END OF THE NIGHT: FROM THE '65 DEMO TO THE "THE DOORS" LP

 Among the charming poems, later turned into songs, that Jim Morrison brought as a dowry when The Doors were formed, we find the mysterious and enchanting melody of "End Of The Night".

The group, still in its beginnings and without Robby Krieger, arranged the tune and shortly thereafter included it among the six songs recorded as demos in September 1965.

In this version (here's the link to the September '65 demo), the composition was still sparse, although the structure was almost completely defined and, more importantly, the definitive lyrics were already in place.

Its most striking feature at this stage was that it stood out in the American musical landscape of the ’65 summer for its unusual verse and chorus melodies. Indeed, they possessed an inherent and somber charm that was not yet adequately enhanced by the instrumentation and arrangement.

The song, while partly lingering in Rhythm And Blues (a slow one), projects itself forward, looking toward Rock, which was taking its first exciting steps in those same months.

Morrison's voice, supported several times by Manzarek, is rather thin, reducing its still undeveloped timbre to a sharp whisper (in the verse), which rises in the chorus lacking the necessary force.

Densmore uses a tambourine to reinforce the soft drum line, played partly with brushes instead of sticks and partly by softly hitting the edge of the snare drum.

Manzarek's piano, already endowed with some creativity, is responsible for a short solo. Unfortunately, it is thwarted by the harmonica (played by his brother), which clumsy covers several other passages of the composition in addition to this one.

The song would remain in the band's repertoire for the next months, only to be officially recorded (this time with Krieger on electric guitar) about a year later, in the late summer of 1966, on the group's first LP ("The Doors").

Simultaneously with its release on vinyl, "End Of The Night" was also released as the B-side of The Doors' first, wonderful single, the A-side of which was occupied by "Break On Through (To The Other Side)".

For the recording included in their first album (link here), the band slightly shortened the song, making it more compact and effective by eliminating two elements present in the demo: a verse before the final chorus and a repetition of the title at the end of each verse.

In addition, the tempo of the track present on the group’s first album is slowed down a bit compared with the demo. A circumstance which helps to emphasize the song's admirable internal organization (verse - verse - chorus with reprise of the last part of the verse - solo - chorus with reprise of the last part of the verse).

The most significant change concerns the nature of the song itself, which is transformed into a beautiful psychedelic rock ballad with dark and surreal tones.

Again, the innovative charge of the band is remarkable. In fact, the first fully psychedelic song in history ("Rain" by The Beatles, May '66) had been released only three months earlier.

The overall sound is characterized by the striking background, composed of two distinctive elements and constructed with laborious imagination by Manzarek's keyboards.

The first is the electric organ (Vox Continental), played with a built-in "vibrato" distortion. The result is a carpet of dreamy chords, swaying fast and unreal at the bottom of the arrangement, like an object observed under the surface of water, providing a fluid foundation for the rest of the instruments.

The second element Manzarek brings to the tune is the piano, which punctuates the entire song with high, but rounded and muted notes, like a music box offering its dreamy, irregular sound to the listener's imagination.

Against this psychedelic backdrop stand the languid, dreamy evolutions of Krieger's electric guitar.

The chord that opens the piece and drives the lazy, meandering progression of the verses, spreads itself, propelled by a deep reverberation that distorts and blurs its contours. Its expansion into space is reminiscent of an enigmatic question that resonates ethereally, losing itself in elusive vibrations and fading too quickly to be grasped and understood.

During the choruses the guitarist switches to the technique known as slide guitar. Originating in Country Blues (1920s and 1930s), it is here combined with the aforementioned strong reverb and adapted to the rock genre by Krieger, who in this way adds a new facet to psychedelia.

He would use this new way of understanding the "slide guitar" more extensively and frequently in the band's next work: the LP "Strange Days", released in September 1967 (an outstanding emblem of psychedelic rock and rock in general).

Even the guitarist's fleeting but fascinating solo is characterized by this technique. His elongated notes spread out in desolate, solitary lines, like ephemeral arcs of sound sketched on the black blanket of the endless night evoked by the lyrics.

At the center of the composition, Jim Morrison's voice emerges wonderfully, being modified in two different ways.

The first is represented by doubled vocals at the end of the verse and during the chorus, used to increase the voice’s power and intensity. The second modification is the use of a wide ambient reverb, which is achieved without artificial distortion, just by singing in a room suitable for the purpose.

Morrison's vocals emerge improved from these studio treatments, exploring dark depths and sublime melodic abysses, and marking a huge and striking change (for the better) from the previous year's demo.

In the final chorus the vocal line explodes and rises in pitch, invoking with mystical desperation the "Realms of bliss" and the "Realms of light": images that merge with William Blake's nineteenth-century verses just to dissolve themselves in the lysergic immensity created by the song (listen from min. 2.05 to min. 2.31).

The lyrics of "End Of The Night," which were written by the singer drawing inspiration from a poet (William Blake) and a writer (Louis-Ferdinand Céline) of the past, contribute greatly to the song's fascinating and psychedelic beauty.

With this August 1966 tune, The Doors present us with an enthralling electric spell, whose opulent musical enchantment brings to light the incredible talent of the quartet from Los Angeles.

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”