![]() ![]() A fan of both Aldous Huxley and William Blake, Morrison took the name from a line in Huxley’s book The Doors Of Perception: ‘If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.’ Huxley himself was referencing William Blake’s The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell, so The Doors had two literary references in one, including a psychedelic connection. ![]() In October 1965, the band changed its name to The Doors at Jim Morrison’s suggestion. ![]() The first song the four-piece performed was Moonlight Drive, according to Krieger. The band’s first rehearsal with Krieger was at a garage belonging to a friend of theirs, Hank Olguin, situated behind a Santa Monica Greyhound bus depot in Venice, CA. Krieger brought with him a knowledge of a wide range of guitar styles, including bottleneck guitar, which Jim Morrison apparently loved. Recorded as a demo, the band had no success with it, and Rick and Jim Manczarek quit the group, who added guitar player Robbie Krieger, another former member of The Psychedelic Rangers. The three-hour session featured Morrison on vocals, Ray Manczarek on piano/backing vocals, John Densmore on drums, Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on harmonica and bass player Pat Sullivan, moonlighting from her band Patty & The Esquires. On September 2, 1965, The Ravens laid down six songs at World Pacific Jazz Studios, all of which would become future Doors numbers, with lyrics by Jim Morrison: Moonlight Drive, My Eyes Have Seen You, Hello, I Love You, Go Insane, End Of The Night and Summer’s Almost Gone. Soon after, Morrison accepted Ray Manczarek’s offer to join the band, which by then included drummer John Densmore of The Psychedelic Rangers, who had met Manczarek in meditation classes, joining The Ravens in August. The Ravens played their own originals plus some cover songs, so it was fitting that when Jim Morrison sat in with the band on impulse he performed Louie Louie as his first public performance, losing his voice in the process. Ray Manczarek (he changed the spelling to ‘Manzarek’ when The Doors officially started) had moved to LA from Chicago in 1962, singing and playing occasional piano with the group formed by his brothers Rick and Jim, Rick & The Ravens. We talked a while before we decided to get a group together and make a million dollars.’ I’d never heard lyrics to a rock song like that before. Manzarek later said: ‘When he sang those first lines – ‘Let’s swim to the moon / Let’s climb through the tide / Penetrate the evening / That city sleeps to hide’ – I said ‘That’s it’. Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek knew each other from college and became reacquainted one day on LA’s Venice Beach in July 1965, when Morrison, a poetry fan, told Manzarek he had been writing songs and, at Manzarek’s encouragement, sang Moonlight Drive. ![]() The Doors’ gestation goes all the way back to a chance meeting between two students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) film school. ![]()
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