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"The Crystal Ship" is a song by The Doors from their 1967 debut album The Doors. It was also the B-Side of the number-one hit single, "Light My Fire." It is regarded as a love song to Jim Morrison's first love, Mary Werbelow. Like much of The Doors' work, it sets up an eerie, dark flow. It's rumored to have been the band's first long song, especially for Ray Manzarek's and Robby Krieger's improvisations, but was changed by "When the Music's Over".
The inspiration for the "crystal ship" is an oil rig off Sand's beach in Isla Vista, California. The oil rig is called, Platform Holly.
Notable covers
- Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy (2010)
- Duran Duran - Thank You
- George Winston - Night Divides the Day - The Music of the Doors
- Chris Whitley - Perfect Day (2000) and On Air (2008)
- The Joyride
- X - The X-Files: The Album
- Joe Perry - Joe Perry
- Nicole Atkins - Nicole Atkins Digs Other People's Songs
- The Hot Rats - Turn Ons (2010)
References and appearances
The song has also appeared in television. An episode of Supernatural (season two's "Born Under a Bad Sign") uses the song in a particularly dark setting.
During the '70s and early '80s, there was a Doors cover band from New Jersey called "The Crystal Ship".
In the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a radio DJ (voiced by Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose) states that he used to be in a band called Crystal Ship.
Japanese psychedelic band Suishou no Fune's name translates to "Crystal Ship".
The Smashing Pumpkins covered this song live in 1989.
Ray Manzarek, the Doors' keyboardist, covered this song as a flawlessly nuanced piano solo on his 2008 album "Ballads Before the Rain", which otherwise consisted of instrumental duets with guitarist Roy Rogers.
Nevermore covered this song on the limited release of their 2010 album The Obsidian Conspiracy.
The song also appeared in the 1989 film True Believer starring James Woods and Robert Downey Jr.