Moonlight Drive

"Moonlight Drive" is a song by American rock band the Doors, released in 1967 on their second album Strange Days. It was edited to a 2:16 length for the 45 rpm single B-side of "Love Me Two Times". Though a conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive"'s defining feature was its slightly off-beat rhythm, and Robby Krieger's "bottleneck" or slide guitar, which creates an eerie sound.[3] It was recorded during the group's first demo recordings at Trans World Pacific Studios.[4]

"Moonlight Drive"
Single by the Doors
from the album Strange Days
A-side"Love Me Two Times"
ReleasedSeptember 25, 1967
RecordedMay–August 1967
Genre
Length
  • 2:16 (single)[1]
  • 3:00 (album version)[2]
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)The Doors
Producer(s)Paul A. Rothchild
The Doors singles chronology
"People Are Strange"
(1967)		 "Moonlight Drive"
(1967)		 "The Unknown Soldier"
(1968)

Composition and performances

The song is one of the first written by the lead singer Jim Morrison. According to the Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison wrote "Moonlight Ride" during his halcyon days on a rooftop in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Later on, when he happened upon his friend and future band member, Ray Manzarek, he uttered the memorable lines, "Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide." Reportedly Manzarek was awestruck, and they decided to form a band. Morrison already had a band name picked out: the Doors.[3]

Recordings of live performances of the song reveal a link to a sort of death by drowning – whether murder, suicide or simply going too far. Morrison sings in live performances, probably improvising, referring to "fishes for your friends" and "pearls for your eyes" conjuring an image of a rotten corpse lying at the bottom of the ocean while simultaneously referring to Shakespeare.[3]

Personnel

The Doors

Additional musicians

  • Douglas Lubahn – bass guitar[2]
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References
  1. Love Me Two Times / Moonlight Drive (single label). The Doors. Elektra Records. 1967. EKS-45624-B.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Strange Days (Album notes). The Doors. New York City: Elektra Records. 1967. Back cover. EKS-74014.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Fong-Torres, Paul. The Doors. New York City: Hyperion Books. ISBN 978-1401303037.
  4. Maginnis, Tom. "The Doors: 'Moonlight Drive' – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
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