79

L.A. Woman
The Doors
1971

Given my love for classic rock during my high school years, I of course liked The Doors. But I didn't love The Doors like my brother Ryan loved The Doors. But I had to keep up because I most definitely did not want my brother to think he was smarter than me about anything. (Side note: Ryan is most definitely smarter than me. But I'm more handsome.)

(Side story to the side note: in church a few weeks ago, we sat behind a young family, parents are maybe in their late 20s/early 30s. One of their kids, maybe 2-3 years old, points at me and turns to his mom and says, "Grandpa? Grandpa?" The mom, fairly embarrassed, turns around and just says to me, "you look great." Fun times. Damn, Ryan's even more handsome than me now.)

Anyways, back to The Doors. So I listened to a lot of them in high school and my freshman year of college, but they didn't age particularly well with me. Maybe because after having kids they weren't as conducive to road trips. Maybe I've gone soft in my old age. Maybe both. Actually, most certainly both.

But this song right here is a masterpiece, and dare I say The Doors' best. The intro to this song is everything -- right out of the gate you just hear what sounds like a car or motorcycle out on an open highway. And then that piano intro by Ray Manzarek (legend). Of course, I say that intro is everything but then Jim Morrison (legend) comes in and just lays down this brilliant rock/blues vocal leading up to my favorite part, the classic anagram "Mr. Mojo Risin!" This is peak road trip music if there ever was one. And as a native Angeleno, I needed at least one song about the City of Angels on my list. Actually this is probably far too low a ranking for this one. But what's done is done.

Other Songs Considered:
People are Strange, Light My Fire, Break On Through