Five to One
| "Five to One" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Doors | |
| from the album Waiting for the Sun | |
| Released | July 3, 1968 |
| Recorded | February–May 1968 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:24 |
| Label | Elektra |
| Songwriter(s) | The Doors |
| Producer(s) | Paul A. Rothchild |
"Five to One" is a song by American rock band the Doors, from their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun. The song's lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison, though the songwriting credit identified each member of the Doors as songwriters.[1]
Composition
One of the predecessors to Heavy metal.[2]
–Guitarist Robby Krieger
Unlike some of the Doors' tracks, "Five to One" was created in the studio.[3] Featuring a rhythm and blues rhyme,[4] the track has been considered as an origin of the heavy metal genre,[5] along with Robby Krieger's guitar playing.[6] The song's consistent beat is applied in 4/4 time signature,[7] accompanied by a distorted sound of drums and bass.[8] Critic Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic described "Five to One" musically as "a menacing, proto-heavy metal guitar and organ riff. On top of that, John Densmore's relentless, almost march-rhythm drums take the song through various sections with a convincing power."[6]
Lyrics
Jim Morrison asserted that the song's lyrics are not political.[2] Part of the song ("Your ballroom days are over, baby/ Night is drawing near/ Shadows of the evening/ crawl across the years"), was seemingly lifted from the 19th-century hymnal and bedtime rhyme "Now the Day Is Over" ("Now the day is over/ Night is drawing nigh/ Shadows of the evening/ Steal across the sky") by Morrison.[9] Similarly, Morrison quoted the "Christian child's prayer" in a live version of "Soul Kitchen" sung in 1969,[10] and also altered the children's rhyme "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick" to suit part of his poem An American Prayer ("Words dissemble/ Words be quick/ Words resemble walking sticks").[11]
Public performances
The song's most famous performance was at the 1969 Miami concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium. Towards the end of the performance, a drunken Morrison declared the audience "idiots" and "slaves". The concert would end with Morrison being accused of "attempting to incite a riot" among the concert goers, resulting in his arrest, and later conviction, for indecent exposure.[2]
During the reunion of the original lineup of the Doors sans Jim Morrison on VH1 Storytellers, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots took up vocals. Before the performance John Densmore said Weiland was one of the few frontmen who could "fill Jim's leather pants". Scott said that "Five to One" was what inspired him to begin a career in rock music.[12]
Legacy
The guitar solo on Pearl Jam's "Alive" was based on Ace Frehley's guitar solo on the Kiss song "She", which was in turn based on Robby Krieger's solo in "Five to One".[13] Rapper Jay-Z sampled "Five to One" as the beat for his diss song of Nas and Mobb Deep called "Takeover".[14] The daily newspaper, The Guardian, ranked it the fifth best Doors song.[15] The lyric featured in the song, "No one here gets out alive", was used as the title for the eponymous biography of Morrison.[2]
References
- ^ Botnick, Bruce (1968). Waiting for the Sun (liner notes). The Doors. Rhino Records.
- ^ a b c d Weidman, Rich (October 2011). The Doors FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Kings of Acid Rock. Backbeat Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-1617131103.
- ^ Kielty, Martin (September 7, 2018). "Robby Krieger Recalls Doors' Battle with Waiting for the Sun". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
- ^ Miller, Jim (September 28, 1968). "Waiting for the Sun – Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
- ^ Cinquemani, Sal (April 18, 2007). "The Doors: Waiting for the Sun". Slant Magazine. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
- ^ a b Greenwald, Matthew. "The Doors: 'Five to One' – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
- ^ "Digital Sheet Music – The Doors – 'Five to One'". Musicnotes.com. Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
- ^ Botnick, Bruce. "Introduction by original Doors engineer-producer". Waiting for the Sun (CD booklet). Rhino Records. p. 4.
- ^ "Now the Day is Over". Encyclopedia-titanica.org. October 12, 2005. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep". July 7, 2010. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
{{cite web}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; July 7, 2010 suggested (help) - ^ "An American Prayer Lyrics". Morrison.com. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ "STPs Weiland Talks Doors Influence". MTV. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
- ^ Gilbert, Jeff (May 1995). "Prime Cuts: Mike McCready - The Best of Pearl Jam!". Guitar School.
- ^ Coulehan, Erin. "Jay Z Wrote Letter to the Doors' John Densmore". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
- ^ Simpson, Dave (June 17, 2015). "The Doors: 10 of the Best". The Guardian. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
