My first co-ed dances coincided with the release of the Doors' first album: The Doors. This would have been 8th grade/1969, and I recall we would dance our way through almost the entire album (Break On Through, Twentieth Century Fox, Light My Fire....). When it came out, I bought "Strange Days", but that album was kind of *strange* (How about the 10 minute "When The Music’s Over"?) Morrison was way ahead of me at that point in time. However, when "Waiting For the Sun" came out, either I was better caught up to the changes, or the Doors had dialed it down enough that I could better relate. I loved "Spanish Caravan" (but then again, since I was living overseas, there may have been some cultural influences.)
It wasn't only Spanish Caravan that I liked. To this day, there aren't many songs on "Waiting ..." that I don't like in some frame of mind. There is a lot that is militaristic on the album. Five to One, Unknown Soldier and even We Could Be So Good ... include some militarism, either in lyrics or in musical styles.
This week's theme being "Hello", the natural Doors choice is, of course, "Hello, I Love You", from "Waiting for the Sun", their third album. Even "Hello .." has major elements of the military in it: I hear a distinct "rump a pump" rhythm to the song. Looking back, it doesn't seem possible that their third album came out in '68. (Their first came out just the year before, in '67 as did Strange Days).
