In the summer of 1965, The Doors were born. As you may know, the name of the group came from Jim Morrison. He took the name from an Aldous Huxley book which he had studied in school. The book was “The Doors of Perception.” The book describes Huxley’s feeling while on the drug mescaline which is a lot like LSD. The Doors consisted of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore.

They spent the summer of 1965 living together in a house that Ray Manzarek rented, rehearsing and writing new songs. Actually, they spent their days there and then went home to their regular homes at night. They worked on an album even though at this point they did not have a record contract. Jim had written some songs, but felt like they needed more material from which to choose. He asked each member of the band to go home over the weekend and come back with a song.

The only one of the four to do so was Robby Krieger. Robby had only been playing the electric guitar for about six months at this time. He used a bottle slide when he played which created an almost continuous range of sound from the guitar. Jim Morrison loved it and had Robby use the bottle slide on most of their songs. When Robby came back with his “homework,” he had written what was to become the signature song of The Doors, “Light My Fire” This was the first song Robby Krieger had ever written.

When it was decided that “Light My Fire” was to be a single, they had a problem. The song was over seven minutes long and the rule was that 45 record singles which played on the radio should be about three minutes long. So, they solved the problem by editing out the instrumental section in the middle of the song. I remember first hearing the song on the radio and thinking what a great song.

Then one day, a DJ played the album version and I got to hear the entire piece. Oh my, what a difference. I loved it. I knew I could never listen to “Light My Fire” again unless I could hear the whole thing. I knew that Jim Morrison was a genius. I didn’t know at the time that Robby Krieger had actually written most of the song. The famous intro, which when you hear it, you know exactly what song is playing, was written by Ray Manzarek.

“Light My Fire” debuted on the pop charts June 24, 1967 and spent three weeks at number one, thus insuring the Doors a spot in rock and roll history.

Here is the full seven minute version of “Light My Fire”: