“CRAWLIN' KING SNAKE”: THE DOORS' VERSION AND ITS ORIGINS

 

The Doors' last LP, L.A. Woman, released in April 1971, is the band's most blues-influenced work.

Three songs belonging to this genre were recorded for the album: "Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss By My Window" and "Crawlin' King Snake".

The latter is the only one of the three that is a cover. Although the original song has been around since the 1920s and '30s along the banks of the Mississippi River, it is attributed to bluesman Big Joe Williams, who firstly recorded it under that title in 1941.

The tune has been part of The Doors' live repertoire since their early days. A recording of their version of this outstanding country blues is dated March 1967 and was made at "The Matrix" in San Francisco.

After an underground run throughout the group's history, "Crawlin' King Snake" was officially put on vinyl by The Doors in late 1970 during the recording sessions of "L.A. Woman".

Two other musicians joined the quartet on that occasion: Jerry Scheff on electric bass and Mark Benno on rhythm electric guitar.

The presence of an additional rhythm guitar gives more freedom to the official guitarist, Robby Krieger. He pierces the arrangement with continuous dark and elastic-sounding glissandos, which are the most fascinating sound element of the song (after Jim Morrison's vocals).

In addition, his effective guitar solo combines rapid and aggressive sequences of notes with pauses of silence, allowing this brilliant rhythmic contrast to draw the listener's attention.

What stands out in The Doors' version of "Crawlin' King Snake" is also Ray Manzarek's rhythmic accompaniment on electric piano (instead of the usual electric organ).

To make the sound of this keyboard more pervasive and undulating, Manzarek applies the distortion known as "Tremolo" to it. This is a seemingly risky choice with respect to the country blues tradition, but one that is able to make the song flow in a relaxed mood.

It is the electric piano together with the languid march staged by John Densmore's drums that personalize and adorn with a new musical guise the traditional blues reinterpreted here by The Doors.

Finally, Morrison's vocal performance underscores how his lack of physical health at the time of the recording sessions (he would die about six months later) was amply compensated by the great passion he felt for what he was singing.

While not one of his best performances, we find in Morrison's singing those irregularities and rough imperfections that are mandatory for anyone attempting to sing the blues.

Overall, The Doors handle very well this country blues classic, doing it justice, boldly innovating some of its elements and bringing it into the 1970s without betraying its original spirit.

The journey that took "Crawlin' King Snake" from the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s -1930s to Los Angeles in the early 1970s (L.A. Woman) was punctuated by three fundamental versions of this composition.

The earliest verbal references to the salacious metaphor of the song's title date back to 1926 ("Black Snake Moan" by Blind Lemon Jefferson), while, as we said before, the first official recording was by Big Joe Williams in 1935 (vocals and acoustic guitar).

Williams' excellent guitar technique accompanied a tight rhythm and straight to the point vocals that left little room for the melodic component. In short, a must-have country blues at its best.

A few months later, also in 1941, it was Tony Hollins who recorded his own version of the tune (vocals and resonator guitar).

This unknown but important bluesman slowed down the tempo and the approach of the composition but retained the rough authenticity of the sound and the arrangement typical for country blues. Another great song, absolutely worth listening to, and the closest to The Doors version in terms of atmosphere and vocal progression.

The last essential recording of "Crawlin' King Snake" is Johnny Lee Hooker's from 1949.

The song belongs to the early part of Hooker's career and was sung in his usual warm, deep voice, breaking into the style known as "Talking Blues" during the two middle eight (from min. 0.57 to min. 1.08; from min. 1:33 to min. 1:43 and from min. 2.14 to min. 2.24).

The slightly amplified guitar and foot-tapping rhythm make this a Hooker classic and the most successful version of the song at the time of its release.

About twenty years later it would be The Doors who would write another very interesting page in the history of "Crawlin' King Snake".