It was fun. And it was a good time to be alive. We went back to the studio and Jim said "Let's jam!" This is the result of that jam on the Night of the Blue Boar.

Robby: After a drunken dinner up the street from the studio we came back and turned on the mics. The rest is history. Ifs kind of amazing how Jim was ahead of his time. Soon after this, Janis and Jimi died. Cream broke up, etc. Rock did die.

John: After a large meal in a mediocre Mexican restaurant, complete with several dos Equis - this opus was possible, Wouldn't have happened without pork fat.

Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor 4:40

Written by Tomaso Giovanni Albioni.

RECORDED AT TTG STUDIOS, HOLLYWOOD, 1968

Ray: This was one of Jim's favorite pieces of music. He loved the melancholy mood of this almost mystical classic. We played it with the "La Cienega Symphony Strings" put together by Bruce Botnick's father for this unique over dub.