Is there anything you hate about yourself that everyone other seems to like? well, if you are familiar with this feeling then you probably understand Jim Morrison’s feelings. Back in 1967 Morrison’s band, The Doors released one of their most hit track “Light My Fire.” This topped the music charts, it was in the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 for straight three weeks and was on top of the Cash Box Top 100 for a week.
It was and still is a fan favorite song and even great musicians like Stevie Wonder, Shirley Bassey, and José Feliciano covered it. However, for some reason, Jim Morrison really hated this song.
Clearly, this is one of The Doors’ finest songs, which elevated the band to new heights. Even after all that Morrison still did not like the song and why he did not like or rather hated this song, that is what we will be discussing in this article.
The reason Jim Morrison hated The Doors’ song Light My Fire
After the release of Light My Fire, everyone started talking about this song only, and rarely would they talk about their previous works. Furthermore, the track was released in the hippie era and with a song that talked about lighting a match while the song mainly focused on a lusty, adolescent cry. The song poetically talked about the complicated love life.
So because of its dynamic notes, it did not take much time for the song to become a fan favorite. However, as mentioned Morrison hated the song and it even made him anxious. The Doors Producer Paul Rothchild quoted in 1981 that Light My Fire was Jim Morrison’s great humiliation. He further said that one of the reasons why Morrison lost his enthusiasm is this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_aw40LId6c
And the fact is this song became the foundation or the base of The Doors because before its release they were majorly known only in the Los Angeles area. Furthermore, even though Jim contributed to writing the song, Robby Krieger was the main force behind it and according to Paul Rothchild, the specific reason why Morrison did not like the song was that it was not written by him. Above in the video, you can find what Rothchild said about Morrison’s hate towards the song. Furthermore, the song also brought over attention and crazy fans.
Well, it is not the only time when an artist did not like or hated their song. Even Kurt Cobain thought that Nirvana’s song Smells Like Teen Spirit was a complete rip-off. And somewhat similar to Morrison Kurt also did not like everyone talking about it. Moreover, he also hated that fans would ask them to play it in each concert.
Morrison also wrote in his personal notebook that he hated the song. And there was also a time when they were performing with the band someone requested to sing Light My Fire to which Morrison replied, “F**k your mother.” It makes it crystal clear that Morrison really hated this song.
The song itself was inspired by The Rolling Stone’s song Play with Fire. Talking about it Robby said, “The Rolling Stones had previously cracked the Billboard 100 with a song I liked called Play With Fire, so I figured I was on the right track, I sat in my room strumming my Gibson SG Special with the Stones song on in the background and tossed phrases around until finally it clicked.”
Well, it was not the only inspiration behind that song but Robby was also inspired to write a song about one of four elements and he choose fire. He said, “I was living with my parents in Pacific Palisades – I had my amp and SG. I asked Jim, what should I write about? He said, ‘Something universal, which won’t disappear two years from now. Something that people can interpret themselves.’ I said to myself I’d write about the four elements; earth, air, fire, water; I picked fire, as I loved the Stones song, ‘Play With Fire,’ and that’s how that came about.”
It is also interesting that the last song Morrison played that he hated. In 1970 The Doors was in concert and after playing several songs, they finally played fans favorite, however, Morrison was drunk and he later broke his microphone on the floor and ended the show.
