Underground: The Doors and the Morrison Hotel at 50

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The Doors’ Morrison Hotel turned 50 on February 9, 1970. Escaping from their failure in their previous album The Soft Parade, The Doors went back to form with blues-rock. Although there are two well-known songs in the album, Morrison Hotel was welcomed as a comeback for The Doors that would continue with L.A. Woman.

Let’s look into some tracks of Morrison Hotel:

“Roadhouse Blues” kicks off Morrison Hotel with a song that remains popular in The Doors’ repertoire as a hard blues-rock re-introduction to the band’s roots.

“Peace Frog” is not a rocking tune because of the lyrical content. Civil unrest, true events, the incident at New Haven in 1967, and pieces of Morrison’s poem “Abortion Stories” make “Peace Frog” a controversial song.

“Indian Summer” was recorded in 1966 for The Doors’ debut album but was released for Morrison Hotel instead. This track is a hypnotic love song during an Indian summer.

“Queen of the Highway” and “The Spy” both relate to the relationship with Jim Morrison and his girlfriend Pamela Courson; their relationship was troubling as it was intense.

Morrison Hotel was made with a very problematic beginning (the 1969 concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium) but yielded very positive results. “Peace Frog” and “Roadhouse Blues” cement The Doors’ legacy and kept their musical reputations fresh.