The 1968 cover that highlighted the brilliance of ‘Light My Fire’: “Made his whole career”
It’s a tall order for any artist to even think of tackling The Doors’ immortal ‘Light My Fire’.
Where to even begin? The amorous, explosive counter-centrepiece to ‘The End’s apocalyptic opus that closes The Doors, ‘Light My Fire’ stands as the electric sum of all its alchemic parts. Ray Manzarek’s elegiac yet heavy keys, the propulsive drive of John Densmore’s jazzy percussion, Robby Krieger’s scorching guitar chops, and, of course, Jim Morrison’s finest hour as a frontman, bottling sexual energy and countercultural plume straddling danger and seduction in the only way he knew how.
Such descriptions will trigger eye rolls among the iconoclasts who loathe Morrison’s ‘Lizard Kind’ deification, but even the naysayers will struggle to resist becoming swept up in ‘Light My Fire’s colossal power, especially when letting the seven-odd-minute album version work its magic. The charts dug it too. Dropped in April 1967, three months after their debut LP, ‘Light My Fire’ shot to the top of the Hot 100 and cemented itself as a cornerstone anthem to the West Coast’s heady liberation.
Such a totemic gem would prove irresistible to many a future artist eager to harness The Doors’ psychedelic classic; names as disparate as Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Massive Attack, and The Beastie Boys have all taken a stab. But according to Krieger, the song’s enduring power was first highlighted by Puerto Rican guitarist José Feliciano’s cover only the following year.
“He was the first one that covered it, and he did it totally different than us,” Krieger reflected to the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in 2020. “But it still became a number one hit and made his whole career just like it did ours, so that shows the strength of that song…”
It didn’t quite top the charts, but Feliciano’s ‘Light My Fire’ would hit a respectable number three and help thrust his Feliciano! album to second on the Billboard 200. A gentler take, Feliciano whips up some woodwind charm amid his Latin jazz playing style that scoops out much of the original’s lysergic allure in favour of a dusky vignette of pastoral reflection befitting his sun-kissed sound.
Doors fans may have hated it, but the Feliciano version would end up as a more accessible template for the over 100 versions to come, including his own duet with Minnie Ripperton.
‘Light My Fire’ is a beguiling slice of pop, to this day hummed and crooned in the mainstream by folk who otherwise have little interest in the rockist canon. The Doors would continue to pen fantastic songs and even chart-topping hits, but it’s their second single which likely stands as the band’s ultimate gateway drug, hooky as hell but draped in all of Morrison’s psychoactive theatre.
The Doors also have Feliciano to thank for all the cash they raked in. With the likes of Shirley Bassey and Pop Idol crooner Will Young bringing a more easy listening appeal to the psych gem, the plethora of covers inspired by the more adult contemporary world has seen the surviving members enjoy big cheques from their mammoth single nearly 60 years later.
