"L.A. Woman" is a song by the American rock band

the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

. The song is the title track of their 1971 album '' L.A. Woman'', the final album to feature

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...

before his death on July 3, 1971. In 2014, ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' named it the all-time best song written about the city of Los Angeles. In 1985, fourteen years after Morrison's death,

Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. ( Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the rock band the Doors, co-founding the group in 1965 with fellow UCLA School of Theater, Film and Te ...

directed and

Rick Schmidlin Rick Schmidlin (born October 22, 1954) is a film preservationist and silent film scholar, and a producer-director whose work has focused on restorations, reconstructions and documentaries. Until 2010, he taught for the University of British Colu ...

produced a music video for the song. It was aired on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and included in the Doors film '' Dance on Fire''. Band guitarist

Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits " Light My Fire", " Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...

has repeatedly cited "L.A. Woman" as the "quintessential Doors song". In 2013, it was labeled the 40th best classic-rock song by the New York radio station Q104.3.

Lyrics

"L.A. Woman" has been viewed as Morrison's "final goodbye" to Los Angeles, before his move to Paris, France. The song's lyrics draw inspiration from

John Rechy John Francisco Rechy (born March 10, 1931) is a Mexican-American novelist and essayist. His novels are written extensively about gay culture in Los Angeles and wider America, among other subject matter. '' City of Night'', his debut novel publis ...

's transgressive novel ''

City of Night ''City of Night'' is a novel written by John Rechy. It was originally published in 1963 in New York by ''Grove Press''. Earlier excerpts had appeared in '' Evergreen Review'', ''Big Table'', ''Nugget'', and ''The London Magazine''. ''City o ...

'', published in 1963, while its title is expressed as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

, personifying L.A. (Los Angeles) as a woman. In author Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith's description, it is also used to describe the city's topography and atmosphere. In the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

, Morrison repeats the phrase "Mr. Mojo Risin'," which is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of his name "Jim Morrison". Doors drummer

John Densmore John Paul Densmore (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the Rock music, rock band the Doors and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recording made by the band, ...

later explained the story of the line: A yellow sheet of lined

A4 paper ISO 216 is an International Organization for Standardization, international standard for paper sizes, used around the world except in North America and parts of Latin America. The standard defines the "A", "B" and "C" series of paper sizes, wh ...

with the lyrics of the track, handwritten by Morrison, was auctioned in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, UK for £13,000 on August 4, 2009.

Certifications

Personnel

The Doors *

vocals *

Wurlitzer piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

Fender Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes (inventor), Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, b ...

lead guitar *

drums Additional musicians *

Jerry Scheff Jerry Obern Scheff (born January 31, 1941) is an American bassist, best known for his work with Elvis Presley from 1969 to 1977 as a member of his TCB Band and on the Doors' '' L.A. Woman''. Biography Scheff grew up in Vallejo, California. After ...

bass guitar *

Marc Benno Marc Benno (born July 1, 1947 in Dallas, Texas) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Benno teamed with Leon Russell to form the Asylum Choir in the late 1960s. He launched a solo career in the early 1970s, with the 1972 album ''Amb ...

rhythm guitar

Billy Idol version

English singer

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

recorded a version of "L.A. Woman" for his fourth studio album '' Charmed Life'' (1990). As the album's second single, Idol's version reached number 52 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

in October 1990. The song's music video was directed by

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. Often described as one of the preeminent directors of his generation, David Fincher filmography, his films, of which most are psychological thrillers, have collectiv ...

and received heavy rotation on

. The Doors and Jim Morrison were an influence on Idol during his early years in the music industry. In a 1990 interview with the Associated Press, Idol commented on his interpretation of the song in comparison to the Doors' original, "Jim Morrison was singing about America or L.A. as a microcosm of an America he was very jaded with, really, to the extent that he left it go to Europe, whereas I'm the other way around. I'm still having a bit of a love affair with America and so it's exciting to be the 'lost angel'."

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control Songs written by John Densmore Songs written by Robby Krieger Songs written by Ray Manzarek Songs written by Jim Morrison 1971 songs 1990 singles The Doors songs Billy Idol songs Songs about Los Angeles Song recordings produced by Bruce Botnick Elektra Records singles Chrysalis Records singles