Light My Fire is a song by the American band The Doors, from their debut album, recorded in September 1966, and released in January 1967. It reached number one on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1967, and then was re-released in 1968, reaching number 87. The song was written by Robby Krieger, although credit is usually given to The Doors.
The song represents a couple getting high, a street term for the euphoric feeling of people when they get high.
Light My Fire is a good example for psychedelic rock, with a jazz-fusion principle, and certain eastern influences. Its harmonic progression and catchy rhythm made it sell quickly in the pop markets.
An appearance by The Doors on The Ed Sullivan Show is particularly noteworthy. Rumor has it that they were asked to change certain parts of the lyrics, specifically the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher" to "girl, we couldn't get much better", to make it more suitable for a "coast-to-coast" audience. The band pledged to do so, but according to Jim Morrison, forgot to change the lyrics at the last minute, and sang the original version. He attributes this to the fact that he was very nervous.
Regardless of the applause from the audience, Ed Sulivan was so upset that he refused to shake Morrison's hand when he left the stage, and the band was banned from appearing on the show again. Morrison commented, "Hey, we just did Sullivan's show.
This song was number 35 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 best songs of all time.
