It’s been 59 years since The Doors topped the charts with the breakout hit “Light My Fire.”
The single from the Los Angeles-based rock band’s self-titled debut album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 29, 1967, kicking off a three-week run at the top of the music chart.
One year later, “Light My Fire” climbed the charts again—this time after a Puerto Rican soft-pop pioneer put a new spin on the classic song.
Written by Robby Krieger with help from Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore, the original version of “Light My Fire” featured a hypnotic organ riff and lyrics about desire. While it introduced the band’s psychedelic sound, the song returned in 1968 as an acoustic cover recorded by guitar virtuoso José Feliciano, which debuted on Billboard on July 27, 1968, and reached No. 3 on August 31 of that year.
Krieger once reflected on writing “Light My Fire,” and he credited Feliciano for the song’s longevity.
“It’s really a great feeling to have written a classic,” he said in an interview with Classic Bands. “I think I owe a big debt to José Feliciano because he is actually the one, when he did it, everybody started doing it. He did a whole different arrangement on it. It was a much more accessible arrangement as far as different types of musicians doing it. …The very fact that that song was the key element in the career of both The Doors and José Feliciano, in two total different arrangements of the song, shows how strong that song is.”
Feliciano, who had been playing “Light My Fire” during his concerts, recorded the song at the suggestion of his record producer Rick Jarrard.
“I didn’t agree, but it was one of the times I was wrong,” he admitted in an interview published by Elsewhere. “When my career took off, it surprised me. I was only 22. To have that much success so fast, I just wasn’t prepared.”
Felciano also explained how his version of “Light My Fire” became a hit song soon after the Doors had a smash success with it.
“I think ‘Light My Fire’ was a unique-sounding record in the sense that it didn’t employ any drums, like your rock ‘n’ roll records of that time period,” he told Classic Bands. “I think that’s why I made it. It was guitar, conga drum, and Ray Brown on bass. It was just the right elements at the right time.”
Nearly 60 years later, “Light My Fire” remains one of the most timeless songs in rock history, and one that Krieger, now 80, remains extremely proud of.
The Doors guitarist once said he always considered “Light My Fire” to be one of the best songs that he ever wrote.
“I never got tired of playing it,” Krieger shared in an essay for Songwriting magazine. “We knew it was good because whenever we played it live, people would go crazy – that was definitely the best response we got from any of the songs. We knew it was our strongest song even before we went into the studio. Who knows why?”
Related: 1967 Classic Rock Hit, Tied to Banned TV Appearance, Climbed the Charts Again 20 Years Later