Soul Kitchen The Changeling Waiting For The Sun The Doors

Soul Kitchen Album: The Doors (1967)
The Changeling Album: LA Woman (1971)
Waiting For The Sun Album: Morrison Hotel (1970)
by The Doors

Soul Kitchen is a tribute to a soul food restaurant Jim Morrison ate at on Venice Beach called Olivia's, located on 2618 Main Street, Santa Monica, California. Morrison often stayed too late at Olivia's, where he liked the food because it reminded him of home and warmed his "soul." They often kicked him out so they can close, thus lines like: "let me sleep all night, in your soul kitchen."

"Soul Kitchen" as a restaurant title, would have of course referred to "soul food." That's a traditional kind of cuisine popular with African Americans of the mid-20th century, named in harmony with other "soul" affectations. Soul food usually revolved around ham (cuts like hog's feet and hog jowls), beans, okra, hushpuppies, cornbread, collard greens, and other one-offs of standard American fair. The idea is to that the food is both economical and very filling. People in colder climates (from any culture) may also find soul food comforting in the heart of winter, since you're going to burn all those calories shoveling snow anyway.

According to the Greil Marcus book The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years, "Soul Kitchen" was The Doors' own "Gloria," comparing the steady climb toward a looming chorus. It also quotes Paul Williams' May 1967 article in Crawdaddy! opining that it was more comparable to "Blowin' in the Wind," in that both songs have a message, but the message of "Soul Kitchen" is of course "learn to forget."

Meanwhile, John Densmore's book Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors declares that the title restaurant Olivia's was a "small soul food restaurant at the corner of Ocean Park and Main." The author describes a meal there with Morrison, commenting that the restaurant "belonged in Biloxi, Mississippi" and resembled "an Amtrak dining car that got stranded on the beach" and was packed with UCLA film students. Another famous diner was Linda Ronstadt.

He is not credited on the album, but Larry Knetchel was brought in to play bass. The Doors usually did not use a bass player, but producer Paul Rothchild felt this needed it.
This song was used as part of the soundtrack to the 1994 blockbuster film Forrest Gump and in the 2003 documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip. The song "I'm a Tree" by alternative hip-hop artist Imani Coppola samples this song, and Coppola's song appears in many more film and TV episode soundtracks.

Jim Morrison sang lead and harmony on Soul Kitchen. His vocals were overdubbed.

The punk rock band X released a cover of Soul Kitchen on their 1980 debut album Los Angeles, which was produced by Ray Manzarek of The Doors. Manzarek first encountered the band when he saw them play at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, where they included "Soul Kitchen" in their set. Manzarek tried to get X a deal with The Doors' label, Elektra, but they wouldn't bite so the album was released on an independent label. Elektra finally did sign the band after their second album; Manzarek produced that one and also their next two.

Soul Kitchen runs just 3:33, but it's still longer than every other song on The Doors' debut album except for "Light My Fire" (7:06) and "The End" (11:41).

A changeling is a mythological creature who is substituted for a human baby. They're often unpredictable and can become outcasts, which is how Doors frontman Jim Morrison frames himself in this song, where you never know where he'll show up next.

Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and drummer John Densmore commented on The Changeling in an LA Weekly piece from January 19, 2012. Manzarek observed that the song tells the story of Morrison's adventurous life in Los Angeles. Densmore said that from the time they met to the time he died, Morrison changed from "Michelangelo's statue of David" to "overweight with a beard."

Jim Morrison may have gotten the idea for The Changeling from a student film he saw at USC in 1968 called Changeling. There have been other movies with that title as well, including one released in 2008 directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie.

Morrison wrote the lyrics in 1968, but the Doors didn't record The Changeling until 1970 when they made LA Woman, which ended up being his last album with the group.
This rocker was the first song on LA Woman, and also the first song the band recorded for the album. It played to the idea of Jim Morrison's constant transformation.

The Doors wanted "The Changeling" to be the first LA Woman single, but Elektra Records president Jac Holzman insisted on that honor going to "Love Her Madly." He also made "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" the B-side rather than "The Changeling."

The Doors later included "The Changeling" as the B-side of "Riders On The Storm."

The Doors played "The Changeling" on December 11, 1970, at the State Fair Music Hall in Dallas. That version is on the Boot Yer Butt: The Doors Bootlegs album from 2003.

In 2011, The Doors YouTube channel released an official video for The Changeling.

"Waiting For The Sun" is the title of The Doors third album, and they tried to record it in those sessions, but didn't like how it came out. They brought it back 2 years later for their fifth album, Morrison Hotel.

Waiting For The Sun is about the quest for the American Dream, which is never attained.

Barney Hoskyns used Waiting For The Sun as the title of a book about the music scene in Los Angeles.

After their fourth album, The Soft Parade, was criticized for being too commercial, The Doors returned to their roots on Waiting For The Sun, which resulted in more simple songs based on The Blues.