The Doors Forum

Is it true that the Doors were reluctant to record this song? Perhaps they were of the opinion that it was a rather trite work. Was it at the insistence of Paul Rothschild that they completed this recording? In the long run, it looks like that the income generated from the songwriting royalties on 45rpm single sales and Top 40 radio airplay went a long way towards paying the massive legal fees incurred after the Miami arrest less than a year later. Seems like that it was a good thing for them in the overall scheme of things to have Mr. Rothschild working on their behalf.

Yhe guys prepared that piece for the album. But Paul had a conference with the guys and suggested that they make a transition into back-up by studio musicians - like the Beatles. Paul figured that if the B's could do it so could the Doors. It was a nice piece, I felt. The lyrics were sort of abstract, the way Jim oft times likes to play with words. It was a bouncy tune and with the Sax, it did sort of hit the spot.

The thing they guys did not like about it was the orchestration. It was hard enough to imitate studio records, with multiple trackd, without adding musicians and dragged them out for every venue. That wouldmean extra travelers orrehearsals in every new city

Much of the music on that album never saw a live performance.

Vince, we'd like to thank you for letting us in on the inside scoop regarding the orchestrated pieces on The Soft Parade.album. I was hoping you might have some recollections on the Waiting for the Sun album which the Doors worked on in the spring and summer of 1968. particularly the story surrounding their huge hit single "Hello I love You. " I think that i heard somewhere that one of Paul Rothschild's children liked the demo version done a few years earlier, so Paul decided to have the Doors come up with a finished version, and that the Doors themselves didn't think that the composition was particularly noteworthy.

vince wrote:Yhe guys prepared that piece for the album. But Paul had a conference with the guys and suggested that they make a transition into back-up by studio musicians - like the Beatles. Paul figured that if the B's could do it so could the Doors. It was a nice piece, I felt. The lyrics were sort of abstract, the way Jim oft times likes to play with words. It was a bouncy tune and with the Sax, it did sort of hit the spot.

The thing they guys did not like about it was the orchestration. It was hard enough to imitate studio records, with multiple trackd, without adding musicians and dragged them out for every venue. That wouldmean extra travelers orrehearsals in every new city

Much of the music on that album never saw a live performance.

I think you have 'Hello, I Love You' confused with 'Touch Me,' an of course, blameless offense seeing as you haven't heard the songs in 30 odd years.

You say you played the clavichord on the song?
That's pretty damn cool.
Any other memories of that particular incident? I'd imagine there's an interesting backstory about what led Ray to have you play the part.
Was it played on the RMI? If so, did it have anything to do with him not liking the RMI piano?

That is some interesting information.

I may be way off on this. I am not sure that Paul was married at the time of Hell. Remember that all this happened in a space of 3 years.

Waiting for the Sun was all set up before 1968. They went to rehearsal soon after the New Years and were practicing all the material for the Album. When we went into Studio things were ready to roll.

We had to record between raod trips and that stretched the production out. In fact, Paul came on the road with us on several occasions.

I think it was during the summer of 1968 that the whole live recording idea got going.

Then came the orchestrated version - Soft Parade.

I am really not sure that Paul had any kids of an age that might have had an influence on the outcome of Hello.

I can be wrong on that because I do not know a lot about Paul's private life - it was private.

The Waiting album was done at the TTG studio at the corner of Highland and Sunset. It was when we went into studio that I was made officially the Road Manager, Bill got his management contract and things were going well.

1968 had to be their best year. At least that stands out as the year with the best performances - especially in the Spring and early Summer.

Summer time, when the livin' is easy.....

It is funny that the people who buy albums for the most part, have not a clue as to what it takes to go from rehearsal to master.

Anyway, I hope I got it right this time. I am thinking more in terms of Pipes rather than Tapes these days.

Just a Correction:It was Jac Holzman's Son Adam who mentioned about"Hello, I love You".

In the process of making an album there comes a point at which decisions must be made relating to the number and content of the songs on that album.

Usually, not always, the instrumental tracks are laid down and then the vocals are put over that on separate track. If Jim, in this case, made amistake, it could be corrected without haveing to redo the who things with instruments and all. It simplified the process.

It also reduced the time of exposure to Jims whims and concepts of schedule.

Before that vocal tracks were laid, the preferred "Take" was selected and carefully marked. It was on this take that Jim would put the vocals.

Usually, when the recordings were complete there would be more material on the various roold of tape than were tobe used. Thus, they had selection. Not, for instance, that the Adagio was done in the Sun album session but never appeared on that album.

Paul and the guys, sometimes, Bill, myself, Kathy, Frank, maybe Babe Hill, were present at the sessions when selections were made. There were always the obvious songs that everyone thought were the core of the album. Then there were pieces that would be used to fill in to provide the minimum number of songs or play time.

These would then go through the process of "Mix Down" where Paul and the guys sat deciding on the balance of the various instruments between each other and the vocal traks to top it off.

Notice that in some of the recordings made today the vocals are either obscured or distorted by the instrumentals. The producer forgot what "Lead Singer" meant.

This final version "Master" went to the record company where the Master disc was literally cut on a Scully lathe and from there it was all profit.

Where, along this line, Adam got involved, I am not sure. But Hello was a contender right from the start as far as I know.

Supposedly Adam heard the '65 demo version and suggested they record the song.
Good suggestion, too, the difference between the versions is the difference between night and day.
Had they not re-recorded it, the terrible Robby-less version might've gone down as the only one.