THE DOORS LIVE IN BAKERSFIELD 1970: THE VERSION OF "LOVE ME TWO TIMES"

The recent re-release of The Doors' Bakersfield concert (August 21, 1970) has brought this fine performance back into the public eye.

We are less than a year away from Jim Morrison's death, which will occur on July 3, 1971. It was also the end of the tour organized for "Morrison Hotel", the group's fifth album, released in February '70.

Although nobody knew it at the time, The Doors would only play four more concerts after Bakersfield (with Morrison still alive).

This live show is (thankfully) quite long and includes an extended version of "Love Me Two Times". This great song was originally included on "Strange Days", their second LP (released in September 1967).

The 3.15 minutes long Rock-Blues, written by the band's guitarist Robby Krieger, more than doubles its length in Bakersfield: 8.50 minutes.

Let's see how The Doors play this song, which was recorded about three years before the concert we're talking about.

Until minute 2.18 the song follows the path followed in the original version. From here on, a musical journey begins, demonstrating the extreme creativity of the band on stage.

After a few seconds, we her forming between the strings of Krieger's guitar the main theme of "Baby Please Don't Go".

This song belongs to the early blues tradition (probably the early 1920s), but its first official version was published in 1935 under the name of Big Joe Williams.

Thirty years later, in 1965, it was popularized on both sides of the Atlantic by the band Them in the form of a wonderful and agitated Rhythm'n'Blues classic.

During “Love Me Two Times” Jim Morrison improvises many of this song’s lyrics, yet leaving it unfinished. So that it appears as an elusive memory from the time of The Doors' formation (in 1965), which runs through the rhythm of "Love Me Two Times" on the Bakersfield stage.

At minute 5.14, the last sounds belonging to "Baby Please Don't Go" fade away, giving space to a series of instrumental exchanges between drummer John Densmore and Ray Manzarek's organ.

This diversion leads us to the second external insertion into the original structure of "Love Me Two Times" (min. 6.26).

In fact, a cultured musical quotation from Jim Morrison surprises the audience: St. James Infirmary. The song is part of the American jazz tradition, although it was first recorded under this title in 1928 by Luis Armstrong (genre: New Orleans jazz).

The sad lyrics are masterfully sung by the singer's deep, slightly rough voice, while the rest of the band accompanies this surprising parenthesis with taste and rhythm.

Note how this digression recalls the atmosphere of "Land Ho"’s middle eight (min. 1:45 to min. 2:17). This composition was included on The Doors’ "Morrison Hotel," the LP promoted on the tour that was almost ending in Bakersfield.

Immediately after this last welcome digression, at min. 7.26, Morrison reprises the last part of "Love Me Two Times," which ends with the last two verses of the lyrics being intensely shouted by Morrison.

This song is surely one of the highlights of the Bakersfield concert.

Here, the Doors permeate the performance with one of their live trademarks: widening the musical landscape of the composition to incorporate other musical sources, thus sweeping through music history with unrepeatable fascination.