LA Woman is the quintessential Doors song, and one of Jim Morrison's most inspired vocal performances. It is an ode to Los Angeles, their home, a place of beauty and decadence, a lyrical postcard of an endless night in the sprawling urban wilderness. It begins with the sound of an engine revving off down the highway, then cymbals and a quickly picked bass line. John Densmore's snare beats into Ray Manzarek's descending Rhodes keyboard on the left, complemented by Robby Krieger's guitar on the right. They do their own little licks, then at 0:45 a rhythm guitar arrives on the scene. We're in a big rumbling vehicle and we're heading into the city. Jim Morrison is at the wheel:
Well, I just got into town about an hour ago...I always heard 'Well I dig a little diner bout an hour ago.' Morrison doesn't really enunciate, his voice flows like warm beer on a hazy west coast morning. Robby Krieger mimics his voice with guitar licks, like a dialogue between driver and vehicle. Jerry Scheff, a familiar name to Elvis fans, plays bass on the tune and he has some cool moments during the city of night part (1:23). Morrison whoops at 1:30, he's got energy to burn, and Robby picks a cool rising lick off of it.
At 2:40, following the Sunday afternoon drive through your suburbs section, Manzarek, who by now has switched to tack piano, plays a lively barroom solo. At 3:02, things momentarily calm down into I see your hair is burnin', hills are filled with fire. The instruments dance a little samba, then Morrison steps on the gas at 3:36 - Drivin down your freeways.
At 4:18, let's change the mood from glad to sadness. Whatever you say, Jim. Manzarek is back on the Rhodes, Krieger plays some blues guitar. Yup, sadness. Finally, at 4:55, Jim starts in with Mr. Mojo Risin', an anagram of Jim Morrison. He gets into it, and the band picks up the pace. In high school biology class, my friend Fred used to sing 'Mr Mojo Rhizopus' (we were studying plants).
Around the 6:00 mark or so, the mood has changed back to gladness. Jim is whoopin it up, the band is cruising along. Jim makes a weird little noise at 6:09, some sort of grunt. We are back to the first verse, continuing down the highway, perhaps to San Diego or Tijuana.
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