Date: Aug 3, 1968
Weeks: 2
I wasn't sure if the Doors had actually made it to the top of the charts, but it turns out they made it twice. Of course, I can't say I knew this song particularly well before now, while there are several Doors songs I do know that never made No. 1. But I'm rapidly discovering that's not that unusual.
I like the Doors sound. It's very raw, which is a great term I've learned to apply when the music is sloppy and unpolished, but I like it. This song starts out seeming a bit more organized than is usual for the Doors, but eventually spins off into the kind of barely controlled chaos that makes them appealing. The transition seems to happen right at the key change in the middle of the song. The rather dull first half of the song stops, there's a nice big hit as the music comes back, and then it spins off into chaos.
And that part right there is where the song gets fun. I was unimpressed after the first half, but the second half is so enjoyable that it retroactively justifies the first half. That was laying the foundation for the part of the song that's really very good.
The lyrics are about a man seeing a woman walking down the street and instantly lusting after her. "Hello, I love you won't you tell me your name?" Even though he's saying "I love you," he's not exactly waxing poetic on the topic of love at first sight. This is a raw sexual attraction that he's expressing here. Meanwhile he's doubting his worthiness to be with her. "Do you think you'll be the guy to make the queen of the angels sigh?" Usher really needs to take notes here, because this is the same topic as both of his songs that I've reviewed so far (encountering a sexy woman and expressing a desire to get with her), but the Doors manage to express that lust without resorting to talking about having sex in public, or luridly describing her body the way only a 12-year-old can do.
My verdict: Like it. There are definitely better Doors songs than this, but this isn't bad.
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