LOSING DIRECTION: THE DOORS’ "YOU'RE LOST LITTLE GIRL” AND OTHER SONGS

When The Doors recorded "You're Lost Little Girl" in the spring/summer of 1967, the theme of identity loss had not yet become part of the lyrics of Pop-Rock or Rock music.

In fact, this complex subject was considered too complex and problematic to fit into the musical genres most listened to.

Nevertheless, some musicians were beginning to reflect on the loss of individual self, on the resulting personal crisis as well as the possibility of finding new ways to live authentically.

In "You're Lost Little Girl", track number two on The Doors’ second LP ("Strange Days"), Robby Krieger, the band's guitar player, translated into poetry this kind of inner reflection, which was taking place among his generation.

Indeed, in the second half of the 1960s, a path of social renewal was underway in the U.S.A., one that involved young people and the music they listened to.

With the lyrics of this song, Krieger crystallized the uneasiness of the youth as they struggled with a society they perceived as hostile.

However, the musician inserted into the song’s words a note of optimism about the possibility of finding an answer to the question "Who am I?

In doing this he differed from other ongoing attempts made by other musicians to address this vast and disturbing question.

A few years earlier, in July 1965, Bob Dylan released one of his best songs, "Like A Rolling Stone", as a single. A month later, it was also released on the great LP "Highway 61 Revisited". The song was a huge success and remains so to this day.

This masterpiece featured a young Al Kooper on Hammond organ and Mike some beautiful electric guitar phrasing by Mike Bloomfield.

The lyrics, one of Dylan's best efforts, told the story of a high society girl who finds herself in poverty and abandoned by all because of her mistakes.

The collapse of her gilded world exposes her lack of personality and character. She is left without an external point of reference, and this situation take away her mask: now she is alone, like a rolling stone, without direction along the winding road of life.

If "Like A Rolling Stone" precedes “You’re Lost Little Girl” by two years, Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" was released in 1969.

On their only recorded LP, "Blind Faith" (August 1969), this British supergroup took up Morrison's theme about losing the direction in life.

The lyrics of "I Can't Find My Way Home" echoed the feeling of disorientation so well described by the title metaphor.

In the lyrics, the words "Somebody holds the key" are emblematic of the difficulty of finding a clear answer to the inner discussion about one's true nature and identity.

Musically, the tune is driven by the acoustic guitars of Stevie Winwood, who wrote its lyrics and music, and Eric Clapton. They intertwine gracefully and poetically, allowing the delicate arrangement to be completed by Winwood's soft, almost falsetto voice.

We have quickly reviewed three wonderful songs that explored the theme of feeling lost, without a center of gravity or without a path to follow.

While these tunes belong to the social context of the second half of the 1960s, they also speak to today audience.

In this context, The Doors created one of the best examples of this narrative thread writing and recording “You’re Lost Little Girl”.

In this way they proved to be a group capable of expressing the anxieties of a rapidly changing society in timeless verses.