| "Moonlight Drive" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
) | ||||
| Single by the Doors | ||||
| from the album Strange Days | ||||
| A-side | "Love Me Two Times" | |||
| Released | September 25, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | May–August 1967 | |||
| Genre |
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| Length | ||||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Songwriter(s) | The Doors | |||
| Producer(s) | Paul A. Rothchild | |||
| The Doors singles chronology | ||||
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"Moonlight Drive" is a song by American rock band the Doors, released in 1967 on their second album Strange Days. It was edited to a 2:16 length for the 45 rpm single B-side of "Love Me Two Times". Though a conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive"'s defining feature was its slightly off-beat rhythm, and Robby Krieger's "bottleneck" or slide guitar, which creates an eerie sound.[3] It was recorded during the group's first demo recordings at Trans World Pacific Studios.[4]
Composition and performances
The song is one of the first written by the lead singer Jim Morrison. According to the Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison wrote "Moonlight Ride" during his halcyon days on a rooftop in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Later on, when he happened upon his friend and future band member, Ray Manzarek, he uttered the memorable lines, "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Reportedly Manzarek was awestruck, and they decided to form a band. Morrison already had a band name picked out: the Doors.[3]
Recordings of live performances of the song reveal a link to a sort of death by drowning – whether murder, suicide or simply going too far. Morrison sings in live performances, probably improvising, referring to "fishes for your friends" and "pearls for your eyes" conjuring an image of a rotten corpse lying at the bottom of the ocean while simultaneously referring to Shakespeare.[3]
Personnel
The Doors
- Jim Morrison – vocals[2]
- Ray Manzarek – keyboards[2]
- Robby Krieger – bottleneck guitar[3]
- John Densmore – drums[2]
Additional musicians
- Douglas Lubahn – bass guitar[2]
References
- ^ Love Me Two Times / Moonlight Drive (single label). The Doors. Elektra Records. 1967. EKS-45624-B.
- ^ a b c d e Strange Days (Album notes). The Doors. New York City: Elektra Records. 1967. Back cover. EKS-74014.
- ^ a b c d Fong-Torres, Paul. The Doors. New York City: Hyperion Books. ISBN 978-1401303037.
- ^ Maginnis, Tom. "The Doors: 'Moonlight Drive' – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 9, 2020.