THE DOORS’ RECORD “THE CHANGELING”: FROM SLOW BLUES TO ROCK FUNK

 

Beloved by The Doors’ fans, "The Changeling" is a pleasant anomaly in the California group's catalog.

Recorded, like the rest of the "L.A. Woman" LP, in late 1970, it brilliantly and boldly opens the band's last record with Morrison alive, and was later released as the dynamic B-side of the dark and fascinating single "Riders On The Storm" in June '71.

The song is constructed as an eclectic and unusual musical adaptation of a Jim Morrison poem from a few years earlier, but in the singer's intentions it was born instead as a blues with a classic verse – verse - chorus structure.

We can see this by listening to one of the tracks rehearsed after the concert at the Aquarius Theatre in Los Angeles on July 21, 1969. In fact, the day after the two fine performances at the Aquarius (first and second night), the group used the space of the theater for a free and informal jam session.

Among other tunes, the rehearsals that took place in this setting featured some languid blues in which Morrison sang verses and word sequences that came to him from songs or poems that had not yet been considered for proper arrangement.

In the second part of the recording, we hear Morrison's unmistakable voice jokingly asking himself, "Jim, are you singing?" and then replying, "I don't know, let me ask him”. He shakes his maracas without any particular intention, while Krieger's guitar traces some vague chords in the background.

The extremely relaxed and laid-back atmosphere thus created accommodates the two verses, bridge and chorus of what would be recorded one year and five months later as "The Changeling" (link here to the July 22, '69 jam session’s section, listen from min. 0.08 to min. 0.56).

In this early version from the summer of '69, Krieger's guitar accompaniment, barely hinted at and uncertain of what direction to take, suggests that the two musicians were at that time developing some blues ideas generated by Morrison, but still limited to hazy sketches.

This is confirmed by the next track on the recording, where is sung the main theme from by "Cars Hiss By My Window," another blues by Morrison destined to appear on the “L.A. Woman” album.

There are no more concrete traces of "The Changeling" until the December 1970 sessions, when the song is rehearsed several times in a completely different guise: the one that would later appear on the Doors' final 33 rpm act in its original lineup.

In the studio, both the arrangement and the nature of the song itself changed completely, presenting the listener with a markedly funk-influenced rock.

During the 1970s, the funk genre gained considerable popularity among the American public and it is not surprising that The Doors were familiar with several of the songs. At the forefront of the funk movement (since its inception in 1964) there was James Brown, who released the remarkable single "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved (Part 1 And 2)" (link here) in the same month that the recording sessions for "L.A. Woman" began.

James Brown’s single just mentioned has no direct connection to "The Changeling", but it shows us the musical environment from which The Doors drew inspiration.

The structure of “The Changeling” is enriched, compared to the quiet blues version of 1969, by the addition of an energetic rock middle eight, with an edgy and resolute profile (listen, for example, from min. 1.36 to min. 2.00).

It is funk that partially inspires its progression, with its three stops placed on as many short, aggressively sung phrases. Morrison's high-pitched, short scream is the combative culmination of this middle section, which nicely completes the composition by continuing in the urgent funk-rock style described above.

In addition to the middle eight, there are three other elements in "The Changeling" that are reminiscent of funk.

The most obvious one is the riff that Manzarek's Hammond organ and, in part, session man Jerry Scheff's bass, play over and over again in the verses (listen, for example, from min. 0.01 to min. 1.12, or from min. 2.09 to min. 2.40).

The second element is provided by the "wah wah" distortion that Krieger's guitar exhibits in the bridge-chorus-middle eight sequence (listen, for example, from min. 1:13 to min. 2:08). This guitar pedal was used by funk guitarists of the late 1960s/early 1970s, and in “The Changeling” it plays a rhythmic role, inserting itself with its brief, elastic and stinging waves as a counterbalance to the dense fluidity of the Hammond organ.

The third sound element reminiscent of the funk genre in this The Doors’ track is the abrupt changes in rhythm between sections, which funk often uses to increase the impact of different passages on the listener. We can recognize the presence of these breaks, emphasized by Densmore's drums, between verse and bridge (listen, for example, at min. 1.12) and between chorus and middle right (listen, for example, at min. 1.36).

However, the funk inclination resulting from the above factors is filtered through the rock sensibility that distinguishes the band, adding a new, pleasantly dynamic and creative nuance to the quartet's discography.

The rock nature of the piece comes through decisively in the chorus (listen, for example, from min. 1:19 to min. 1:35), along which Morrison delivers the crucial line "I'm a changeling, see me change!”. It vibrates intensely, carried forward by Densmore's ostinato snare drum and the swirling Hammond organ, which direct the overall sound of this section toward a penetrating, sustained rhythmic-melodic theme.

The general atmosphere is diversified by Krieger's solo (listen from min. 2.50 to min. 3.22), whose electric guitar describes (by means of overdubs) three long, sinuous lines, sustained by different types of distortion (among which the use of the fuzz pedal).

They alternate in drawing vivid, abstract curves and parabolas, with a basically psychedelic final result that opens a contrasting parenthesis with the rest of the track.

The coda of the track (listen from min. 3:45 to the end of the song) sees the tempo accelerate, accompanied by the vocal line becoming more urgent. In it we note the slightly redundant hand clapping: a feature that almost disappeared from the British and American scene after 1965 and is revived here without much success.

Morrison's vocal performance is undoubtedly top-notch, ranking as the best on the “L.A. Woman” LP (tied with that of the title track).

His vocals are deep, raspy and expressively bold, which is perfectly suited to the sudden changes of pace frequently given to the vocals. He expresses himself admirably in a musical context unprecedented for him, with a dark, grave timbre endowed with a harsh background note capable of vividly manifesting the personal transformation experienced by the singer and suggested by the song's title.

The lyrics, written by the poet and singer of The Doors, simply and succinctly recount his changing pattern that had taken place over the last three years. Through the places he has lived in Los Angeles and the shifting economic conditions he has experienced, he wants to symbolize the perpetual mutability of human nature as well as the unpredictability of the events that shape it.

In addition, the radical and rapid change in Morrison's outer image and inner attitude that occurred in the span of a few years from 1967 to '70 has often been associated with the lyrics of this composition.

An alternate version of "The Changeling" is included on the special edition of "L.A. Woman" released on the 40th anniversary of the album (here’s the link to the alternate version of the track).

Less polished and effective than the album track, and with a less convincing vocal line, it is still significant and interesting and lets us know, among other things, that Morrison liked the song in question very much. Before he starts playing, he asks the other members of the band to play with great commitment (literally to play their asses off) because this is "My favorite number" (within the album).

"The Changeling" boldly and courageously steps out of the confines of The Doors' previous music to become the only instance in which the band experiments with funk influences applied to rock. The composition is overall very original and tasteful, exciting in its unfolding and interesting in the words sung by Morrison (among the most autobiographical in his repertoire).

Although this is not the terrain in which the band can best convey its artistic message, the song suggests to the listener new possible sound paths that The Doors could pursue, in this case with a focus on the musical contemporaneity of 1970.

Although the California based band was at the end of its career, it shows that it knew how to tread the paths of innovation and contamination with genres different from its artistic background; moreover doing it with vibrant vitality and persuasive incisiveness.

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is out and available on Amazon.com, uk, mx, ca, etc.

Here’s the link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”