Roadhouse Blues#Other versions

The song was recorded over two days, from November 4 to 5, 1969. Producer Paul A. Rothchild insisted on several takes, some of which were included on the 2006 reissue.{{sfn|Botnick|Fricke|2006|pp=1, 3, 7}} Jim Morrison, who was apparently intoxicated during the sessions, flubbed several lyrics and kept repeating the phrase "Money beats soul every time".{{sfn|Marcus|2012|p=100}}

There was more progress on the second day when resident guitarist Lonnie Mack (then employed as an Elektra Records A&R representative) joined in to play bass; Ray Neapolitan, the regular bassist during the Morrison Hotel sessions, was stuck in traffic.{{sfn|Botnick|Fricke|2006|pp=1, 3, 7}}{{sfn|Densmore|1990|p=235}} Although there has been speculation that Mack also contributed the guitar solo, he confirmed that he had played bass and nothing else.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6bJ3ehHpo0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/X6bJ3ehHpo0 |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=CRL Chapter 05 |via=YouTube |date=November 1, 2009 |access-date=October 3, 2016}}{{cbignore}} While Mack had stopped working as a professional musician at the time, he decided to return to his career following the session.{{cite magazine|first=Bob|last=Cianci|title=Robbie Krieger – The Doors' Distinctive Fret Master|magazine=Premier Guitar|date=February 11, 2010}}

Guitarist Robby Krieger is responsible for all guitar parts on "Roadhouse Blues"; Morrison shouts "Do it, Robby, do it!" at the start of the guitar solo.{{sfn|Krieger|2021|p=262}} Ray Manzarek switched from a Wurlitzer electric piano to a tack piano.{{sfn|Botnick|Fricke|2006|pp=1, 3, 7}} Ex–Lovin' Spoonful frontman John Sebastian contributed harmonica (listed as "G. Puglese" for contractual reasons).{{sfn|Botnick|Fricke|2006|pp=1, 3, 7}}

Alice Cooper claimed that he was the inspiration for the line "Woke up this morning and I got myself a beer", as stated on his Planet Rock morning show: "We were sitting there drinking and Jim comes in and he flops down{{nbsp}}... I said that I had got up this morning and got myself a beer and while we're talking he just writes that down. So they go in and they're doing the song and the next thing I hear is 'Woke up this morning and I got myself a beer' and I went 'I just said that a second ago!{{'"}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/jim-morrison-quoted-alice-cooper-in-roadhouse-blues-47370 |title=Jim Morrison Quoted Alice Cooper in 'Roadhouse Blues'|magazine=Uncut |date=July 10, 2008 |access-date=January 5, 2017}}

A live version appeared on the album An American Prayer, released several years after Morrison died,{{cite web |last=Iyengar |first=Vik |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r6220/review |title=The Doors: An American Prayer |website=AllMusic |access-date=June 26, 2022}} and that version can be heard again on In Concert. In this version, Morrison talks for a short while to a female audience member about his Zodiac sign and, with a sudden, ironic twist that causes the audience to erupt in laughter, denounces his belief in it.{{cite AV media |people=The Doors |title=Live In Boston 1970 |publisher=Bright Midnight Archives |orig-date=1970 |date=2007}} The song was also featured twice in the movie The Doors; the studio version in the film, and the aforementioned live one over the end credits.

A studio version of the song with John Lee Hooker sharing vocals with Morrison can be found on the 2000 tribute album Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/stoned-immaculate-the-music-of-the-doors-mw0000103663|title=Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors |website=AllMusic |access-date=January 6, 2018}} A studio rehearsal of the song

with Ray Manzarek on lead vocals was recorded on May 6, 1969.{{cite AV media notes |title=The Soft Parade |title-link=The Soft Parade |others=The Doors |type=50th Anniversary edition liner notes |year=2019 |publisher=Rhino Records}} This version was finally released on The Soft Parade: 50th Anniversary Edition in 2019.{{cite web |url=https://store.thedoors.com/collections/music/products/the-soft-parade-50th-anniversary-deluxe-edition |title=The Doors: The Soft Parade – 50th Anniversary [Deluxe edition] |website=Thedoors.com |access-date=August 15, 2020}} "Roadhouse Blues" was also performed by the surviving members and Eddie Vedder at the Doors' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1993.{{cite web

|title=The Doors with Eddie Vedder Perform 'Roadhouse Blues'

|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-doors/video/7023/

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140721070058/https://rockhall.com/inductees/the-doors/video/7023/

|archive-date=July 21, 2014

|website=Rockhall.com

|access-date= January 19, 2020}}

The Doors

• Jim Morrison{{snd}}vocals
• Robby Krieger{{snd}}guitar
• Ray Manzarek{{snd}}tack piano
• John Densmore{{snd}}drums

Additional musicians

• Lonnie Mack{{snd}}bass
• John Sebastian{{snd}}harmonica

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Doors|title=Roadhouse Blues|award=Gold|certyear=2021|relyear=1970|note=sales since 2009|access-date=July 18, 2021|id=8663}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=The Doors|title=Roadhouse Blues|award=Platinum|certyear=2024|relyear=1970|access-date=November 21, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Roadhouse Blues

| cover = File:Roadhouse_Blues_(Quo).jpg

| alt =

| type = promo

| artist = Status Quo

| album = Piledriver

| released = {{Start date|1972}}

| format =

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre = Hard rock

| length = {{Duration|m=7|s=26}}

| label = Vertigo

| composer = The Doors

| lyricist = Jim Morrison

| producer =

}}

Status Quo, while touring in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1970,{{sfn|Stroud|2017|p=78}} heard the Doors' recording shortly after it was released. They were looking for a change of direction, away from their original psychedelic pop style, and were unsure about what to do; after hearing the song in a club, they enjoyed its 12-bar shuffle and thought it would be a good template for future original material.{{sfn|Rossi|Parfitt|Wall|2005|p=88}} The group recorded a studio version on the 1972 album Piledriver, with bassist Alan Lancaster taking the lead vocal and featuring an extra verse with three-part harmonies, which the Doors' recording did not have.{{sfn|Stroud|2017|p=78}} The lyrics differed from the original; for instance, "I should have made you" instead of "Ashen lady".{{cite web|url=http://www.statusquo.co.uk/records/lyrics/roadhouseblues.htm|title=Roadhouse Blues|website=Status Quo |access-date=5 January 2017}} The track was released as a promotional single, with Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" on the B-side.{{sfn|Stroud|2017|p=78}}

The song was a regular feature of Quo's live setlist throughout the 1970s, its performance coming towards the end of the show. It was extended to allow a jam session in the middle, featuring snippets of other songs, including the traditional "The Irish Washerwoman" and "Jarabe Tapatío" (known as the "Mexican hat dance") as well as "Shakin' All Over".{{sfn|Stroud|2017|p=113}}{{sfn|Harrison|Welch|Adler|2012|p=291}} A 14-minute version appears as the final track on 1977's Live.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live%21-mw0000199516 |title=Live! – Status Quo |website=AllMusic |access-date=4 January 2018}} In 1992, the live album Live Alive Quo featured "Roadhouse Medley", which blended other songs into the main "Roadhouse Blues" riff and consumed over a third of their entire set at 20:35 in duration.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-alive-quo-mw0000457807|title=Status Quo: Live Alive Quo|website=AllMusic|access-date=5 January 2018}}

"Roadhouse Blues" was revived for the "Frantic Four" tours in 2013.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/music-review-status-quo-the-frantic-four-ride-again-manchester-apollo-8524109.html |title=Music review: Status Quo: The Frantic Four Ride Again, Manchester Apollo |newspaper=The Independent |date=7 March 2013 |access-date=4 January 2018}} In 2014, a deluxe reissue of Piledriver included a 15-minute live version, recorded in 1973.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/piledriver-deluxe-edition-mr0004085638 |title=Status Quo: Piledriver [Deluxe Edition] |website=AllMusic |access-date=4 January 2018}}

• Alan Lancaster{{snd}}lead vocals, bass
• Francis Rossi{{snd}}lead guitar, backing vocals
• Rick Parfitt{{snd}}rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• John Coghlan{{snd}}drums

Additional musicians

• Bob Young{{snd}}harmonica
• Jimmy Horowitz{{snd}}piano

Citations

{{Reflist}}

Sources

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite AV media notes

| last1 = Botnick

| first1 = Bruce

| author-link1 = Bruce Botnick

| last2 = Fricke

| first2 = David

| author-link2 = David Fricke

| year = 2006

| title = Morrison Hotel (Remastered)

| type = Album notes

| others = The Doors }}

• {{cite book

| last = Densmore

| first = John

| author-link = John Densmore

| year = 1990

| title = Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors | publisher = Delacorte Press

| isbn = 978-0-385-30033-9 }}

• {{cite book

| first = Melissa Ursula Dawn

| last = Goldsmith

| year = 2019

| title = Listen to Classic Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre

| publisher = ABC-CLIO

| isbn = 978-1440865787 }}

• {{cite book

| title = Perspectives on Males and Singing

| url = https://archive.org/details/perspectivesonma00harr/page/n311

| first1 = Scott D.

| last1 = Harrison

| first2 = Graham F.

| last2 = Welch

| first3 = Adam

| last3 = Adler

| publisher = Springer Science & Business Media

| year = 2012

| isbn = 978-9-400-72660-4 }}

• {{cite book

| title = Encyclopedia of Classic Rock

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=phsIDgAAQBAJ

| last1 = Luhrssen

| first1 = David

| last2 = Larson

| first2 = Michael

| date = 2017

| publisher = ABC-CLIO

| isbn = 978-1440835148 }}

• {{cite book

| last = Krieger

| first = Robby

| author-link = Robby Krieger

| year = 2021

| title = Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors

| publisher = Hachette

| isbn = 978-0316243544

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dSseEAAAQBAJ }}

• {{cite book

| title = The Doors

| first = Greil

| last = Marcus

| author-link = Greil Marcus

| publisher = Faber & Faber

| year = 2012

| isbn = 978-0-571-27996-8 }}

• {{cite book

| title = XS All Areas: The Status Quo Autobiography

| first1 = Francis

| last1= Rossi

| first2 = Rick

| last2 = Parfitt

| first3 = Mick

| last3 = Wall

| author-link3 = Mick Wall

| publisher = Pan Macmillan

| year = 2005

| isbn = 978-0-330-41962-8 }}

• {{cite book

| title = Status Quo: Song by Song

| first = Graeme

| last = Stroud

| publisher = Fonthill Media

| year = 2017 }}

• {{cite book

| last = Weidman

| first = Richie

| year = 2011

| title = The Doors FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Kings of Acid Rock

| publisher = Backbeat Books

| isbn = 978-1-61713-017-5 }}

{{refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221615/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/03/02/topanga.canyon/ Topanga Corral, the site of the Roadhouse venue that served as the inspiration for the song]

{{The Doors}}

{{The Doors songs}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:The Doors songs

Category:1970 singles

Category:Songs written by John Densmore

Category:Songs written by Robby Krieger

Category:Songs written by Ray Manzarek

Category:Songs written by Jim Morrison

Category:Song recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild

Category:Elektra Records singles

Category:1969 songs