“Light My Fire” is a song 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. 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” 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 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.
The song originated as a Robby Krieger unfinished composition, which the other band members then expanded upon, namely the recognizable intro composed by Ray Manzarek. 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.
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe 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 just ‘did’ Sullivan.”
The Buick IncidentJohn 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.

By The Doors

Lyrics

Lyrics