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I listened to many bands when I was growing up. The Beatles, Jackson 5, Beach Boys, Bee Gees. When I was about 15 I became fascinated by Jim Morrison and the music of The Doors. I remember listening to their records, both studio and live, over and over, learning the lyrics, singing along in my room, dancing and jumping around like crazy until my parents would let me go to revival band concerts.
Reading and watching No One Here Gets Out Alive – Jim´s biography, which is credited with revitalizing the popularity of the Doors and Morrison (Wikipedia), became a part of my teenage years. When one of my best friends, Barbara Kucová, translated James Henke's (former Rolling Stone's editor) book called Jim Morrison's Scrapbook into Czech, a collector's edition with lots of handwritten memorabilia, rare photos and never-published stories, I couldn't resist the temptation to get a copy.
The Doors are a wonderful band to listen to for your English studies, that is if you like rock and roll music. Listen to these three songs, read the lyrics and you'll see what I mean. I truly hope you enjoy them. Otherwise I wouldn´t bother posting this, right? Here's to learning English with music!
Suggested steps to work with the songs:
Watch the video clip, relax and enjoy it.
Watch the video clip again, paying attention only to the words.
Play it again and read the lyrics while listening. Why not sing along now?
Hello, I love you Won't you tell me your name? Hello, I love you Let me jump in your game (2x)
She's walking down the street Blind to every eye she meets Do you think you'll be the guy To make the queen of the angels sigh?
Hello, I love you… (refrain)
She holds her head so high Like a statue in the sky Her arms are wicked, and her legs are long When she moves my brain screams out this song
Sidewalk crouches at her feet Like a dog that begs for something sweet Do you hope to make her see, you fool? Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?
Love me two times, baby Love me twice today Love me two times, girl I'm goin' away Love me two times, girl One for tomorrow One just for today Love me two times I'm goin' away
Love me one time I could not speak Love me one time Yeah, my knees got weak But love me two times, girl Last me all through the week
Love me two times I'm goin' away Love me two times I'm goin' away
People are strange when you're a stranger Faces look ugly when you're alone Women seem wicked when you're unwanted Streets are uneven when you're down
When you're strange Faces come out of the rain When you're strange No one remembers your name When you're strange When you're strange When you're strange
“THE YEAR OF THE DOORS” officially kicks off on Monday, January 9 at noon Eastern when the iconic rock band will officially debut the first new, completely unreleased song in 40 years, “SHE SMELLS SO NICE.” The bluesy track captures the band organist RAY MANZAREK, guitarist ROBBY KRIEGER, drummer JOHN DENSMORE and late singer JIM MORRISON–joyfully barreling through the full-throttle original. Bruce Botnick, the album’s co-producer with the band, recently made the discovery while reviewing the L.A. WOMAN session tapes. The song will premiere on the band’s Facebook page on Monday and will then be serviced to radio the following day.
Next up in news from THE DOORS: On Friday, January 20 at 7:30 PM there will be a one-time special screening of “Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman” (Eagle Rock Entertainment DVD/Blu-ray) at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA with special surprise guests. Jac Holzman—who signed the group to Elektra Records—and Los Angeles rock radio veteran Jim Ladd will present the film and take questions about the group’s final album and legacy afterwards at a public Q&A session.
“Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman”(Eagle Rock Entertainment DVD/Blu-ray) is told through new interviews with MANZAREK, KRIEGER and DENSMORE as well as Elektra Records founder JAC HOLZMAN, original manager Bill Siddons,engineer/co-producer Bruce Botnick and others. The high-definition video also features live and studio performances as well as rare archival photos. This fascinating documentary contains rare footage of The Doors in the studio and on stage. The documentary was made with the full involvement, approval and cooperation of The Doors.
The group’s final album—1971’s L.A. WOMAN, with the signature hits “L.A. Woman,”“Love Her Madly” and “Riders On The Storm” is being celebrated with a special 40th anniversary two-CD release from Rhino and a behind-the-scenes DVD/Blu-ray from Eagle Rock Entertainment.
In addition to “She Smells So Nice,” the second disc of the L.A. WOMAN reissue includes eight never-before-heard versions of songs from the album. Alternate takes of “L.A. Woman,” “Love Her Madly” and “Riders On The Storm” offer a fresh view on this landmark album, which was the group’s sixth straight Top 10. The studio chatter between the songs is a revelation, transporting listeners to The Doors Workshop: the West Hollywood rehearsal space where they recorded the album with Botnick. One segment in particular captures a fascinating moment of inspiration when Morrison suggests they add the now-iconic thunderstorm sound effects to the beginning of “Riders On The Storm.”
L.A. WOMAN marked THE DOORS’ swan song, as MORRISON would pass away a few months after its release. At the time, Rolling Stone’s Robert Meltzer called it “The Doors’ greatest album… A landmark worthy of dancing in the streets (5/27/71).” The first band to release eight consecutive platinum albums, THE DOORS were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
Jim Morrison's voice was a solid stone of honesty, like the rock of Gibraltar, in a time of overzealous peace and love. He was pure sexuality and unashamed of his unabashed masculinity. For over forty years the band have been studied and written about. Their mark in history is written in steel and stone. It is difficult to find the same telepathic nuance in a collective consciousness that they held as a band.
Morrison's poetry discovered a home with founding member Ray Manzarek's psychedelic keyboard sound. Ray's brother and another founding member quit soon after they began to rehearse, so Morrison and Ray recruited drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger to complete the line up. It was difficult for the doors to get recognized for their brilliance during an era of Beach Boys fans in LA. Little did they know just a year later the first Doors vinyl album would be available. The Doors' vinyl record "The Doors" included the hits "Light My Fire" and "Break On Through (To The Other Side)", in addition to their most notorious story "The End".
"The End" was always a crowd favorite due to the images that would spew forth from Jim's lips in a drug induced daze. You never knew what was to come at the actual end of his rant. This time, would he sing of gory sacrifices orwould it be a sex laden version? Or would he just string long inconsequential words into a chaos of nothing?
Even though Jim was the primary writer, few people know that it was Krieger that wrote the beginning of their biggest hit "Light My Fire". He had originally written an uplifting love ballad until Jim came in with "funeral pyre" leading once again to death. Jim has said that all life ends in death, and thus should poems. Not much of a disclosure when you ponder the William Blake quote that the group was named after: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is—infinite."
In 1971 the Lizard King sadly died of a drug and alcohol overdose in France. By 1973, the rest of the group eventually called it quits due to lack of sales. The world lost a great philosopher, and who knows what music would be like today if Jim would have continued.
The original Doors vinyl records are still in high demand and sell at high cost on the web. The Doors have sold more than 100 million vinyl records worldwide, and sales are still great. Bearing in mind they only made six albums with Jim, this is really impressive. Each year more Doors albums will be collected due to a new generation done with commercial empty music discovering the deep poetry of Morrison's lyrics and vocals.
About the Author: SoundStage Direct, LLC is an online independent store based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. SSD has the largest selection of vinyl records online. And you don't want to miss amazing closeout deals available at our LP outlet! We have record albums in every genre (for example: Doors vinyl) and in a variety of formats available ready to be shipped at your doorstep.