Meaning of the song Light My Fire by the rock band The Doors

Guitarist Robbie Krieger, when he started playing in The Doors, did not even think about writing songs himself. But it so happened that he wrote their first real hit – the track Light My Fire, which in the spring of 1967 topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks and made the band members stars.

The history of creation and the meaning of the song Light My Fire

It all started with the fact that one day at a rehearsal, Jim Morrison, who had previously been the author of the group’s material, suggested that his colleagues go home and write one composition each. Krieger took the task very seriously and decided that his text would be about the four elements: air, earth, water and fire. He didn’t succeed at first, but then he came up with the line “Come on, baby, light my fire” (“Come on, baby, light a fire in me”).

Almost all the words, except for one rhyme in the second verse, were written by Robbie, but the whole ensemble worked on the music. For example, the famous introduction was composed by Ray Manzarek. Later he said that it arose as a result of pure improvisation.

The full version of the song is over seven minutes long, but for the single it had to be shortened, essentially cutting back on Krieger’s great solo. Of course, Robbie, like the other members of the group, was not happy about this, but there was no choice. Radio stations guaranteed Light My Fire’s huge popularity, but demanded that it be much shorter.

It must be said that this benefited The Doors. Firstly, a shorter track was more likely to play on the radio. Secondly, the band’s fans who wanted to listen to the full version fled to music stores for the album. However, after some time, DJs also began to broadcast it.

Release and achievements

The single Light My Fire topped the Billboard Hot 100 and went gold in 1967 when it sold over a million copies. In 1991, after the release of Oliver Stone’s The Doors, the song became popular again and climbed to number seven in the British hit parade.

Light My Fire is ranked #35 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #7 on VH1’s Top 100 Songs.

Clip Light My Fire – The Doors

Next is the music video for the famous song.

The Doors at Ed Sullivan’s

There are two interesting stories connected with Light My Fire. The first occurred on The Ed Sullivan Show, in which The Doors took part in September 1967. The producer asked them to change the line “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher” (“Honey, we couldn’t get much higher”) so that it would not contain a hint of drug use.

They agreed, but during a live performance, Jim sang the original line. Sullivan was furious, did not want to shake hands with Morrison at the end of the program and promised that he would never invite them to his show again. Jim reacted to this with the phrase: “We just finished off Sullivan.”

Light My Fire in advertising

The second story took place in 1968. Buick representatives offered The Doors seventy-five thousand dollars for the right to use Light My Fire in an advertisement for a new car. Jim was in London at the time and could not be contacted. In general, the rest of the musicians agreed.

Upon returning, Morrison was beside himself with this decision. He called Buick and promised to smash their car with a hammer in front of the TV cameras if they ran the video.

Light My Fire covers

The song has been recorded by many artists and bands. The most famous version belongs to Jose Feliciano, who even received a Grammy for it. Robbie Krieger praised his work, but at the same time said that it infuriates him when the authorship of the song is attributed to Feliciano.

Interesting Facts

It was Jim who suggested to Robbie the rhyme “in the mire” – “funeral pyre”, which Paul Rothschild considered the most unfortunate in the song.
Robbie Krieger wanted the general public to know who the songwriter was, so he suggested to director Oliver Stone that he insert a scene in The Doors in which he shows his bandmates a piece of paper with the lyrics to Light My Fire.
During the recording of the song for the album, Krieger was given only two attempts to perform the solo. Subsequently, he claimed that then it did not work out for him in the best way.
Morrison did not like Light My Fire, although he sang it at all concerts. At the same time, he often read passages from his terrible poems between verses. Perhaps he was annoyed by the insane popularity of a song that he did not compose.
Light My Fire was the last song that Jim Morrison performed from the stage. This happened at a concert at The Warehouse (New Orleans) on December 12, 1970.

Light My Fire Lyrics

You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn’t get much higher
Come on, baby, light my fire
Come on, baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the world
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire, yeah

You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn’t get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire

Light My Fire Lyrics

You know it wouldn’t be true
You know I would be a liar
If I had to tell you
Darling, we can’t get any more
Come on baby, light a fire in me
Come on baby, light a fire in me
Try to light up the night

The time to hesitate has passed
No time to wallow in the mire
Try, we can only lose
And our love will become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light a fire in me
Come on baby, light a fire in me
Try to light up the night, yeah