The Doors released “Light My Fire” on their debut album in 1967. Written by guitarist Robbie Krieger, it was the band’s first number one single. The album version of the song was a little over seven minutes, however the record company decided that if it was going to be played on the radio, they needed to do an edit of the song. There was a long radio version edit of 4:40 done and a “single version” of 3:07 done.
“Light My Fire” was performed by The Doors on a famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan show on September 17, 1967. In an oft-told legend, The Doors were asked to change the lyrics of the song (specifically, the line “girl, we couldn’t get much higher” to “girl, we couldn’t get much better”) to be more suitable for a coast-to-coast live audience. The band promised to do so, but according to Jim Morrison he forgot to change the lyrics at the last minute and performed the unedited version live on-air, which he attributed to having been nervous. Years later, Ray Manzarek wrote that even after being told to change the lyrics, the band never even considered changing them. Despite applause from the crowd, Ed Sullivan was so upset that he refused to shake Morrison’s hand as he left the stage. Backstage, the band was told that, despite being on the verge of signing a seven-episode deal to continue appearing on the program, they would never be on the Sullivan show again. Reportedly, Morrison’s cavalier response was: “Hey, man, so what, we just did the Sullivan show!”
Often covered, the most popular cover of the song was done by Jose Feliciano in 1968. In 1969 he won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Song of the Year.
Links:
Rock And Roll Hall of Fame – The Doors
Waiting For The Sun – Doors fansite