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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.

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The "Alabama Song" (also known as "Whisky Bar" or "Moon over Alabama" or "Moon of Alabama") was originally published in Bertolt Brecht's Hauspostille (1927). It was set to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 "Songspiel" Mahagonny and used again in Weill's and Brecht's 1930 opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. In the latter, it is performed by the character Jenny and her fellow prostitutes in the first act. Musically it contains elements of foxtrot, blues and is sung by Jenny Corless.

The lyrics for the "Alabama Song" are in English (albeit specifically idiosyncratic English) and are performed in that language even when the opera is performed in its original German.

The Doors version

The song was covered in 1967 by rock band The Doors (credited in their albums as "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"). The lead singer of the Doors, Jim Morrison, changed the second verse from: Show us the way to the next pretty boy to Show me the way to the next little girl. In addition, the verse from the original, Show me the way to the next little dollar is omitted.

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"Light My Fire" is a song originally performed by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording. Then, a year later, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 following the success of Jose Feliciano's version of the song, peaking at number 87. The song was largely written by Robby Krieger, and credited to the entire band. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1967, representing sales of one million units. A live version was released in 1983 on their album Alive, She Cried, the first of several live albums released in subsequent decades to include the song.

"Light My Fire" also achieved modest success in Australia, where it peaked at #22 on the ARIA chart. The single originally reached #49 in the UK in 1967, but experienced belated success in that country in 1991 when a re-issue peaked at #7. The re-issue occurred on the back of revived interest in the band following Oliver Stone's film biopic "The Doors".

The song is #35 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also included in the Songs of the Century list and was ranked number 7 in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

José Feliciano's cover version won a 1969 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, the same year he won another Grammy for Best New Artist.

History

The song originated as a Robby Krieger unfinished composition, which the other band members then expanded upon. Although the album version was just over seven minutes long, it was widely requested for radio play, so a single version was edited to just under three minutes with nearly all the instrumental break removed for airplay on AM radio. However, the album version was more popular for up and coming FM radio stations, and at social gatherings of young people.

The Ed Sullivan Show

The band appeared on various TV shows, such as American Bandstand, miming to a playback of the single. However, "Light My Fire" was performed live by The Doors on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast on September 17, 1967. The Doors were asked by producer Bob Precht, Sullivan's son-in-law, to change the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher", as the sponsors were uncomfortable with the possible reference to drug-taking. The band agreed to do so, and did a rehearsal using the amended lyrics; however, during the live performance, the band's lead singer Jim Morrison sang the original lyric. Ed Sullivan did not shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. The band had been negotiating a seven-episode deal with the producers; however, after breaking the agreement not to perform the line, they were informed they would never do the Sullivan show again. Morrison's response was "We 'did' Sullivan."

The Buick Incident

John Densmore recalls that Buick offered $75,000 in October, 1968 to adapt the song for use in a Buick Opel TV commercial ("Come on, Buick, light my fire".) Morrison, however, was still in London after a European tour had just ended on September 20 and could not be reached by the other group members who agreed to the deal in his absence. As the band had agreed in 1965 to both equal splits and everyone having veto power in decisions, Morrison consequently called Buick and threatened to smash an Opel with a sledgehammer on television should the (presumably ready) commercial be aired. Various sources claim that this was a turning point in the band's career and Jim started losing faith in the other members for selling out just for quick cash.

Chart positions

Covers

The song's chord progression and catchy rhythm (particularly Ray Manzarek's swirling, barrel organ-style keyboard motif) lent itself readily to pop or MOR styled cover versions.

Cover versions were recorded by Astrud Gilberto, Will Young (whose version hit number one in the United Kingdom), Amii Stewart (whose version got to number 5 in the United Kingdom, in 1979, and to number 7 as a remix in 1985) Natalia Oreiro, Jose Feliciano (whose version won a Grammy in 1969 Best Pop song of the year), Nancy Sinatra, Julie London, Friedrich Gulda, Julie Driscoll & the Brian Auger Trinity, Shirley Bassey, Erma Franklin, Baccara, Cibo Matto, Divididos, UB40, Massive Attack, The Mike Flowers Pops, the LN Elektronische Ensemble. Amorphis, Hide, Minnie Riperton, Stevie Wonder, Type O Negative, Al Green, Electric Screwdrivers, B.J. Thomas, Ananda Shankar, Trini Lopez, John Tartaglia, Zacharias and Train, whose version can be found on the tribute compilation Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors. The Challengers did an instrumental version in 1969, as title track to one of their last albums.

NB The Massive Attack cover actually sampled a combination of the Young-Holt Unlimited cover of "Light My Fire" (1969) and the Jackie Wilson cover version of "Light My Fire" from his Do Your Thing album. In 2008, pianist David Benoit offered a rendition of the song "Light My Fire" from his album Heroes. The next month in that same year, another instrumentalist named Warren Hill released a cover of "Light My Life". The song is from the album La Dolce Vita, which means "The Sweet Life" in Italian.

Other covers

• In 1967, Bob Thiele And His New Happy Times Orchestra recorded a version with Gábor Szabó.
• Erma Franklin recorded a soul style version of the song in 1969. It was released on the album Soul Sister.
• Stevie Wonder performed a soulful version of the song for the album My Cherie Amour in 1969.
• Shirley Bassey recorded this song on her 1970 album Something.
• Ananda Shankar released his first self-titled album in 1970, featuring original Indian classical material alongside sitar-based cover version of The Doors' "Light My Fire."
• Etta James also covered the song. It can be found on the 3 CD set, Etta James: The Chess Box, a compilation of her songs recorded from 1960-1976.
• In 1977, the song was covered by the Spanish group Baccara. The song was called "Light My Fire (Baby, Won't You Reach Out)", and included on their album with the same name.
• Baccara's 1978 version is the second known disco version of the song, and appeared on the album of the same name.
• Minnie Riperton (in a duet with José Feliciano) covered the song in 1979 on her last album Minnie shortly before her death from cancer.
• The song was also covered by disco artist Amii Stewart in 1979 as "Light My Fire/137 Disco Heaven".
• In 1988, the Argentinian band Divididos covered the song on their debut album 40 Dibujos Ahi en el Piso (40 Drawings there on the floor).
• The Hampton String Quartet arranged the song and recorded it on an early album, What if Mozart Wrote "Born to be Wild", in 1988.
• Bristol trip-hop group Massive Attack covered the song in 1994 on the album Protection.
• Beastie Boys covered the song for the vinyl release of Aglio e Olio in 1995.
• Chicago based Jazz vocalist and composer Patricia Barber released a very cool and bluesy cover on the Bluenote 1999 release Modern Cool in 1998.
• The song was also covered in 2000 by Scott Stapp with the rest of The Doors on VH1 Storytellers, as well as on a recorded version.
• The Finnish death metal band Amorphis covered the song as a bonus track on the re-release of Tales from the Thousand Lakes in 2000.
• British reggae band UB40 cover the song on their 2000 album, The Very Best of UB40 1980-2000.
• A piano version of the song was created by pianist George Winston in 2002 on his album Night Divides the Day - The Music of the Doors.
• In 2006, French singer Laurent Voulzy covered the song on the album La Septième vague.
• Jackie Wilson's 1968 cover is sampled in track 2 of Lemon Jelly's Triptych Mix.
• The lyrics from the song's chorus were used by hip hop artist Necro on the track "Light My Fire". The song is off of his 2002 album Gory Days and has nothing in common with the original song other than its chorus lyrics.

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"Back Door Man" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records as a B-side to Wolf's "Wang Dang Doodle" in 1961 (catalog no. 1777). The song is considered a classic of Chicago blues.

Lyrics

In southern culture, the phrase "back-door man" refers to a man having an affair with a married woman, using the back door as an exit before the husband comes home. "When everybody trying to sleep, I'm somewhere making my midnight creep / Every morning the rooster crow, something tell me I got to go / I am a back door man," Wolf sings. The promiscuous "back-door man" is a standard theme found in many blues, including those by Charley Patton, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Willie McTell and Sara Martin: "every sensible woman got a back-door man," Martin wrote in "Strange Loving Blues" (1925). Robert Plant references the Dixon song in Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (1969): "Shake for me girl, I want to be your back-door man." The phrase "back-door man" dates from the 1920s, but the term became a double entendre in the 1960s, also meaning "man who practices anal intercourse."

Music

The single was recorded in Chicago in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf (vocals), Otis Spann (piano), Hubert Sumlin and [anonymous] (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass), and Fred Below (drums). The chord progression in the refrain of the song, similar to that found in Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" (1955), John Lee Hooker's "I'm Mad (Again)" (1957), and Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954), dates back to work songs sung during the construction of train tracks.

Cover versions

The song became an early standard cover song of The Doors, (along with Dixon's "Little Red Rooster", also written for Howlin' Wolf, and "Close to You"), and they recorded it for their 1967 debut album. The "door" of the song, like the name of the band, suggests a Blakean symbol of perception, with an awareness of the 1960s Queer-culture double entendre giving the expression an additional layer of meaning. The Doors' drummer John Densmore described the song as "deeply sexual and got everyone moving." The song also appears on The Doors' live album Absolutely Live (1970).

The song has also been covered by Guy Mitchell, Chicken Shack, Blues Project, Shadows of Knight, Bob Weir, Harmonica Slim & Hosea Leavy, Sam Gopal, T-Model Ford, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Soul Asylum fronted by Iggy Pop at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Frank Marino, of the band Mahogany Rush, recorded it on Mahogany Rush Live. The song's author Willie Dixon recorded it on his 1970 album I Am The Blues. In 1984, "Back Door Man" was also covered by Viktor Lazlo. Eric Burdon performed it during his tour with ex-Doors-guitarist Robby Krieger in 1990/91. The Allman Brothers Band's "Black Hearted Woman", from their debut album, includes the line "One of these days, I'm gonna catch you with a back door man," it is a song about a woman who mistreats the male character in the song.