Five to One

{{quotebox|"One of the predecessors to heavy metal."|source=–Guitarist Robby Krieger}}

Unlike some of the Doors tracks, "Five to One" was created in the studio.{{cite web |title=Robby Krieger Recalls Doors' Battle with Waiting for the Sun |url= https://ultimateclassicrock.com/robby-krieger-doors-waiting-for-the-sun/ |first=Martin |last=Kielty |date=September 7, 2018 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |accessdate=April 16, 2021}} According to music journalist Gillian G. Gaar, the song originated during a session when Morrison asked drummer John Densmore to lay down a 4/4 beat to which he inserted the lyrics.{{cite book |first=Gillian G. |last=Gaar |year=2015 |title=The Doors: The Illustrated History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xu76CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |publisher=Voyageur Press |page=55 |isbn=978-1627887052}} The song is consistently applied at 4/4 time signature,{{cite web |title=Digital Sheet Music – The Doors – 'Five to One' |website=Musicnotes.com |date=15 February 2016 |publisher=Sony/ATV Music Publishing |url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0159889 |access-date=April 16, 2021}} accompanied by a distorted sound of drums and bass.{{cite AV media notes |first=Bruce |last=Botnick |author-link=Bruce Botnick |title=Waiting for the Sun |section=Introduction by original Doors engineer-producer |page=4 |type=CD booklet |publisher=Rhino Records}}

The tune features a rhythm and blues vibe,{{cite magazine |last=Miller |first=Jim |date=September 28, 1968 |title=Waiting for the Sun – Review |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/waiting-for-the-sun-19680928 |access-date=March 21, 2021}} and has been considered as an origin of the heavy metal genre.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/the-doors-waiting-for-the-sun |title=The Doors: Waiting for the Sun |last=Cinquemani |first=Sal |date=April 18, 2007 |magazine=Slant Magazine |access-date=April 28, 2021}} Critic Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic described Robby Krieger's guitar playing as "a menacing, proto-heavy metal", and on "top of that, John Densmore's relentless, almost march-rhythm drums take the song through various sections with a convincing power."{{cite web |first=Matthew |last=Greenwald |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/five-to-one-mt0045067811 |title=The Doors: 'Five to One' – Review |website=AllMusic |access-date=April 16, 2021}}

Morrison asserted that the song's lyrics are not political. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/now_day_over.html |title=Now the Day is Over |website=Encyclopedia Titanica |date=October 12, 2005 |access-date=July 5, 2013}} Similarly, Morrison quoted the "Christian child's prayer" in a live version of "Soul Kitchen" sung in 1969,{{cite web |url=http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Now_I_Lay_Me_Down_To_Sleep |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707234922/http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Now_I_Lay_Me_Down_To_Sleep |title=Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep |date=July 7, 2010 |archive-date=July 7, 2010 |access-date=March 12, 2021}} and also seemingly altered the children's rhyme "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick" to suit part of his poem "Curses, Invocations" in An American Prayer ("Words dissemble/ Words be quick/ Words resemble walking sticks").{{cite web|url=http://morrison-the-lizard-king.blogspot.com/2011/05/album-american-prayer-lyrics.html |title=An American Prayer Lyrics |website=Morrison.com |access-date=December 1, 2021}}

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.{{cite book |first=Richie |last=Weidman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNCGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT193

|title=The Doors FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Kings of Acid Rock |date=October 2011 |page=193 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=978-1617131103}}

During the post-Morrison appearance of the Doors on VH1 Storytellers in 2000, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots accepted the role of lead vocalist. Densmore said Weiland was one of the few frontmen who could "fill Jim's leather pants". Weiland said that "Five to One" inspired him to begin his career in rock music.{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1428331/stps-weiland-talks-doors-influence-storytellers/ |title=STPs Weiland Talks Doors Influence |publisher=MTV |access-date=March 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808213949/http://www.mtv.com/news/1428331/stps-weiland-talks-doors-influence-storytellers/ |archive-date=August 8, 2014 |url-status=dead}} In 2012, Ray Manzarek and Krieger recorded a live version of "Five to One" in the Sunset Strip Music Festival with Marilyn Manson on vocals.{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/marilyn-manson-sings-people-are-strange-doors-flna955059 |title=Marilyn Manson sings 'People Are Strange' with The Doors |last=Chan |first=Anna |newspaper=NBC News |date=August 21, 2012 |access-date=July 7, 2022}}

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".{{cite web |last=Gilbert |first=Jeff |url=http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/articles/gs0595.shtml |title=Prime Cuts: Mike McCready - The Best of Pearl Jam! |website=Guitar School |date=May 1995}} In 2001, producer Kanye West sampled the song to form the beat of Jay-Z's diss song of Nas and Mobb Deep called "Takeover", also used in the Lordz of Brooklyn song "White Trash".{{cite magazine |first=Erin |last=Coulehan |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jay-z-wrote-letter-to-the-doors-john-densmore-243997/amp/ |title=Jay Z Wrote Letter to the Doors' John Densmore |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=February 18, 2021}} The lyric featured in the track, "No one here gets out alive", was used as the title for the 1980 Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive. Stereogum declared "Five to One" the "best song the band ever recorded",{{cite magazine |last2=Leas |first2=Ryan |first1=Michael |last1=Nelson |date=July 29, 2015 |url=http://www.stereogum.com/1819986/the-doors-albums-from-worst-to-best/franchises/counting-down/attachment/ |title=The Doors Albums From Worst To Best |magazine=Stereogum |access-date=August 1, 2022}} while the British daily newspaper, The Guardian, ranked it fifth on their 2015 respective list.{{cite news |first=Dave |last=Simpson |date=June 17, 2015 |title=The Doors: 10 of the Best |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/17/the-doors-10-of-the-best |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=February 15, 2021}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/5to1.htm Snopes webpage discussing the meaning of the song's title]

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Category:The Doors songs

Category:1968 songs

Category:Songs written by Jim Morrison

Category:Song recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild