Piano Lessons

This week, irocku presents, Back Door Man, a song that brings together one of the greatest songwriters of all-time, Willie Dixon and one of rock music's legendary bands, The Doors. Read more »

Originally written while under contract with Chess Records in 1960, Back Door Man was first recorded by Blues legend, Howlin Wolf who, along with Muddy Waters helped inspire a generation of young rock musicians. The song refers to the boyfriend of a married woman who has to slip out the 'back door', before her husband comes home. A least that's what they say. The band featured, Otis Spann on piano, Hubert Sumlin on guitar, and Dixon on bass. Since the early 1960's, Willie Dixon songs have been recorded and performed by hundreds of musicians including; Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Allman Brothers, Queen, Megadeth, Tom Petty, The New York Dolls, and in this case, The Doors.

Recorded in 1966 and released on The Doors self titled first album in 1967, Back Door Man soon became a band favorite and was the opening song for most of The Doors live shows until the death of lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971. With Ray Manzerak's hypnotic pulsating beat, the piano puts the listener into a joyous carnival-like trance only to be cut in two by Morrison's vocals that howl in delight like a pirate following a night of pillaging. Manzerak's keyboard playing gives this song a frenetic energy that is representative of much of the decade of the 1960's. In many ways the music of The Doors' first album (1967) was a watershed in rock music history, it is when popular music turned sharply away from the British Invasion to embrace a new rock movement emerging from the urban centers of United States. Back Door Man (1960), written by Willie Dixon was born in Chicago, where Chess records lit a musical fuse in urban America that inspired the next wave in the never ending evolution of rock music.

Written by Willie Dixon
Administered by Bug Music
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