- Moonlight Drive
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"Moonlight Drive" Single by The Doors from the album Strange Days A-side "Love Me Two Times" Released September 25, 1967 Recorded May and August 1967 Genre Psychedelic rock Length 3:04 Label Elektra Writer(s) Jim Morrison
Robby Krieger
Ray Manzarek
John DensmoreProducer Paul A. Rothchild "Moonlight Drive" was one of the seminal tracks on The Doors' second album, Strange Days. Although it was only a B-side (of "Love Me Two Times"), it is a favorite in The Doors canon. Though a conventional blues arrangement, "Moonlight Drive"'s defining feature was its slightly off-beat rhythm and, more significantly, Robbie Krieger's 'Bottle-neck' guitar which creates an eerie sound.
The song is known to fans as being one of the first written by lead singer Jim Morrison. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, Morrison wrote it (as "Moonlight Ride") during his halcyon days on a rooftop in Venice Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, California in 1965. Later on, when he happened upon friend and soon-to-be fellow 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 immediately awestruck, and they decided at that moment to form a band; Morrison already had a name picked out: The Doors.
Recordings of live performances of this 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.
The song was featured in the 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop. In addition, its title is also used as the name of professional wrestler John Hennigan's corkscrew neckbreaker finishing move under his Jim Morrison-esque John Morrison character.
The song was also featured in the 1987 film Less Than Zero.
The Doors Jim Morrison · Robby Krieger · Ray Manzarek · John Densmore Studio albums Live albums Compilations
and soundtracks13 · Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine · The Best of The Doors (1973) · Greatest Hits (1980) · The Doors Classics · The Best of The Doors · The Doors: Original Soundtrack Recording · Greatest Hits (1996) · Essential Rarities · The Best of The Doors (2000) · The Very Best of The Doors (2001) · Legacy: The Absolute Best · The Very Best of The Doors (2007) · The Future Starts Here: The Essential Doors Hits · The Platinum Collection · When You're Strange: Music from the Motion PictureBright
Midnight
ArchivesThe Bright Midnight Sampler · Live in Detroit · Bright Midnight: Live in America · Live in Hollywood Highlights from the Aquarius Theatre Performances · Live at the Aquarius Theatre: The First Performance · Live at the Aquarius Theatre: The Second Performance · No One Here Gets Out Alive · The Lost Interview Tapes Featuring Jim Morrison Volume One · The Lost Interview Tapes Featuring Jim Morrison Volume Two · Backstage and Dangerous: The Private Rehearsal · Live in Hollywood · Boot Yer Butt: The Doors Bootlegs · Live in Philadelphia '70 · Live in Boston · Pittsburgh Civic Arena · Live at the Matrix 1967 · Live in New York · Live in Vancouver 1970Box sets The Doors: Box Set · The Complete Studio Recordings · No One Here Gets Out Alive · Boot Yer Butt: The Doors Bootlegs · Love/Death/Travel Box Set • Perception · The Doors: Vinyl Box Set · Live in New York · A CollectionSingles "Break on Through (To the Other Side)"/"End of the Night" · "Light My Fire"/"The Crystal Ship" · "People Are Strange"/"Unhappy Girl" · "Love Me Two Times"/"Moonlight Drive" · "The Unknown Soldier"/"We Could Be So Good Together" · "Hello, I Love You"/"Love Street" · "Touch Me"/"Wild Child" · "Wishful Sinful"/"Who Scared You" · "Tell All the People"/"Easy Ride" · "Runnin' Blue"/"Do It" · "You Make Me Real"/"Roadhouse Blues" · "Love Her Madly"/"(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" · "Riders on the Storm"/"The Changeling" · "Tightrope Ride"/"Variety Is the Spice of Life" · "The Mosquito"/"It Slipped My Mind" · "Get Up and Dance"/"Tree Trunk" · "Gloria"/"Moonlight Drive" · "Five to One"Books Video and film Related articles Discography · The Lost Paris Tapes · Rick & the Ravens · Manzarek-Krieger · Bill Siddons · Danny Sugerman · Paul A. Rothchild · Bruce Botnick · London Fog · Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors · "Craigslist"Book · Category Categories:- The Doors songs
- 1967 songs
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