Editing The Doors (album) (section)

== Composition ==
''The Doors'' features many of the group's most famous compositions, including "Light My Fire", "[[Break On Through (To the Other Side)]]", and "The End". In 1969, Morrison stated:
{{blockquote| Every time I hear ["The End"], it means something else to me. It started out as a simple good-bye song&nbsp;... Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don't know. I think it's sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Jerry |author-link=Jerry Hopkins (author) |editor1-last=Wenner |editor1-first=Jann |editor1-link=Jann Wenner |editor2-last=Levy |editor2-first=Joe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2CaFeDa_m0C |title=The Rolling Stone Interviews (Jim Morrison) |year=2007 |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company|Back Bay Books]] |location=New York City|pages=496 |isbn=978-0-31600-526-5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222071842/https://books.google.com/books?id=t2CaFeDa_m0C |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>}}

Interviewed by Lizze James, he pointed out the meaning of the verse "My only friend, the end":
{{blockquote|Sometimes the pain is too much to examine, or even tolerate&nbsp;... That doesn't make it evil, though{{snd}}or necessarily dangerous. But people fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah{{snd}}I guess it is a friend.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Lizze|last=James|year=1981|url=http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/TenYearsGone.html |title=Jim Morrison: Ten Years Gone |magazine=Creem Magazine |location=Detroit|access-date=November 8, 2012}}</ref>}}

"Break On Through (To the Other Side)" was released as the group's first single but it was relatively unsuccessful, peaking at No. 104 in ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'' and No. 126 in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''. Elektra Records edited the line "she gets high", knowing a drug reference would discourage airplay (many releases have the original portions of both "Break On Through" and "The End" edited).{{sfn|Weidman|2011|p=141}} The song is in [[Time signature|4/4 time]] and quite fast-paced, starting with Densmore's [[bossa nova]] drum groove in which a [[Clave (rhythm)|clave]] pattern is played as a rim click underneath a driving ride cymbal pattern. Densmore appreciated the new bossa nova craze coming from Brazil, so he decided to use it in the song.<ref name=story>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQAaK1pFM4 |title=The Story of "Break on Through" by the Doors |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919192526/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQAaK1pFM4 |via=YouTube |archive-date=September 19, 2016 |access-date=March 11, 2021}}</ref> Robby Krieger has stated that he took the idea for the guitar riff from [[Paul Butterfield]]'s version of the song "[[Shake Your Moneymaker (song)|Shake Your Moneymaker]]" (originally by [[blues]] guitarist [[Elmore James]]).<ref name=story /> Later, a disjointed quirky organ solo is played quite similar to the introduction of [[Ray Charles]]' "[[What'd I Say]]".<ref>[http://www.jambands.com/reviews/dvds/2008/06/20/classic-albums-the-doors Classic Albums ''The Doors''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112080411/http://www.jambands.com/reviews/dvds/2008/06/20/classic-albums-the-doors |date=January 12, 2017}}</ref>
[[File:Doors electra publicity photo.JPG|thumb|Promotional photo of the Doors in late 1966. From left to right: Densmore, Krieger, Manzarek and Morrison.]]
The Doors' breakout hit "Light My Fire" was primarily composed by Krieger. Although the album version was just over seven minutes long, it was widely requested for radio play,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Rock Stations Giving Albums the Air Play|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HygEAAAAMBAJ&dq=light+my+fire+requested+radio&pg=PA34|via=Google books|page=34|date=July 22, 1967}}</ref> so a single version was edited to under three minutes with nearly all the instrumental break removed for airplay on AM radio.<ref name="lmfgw">{{cite web|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/100_greatest_guitar_solos_45_quotlight_my_firequot_robby_krieger |title=Light My Fire |work=[[Guitar World]]|access-date=March 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212032303/http://www.guitarworld.com/100_greatest_guitar_solos_45_quotlight_my_firequot_robby_krieger |archive-date=February 12, 2012 }}</ref> While recalling its writing process, Krieger has claimed that it was Morrison who encouraged the others to write songs when they realized they did not have enough original material.<ref name="Paul">{{cite web 
|first=Alan |last=Paul |date=January 8, 2016 |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/bands/robby-krieger-the-doors-retrospective |title=The Doors' Robby Krieger Sheds Light{{snd}}Album by Album |work=Guitar World |access-date=March 18, 2021}}</ref> Adding more specifically that Morrison had suggested to him to write "about something universal."{{sfn|Weiss|2021|p=7}}

Additionally, Morrison wrote "Take It as It Comes", which is thought to be a "tribute to [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]".{{sfn|Weidman|2011|p=150}} It came from one of his observations on Yogi's meditation classes, which Morrison wasn't initially studying contrary to the other group members, but was later convinced by them to attend.{{sfn|Densmore|1990|p=102}} Manzarek's organ solo on the song was inspired by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].{{sfn|Manzarek|1998|p=78}} The lyrics to "Twentieth Century Fox" refer to either Manzarek's wife Dorothy Fujikawa{{sfn|Manzarek|1998|p=5}} or Morrison's girlfriend [[Pamela Courson]].{{sfn|Fong-Torres|2007|p=9}}

''The Doors'' also contains two cover songs: "[[Alabama Song]]" and "[[Back Door Man]]". "Alabama Song" was written and composed by [[Bertolt Brecht]] and [[Kurt Weill]] in 1927, for their opera ''[[Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny|Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny]]'' (''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'').{{sfn|Gaar|2015|p=26}} The melody is changed and the verse beginning "Show me the way to the next little dollar" is omitted. On the album version, Morrison altered the second verse from "Show us the way to the next pretty boy" to "Show me the way to the next little girl", but on the 1967 ''Live at the Matrix'' recording, he sings the original "next pretty boy". Notable peculiarity of the band's version is the unusual use of the marxophone.{{sfn|Weidman|2011|p=141}} The Chicago blues "[[Back Door Man]]" was written by [[Willie Dixon]] and originally recorded by [[Howlin' Wolf]].{{sfn|Dixon|Snowden|1989|p=143}}{{sfn|Manzarek|1998|p=174}}