Five of the Best Doors Songs

Remember the Doors? How poetic Jim Morrison's words were mingling with melodies and harmonies? Picking out the best Doors songs can be downright stressful. Why? In all my years of listening to The Doors (Thanks to my hippy mother's influence!) I've discovered not a single song from them that I would consider bad. However, there are, of course, those favorites that I feel are the best ones for others to listen to - especially if they aren't too familiar with Jim Morrison at all. So here we go, five of the best songs by The Doors.

Who Do You Love

"Who Do You Love" became popular recently again with it being used in a Sam Adams (Beer) commercial. While that was only a variation of the song and not the actual band performing, "Who Do You Love" carries a very upbeat, get up and dance feel along with mellow, tribal-like beats and of course, the ever memorable elecric piano sound. While it seems and feels upbeat, the lyrics have been described by others as rather morbid, to which when I listened to the lyrics I could agree to an extent. Two examples of this are "Brand new chimney up on top, Made out of human skulls." and "Tombstone head and a graveyard mind, Just 22 and I dont mind dying" both of which make you shudder if you take into consideration the singer did die a few years later. From my understanding that even with these strange lyrics as a description of who the singer is, that the girl he's with doesn't mind this and simply loves him.

Break on Through

"Break on Through" has a sort of dance-like rock feel when it begins. More of a poem than any real song with other lyrics, Jim sings and sounds like a rocker as he breaks out into the chorus "Break on Through to the Other Side!" The lyrics are actually somewhat perplexing- there is of course the mention of his girl in it, stating "Everybody loves my baby..she get she get she get she get high" The lyrics do sort of give a great visual though after this when he says, "I found an island in your arms, country in your eyes," which of course are Jim's trademark in describing love. The song is full of energy right up to the very last note - making it a great dance song, too.

Love Her Madly

"Love Her Madly" was a song used in 1994's Forrest Gump when Jenny was leaving her drug-addict boyfriend. But the song is well beyond that, the song is about loving a girl madly as she's leaving him. The song has a sort of go-go ish upbeat, which is contrary to how a 'someone leaving' song generally tends to feel. It, of course, features the electric piano sound and excellent dance beat. The most memorable part of the song are the lyrics, "All your love is gone, So sing a lonely song Of a deep blue dream, Seven horses seem to be on the mark Yeah, dont you love her Dont you love her as shes walkin out the door" while it may not mean much to others, you can get the visual of the guy being crushed in a way because even though she's leaving he loves her madly.

Light My Fire

"You know that it would be untrue, you know that I would be a liar, if I was to say to you 'girl we couldn't get much higher'" Were originally requested to be changed when The Doors were scheduled to perform on television. Because of the obvious drug use, a lot of people disliked the song based on that. However, the song has a cheerful beat and can be interpreted in many ways beyond just the obvious drug message. For example, while we all know what Jim Morrison meant by higher, there are ways without illegal substance to get high, such as doing an exciting activity. The song does carry a sort of psychadelic feel along with it, which was popular at the time and while not with the best of messages, the song is excellent to dance to.

When The Music's Over

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this song is the boppish sounding intro with the keyboards, it sort of feels lounge-style initially but turns into a psychadelic sounding song. Perhaps the most excellent poem-like song by The Doors, the song is about the many ways the music can be over, honestly. While the first part of the song mentions music "For the music is your special friend Dance on fire as it intends Music is your only friend.." the song eventually turns into a 'what happened?' message which from what I've heard from those around in those days, was quite a common feel between people. How is this portrayed? In the very peaceful sound with a trippy feel about it: "What have they done to the earth? What have they done to our fair sister? Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn And tied her with fences and dragged her down" The message is obvious. The earth is the sister in question and how they have dragged her downward into a sort of dismal state. The song is quite long, full of mellow beats as well as the faster paced sound, but a very excellent one. My personal favorite, yes, but I can guarantee you won't be disappointed with this song in the least.

As we all know there are many other songs by The Doors that are noteworthy too, however, these are my personal five faves. While you may disagree and feel that "Hello I Love You" deserves on this list, respect that these are my choices and excellent ones at that. Give these a try if you've never given The Doors much thought - you may walk away a fan.