“I always imagined Jim Morrison singing it”: The Patti Smith song inspired by The Doors
It is unsurprising that an artist like Patti Smith, whose music is a mixture of poetry and rock and roll, cites Jim Morrison as one of her biggest inspirations. The Doors became one of the most successful American bands of the 1960s, and the singer’s poetic lyricism enamoured Smith.
She once told CBS how the frontman inspired her own craft. “I went to see Jim Morrison in 1967, and I was sitting there thinking I could do that. I also was a little embarrassed that I thought that. It’s not that I wasn’t inspired, I just felt this strange kinship.”
Smith added, “I was just a girl from South Jersey working in a bookstore. I don’t know why I thought that. It was a mystery to me. Of course, I admired him and still do. Jim Morrison was one of our great poets and unique performers, his body of work will always endure.”
Three years after Morrison’s death, Smith released her first single, ‘Hey Joe/Piss Factory’, carrying the spirit of the late poet within her work. In 1975, she released her debut record, Horses, a seminal early punk recording, which weaves minimal instrumentation with Smith’s beautifully worded lyrics, drawing inspiration from Symbolist poets, who also greatly influenced Morrison.
Smith pays tribute to deceased musicians such as Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin on ‘Elegie’, immortalising her love for these rock icons in song. Yet, that’s not the first time she has used her music to honour Morrison. For example, her song ‘Break It Up’ was written in memory of Morrison, inspired by a dream she had where the Doors frontman “was alive with wings that merged with the marble,” she explained in her lyric book Complete.
On her fourth album, Wave, a track called ‘Dancing Barefoot’ sees Smith nod to Morrison yet again, although his influence is considerably more subtle. She explained, “I had the concept to write a lyric line that would have several levels – the love of one human being for another and the love of ones creator. So in a sense, the song addresses both physical and spiritual love.”
“Truthfully, I always imagined Jim Morrison singing it, which resulted in me singing and recording it in a lower vocal register. I wanted the verse to have a masculine appeal and the chorus to have a feminine one,” Smith added.
‘Dancing Barefoot’ remains one of Smith’s most popular songs and has been covered by a variety of artists, from The Feelies to Simple Minds, U2, Pearl Jam and First Aid Kit.
Listen to the song below.
