Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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Do it, Robby,do it!
But that might just be the acid talking.
(I, obviously, like them quite a lot.)
We just started jamming and the song came together.
But this time it was more of a jam.
We had these great session players for theL.A.
Womanalbum Jerry Scheff on bass and Marc Benno on rhythm guitar.
Somehow that song just came together.
Anyway, its just really fun to play that song.
But [my favorites] do change.
Basically its been downhill ever since.
He was the songwriter, but we realized,Hey, were going to need more original songs.
So I said, Okay, well, what should I write about?
I had heard of the termsearth, air, fire,andwater those being the four basic elements.
It didnt take long, maybe a couple days.
We were doing tambourines and stuff.
Its kind of like a chant more than a song.
It just didnt sound like the Doors to me.
I never really liked it.
Funny enough, one day our bodyguard said, Hey, you know my favorite Doors song?
So I responded, Oh shit, man, I hate that song.
Best song to listen to on acid
Oh boy.
Its always pretty good on acid, even though it deals with some pretty crazy stuff.
He was really dealing with that at the time.
That part got put into the song a couple weeks earlier when we were playing at the Whiskey.
Thats just a really acidy song.
Especially to me, because I know Jim was so messed up that night on acid.
I guess thats where Jim got the words for the song, because I didnt write them.
I thought that was pretty cool.
One time I took Jim to see Maharishi because Jim wasnt a real meditator key in.
He was just starting on his not on his whole journey, but his acid stuff.
So, every time I hear that song it reminds me of meditation and enlightenment.
Dont make it obvious.
Its the fire that burns in your third eye, right?
I thought about it and said, Youre right.
Even though I never thought of that before.
But I think the best Doors song after Jim is called Indelible Impression.
It never actually came out.
We worked with Helena Springs, a really great session singer.
I really love that song and I hope to get it out soon.
Most memorable concert riot
There were so many riots.
I think the 1969 Miami show was pretty up there.
During the concert, it was kind of messy.
Jim was drunk, as he sometimes was, but we thought it was a pretty cool show.
I mean, the audience loved it.
After the show, the cops came upstairs, and we all had beers together.
Jim called out to people, Hey, come up on the stage!
John and I barely made it off the stage before it collapsed.
I didWoodstock 99too, and [there was] some rioting going on, butit was kind of boring.
I played with Creed and we did Roadhouse Blues.
That was before the actual riot took place.
It has one of the best piano parts of all Doors songs.
Its really a mix of those two disciplines.
Ive never heard anybody play like Ray.
The other thing is his timing.
His time issogood the way he hears the time of the song.
When he starts playing you notice that his timing is so perfect.
And then John comes in with the drums after so many bars and beats.
I think John got lost, or something, because he got hypnotized by Ray playing.
He was just waiting forever to come in.
It took him two minutes when it usually took 30 seconds.
Me andPamare on acid.
We took too much acid, we dont know what to do, help.So, okay.
I go over to their place, kick off the door, and theyre both naked and freaking out.
My thing with acid is its always better to be outside.
Its just better to be in nature.
After an hour or two, they finally cooled down.
They were digging around outside.
And I said, Im going now.
Remember, Jim, were doing When the Musics Over tomorrow, so dont be late.
He goes, Oh, no problem.
So I went to the studio the next day.
I didnt know what to do.
Ray suggested that we do the track and Jim could put his vocals in later.
The problem was that Jim would do something different every time.
How are we going to know when to come in on certain parts?
Ray did and faked the vocals before Jim did the real ones the next day.
Of course Jim came in and nailed it in one take; it was amazing.
I never thought he could do that.
A few weeks later is when I actually did my guitar parts.
I had this specific sound in mind.
It was almost like a violin sound but really fuzzy, too.
Almost heavy metal, but real smooth.
Paul Rothchild, who was our producer, looked in his bag and pulled outa diode.
I had no idea what it was.
It soundedgreat.I did four or five takes of the solo.
I said, Well, wait a minute, thats two different solos.
But lets hear it.
It turned out to work perfectly together, and it stuck.
It was one of those happy accidents that end up for the best.
And I just love that solo.
Jimi Hendrix did solo mixing quite a bit, but that was at least a year or two later.
He got that from me.
He stole my solo.
Most cherished memory of Jim
I would say writing songs with him.
When we wrote songs, it was always an amazing experience.
He had no ego about songwriting.
He didnt care about credit.
It was just so cool to write.
When we started playing it live, it started to grow and grow.
Yeah, that was the most fun.
He was asked about his favorite band and he said the Doors.
That was pretty cool.
I never, ever realized that.
Coolest cover pose
The first album cover.
Theres a specific reason.
Im wearing a blue polka-dotted tie.
