Song 608: This week the playlist recognizes Back Door Man by The Doors, written by Wiilie Dixon, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. 3 years after the Beatles rocked my world, when the summer of 1967 rolled around, I didn't know what to make of their new psychedelic direction when a certain Lonely Hearts Club Band appeared. However, soon after, a captivating hit by an L.A. quartet topped the charts and the air waves, essentially dousing the question. While living in a home where the adults did not approve of the devil's music I could not have acquired a copy of The Doors (and I probably couldn't have afforded it anyway at the time), I had close friends who did have the LP, so I quickly got to know the entire 33 quite well. When I began my junior year that fall, I again participated in the monthly school newspaper production sessions, which went on a few hours after classes ended, and The Doors became a regular feature of those work meetings. Of course, as a fundamentalist teenager, I felt some guilt over the sexual implications of a bunch of the disc's tracks, including this rumbler, and I tried to avoid focusing on that aspect of their lyrics. A few years later, as a young adult listening to the music I treasured and not feeling any religious guilt, I got a chuckle when I recognized a second sexual overtone in the words. I had always pictured a male cheater knocking on a woman's home back door to have a secret affair with her, but I hadn't previously thought about the rear entrance of a female body. Hey, all you people that are tryin' to sleep, you can get your rest, but in the dark, am I out to make it with my midnight dream? Yeah, I am!
Side note: this marks the fifth cut from The Doors to appear on this gathering: Soul Kitchen is Song 56, The Crystal Ship is Song 323, Twentieth Century Fox is Song 432, and Light My Fire is Song 490.
No comments:
Post a Comment