The Crazy History Behind 'The Alabama Song'

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[noahwellington]

More doors content please, love this stuff

[jacktowers]

The moment in "The World's End" when they're all heading around town avoiding the evil robots with a Drunken Paranoid Uniform March to Alabama Song is my favourite use of this song ever

[joshhale]

Dude, your editing is insane! Your videos are some of my favorites to watch because it’s straight eye candy for me.

[georgelacatus]

Ray Manzarek was a GOAT. Always loved that his keyboard work on Hyacinth House was inspired by Chopin's Polonaise in Ab Major 🎹

[trentc]

Weird thing is this wasn't just a deep cut on an album. They played this live a lot. Usually like the second or third song of the show. I always wondered if it was kind of their warm up, get in synch and set a mood song. They obviously enjoyed playing it or they would have dropped it out of the set list in later years. It wasn't a hit the people expected.

[retroecho]

From Ray’s autobiography. It was all totally Dorothy’s idea.

“Dorothy had a record of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill’s ‘Threepenny Opera’ with a couple of cuts from ‘Mahagonny’ at the end of the disc. It was an original cast recording from 1932. It was her kind of music. … … one day Dorothy said, “why don’t you guys do ‘The Whiskey Bar’? As long as you’re doing other people’s material, you might as well do Brecht and Weill too. “

Early in Chapter 7

So Dorothy is the MVP.

[bartonprice]

Great video. Plan to use it in class. It's important to keep in mind that Morrison and Manzarek were film school students, and were likely versed in avant garde theatre of the 20th century (similarly, the Living Theatre in NYC at the same time was inspired by Arnaud's Theatre of Cruelty). One slight correction is that Brecht couldn't have been subject to scrutiny by Sen. McCarthy if Brecht left the U.S. in 1949. McCarthy rose to prominence in 1950. It's more likely that Brecht encountered opposition from the self-censorship by Hollywood due to the Hays Code.

[noahwellington]

8:49 minor mistake, Jim died in 71 not 70.

[jackorion]

This song turned me on to the Doors and made me listen to them which quickly made them my favorite band. I never heard chord changes like that before

[oliverpiers]

When I was a kid I used to get night terrors so my mum bought me a Bowie singles CD collection, which I played every night in order to get to sleep. I have vivid memories of listening to Alabama Song again and again on loop, it was on that fine line between enthralling and terrifying.

[jimmorrison]

The doors Music is intellectual, charismatic, mesmerizing and able to grab your spine and shake it.

[neugey]

I love the duality in this song, how different the verses are than the chorus. It sounds like a medley, but it's not. Bowie doing this song live is probably the best version.

[mykeadelic]

morrison died in 71 not 70 but other than that this is on point!!! haha

love the doors. so much to talk about with them as a microcosm of the psychedelic era

[tme]

alabama song is one of my favorite doors tracks, this was a super fun video for me

also can we talk about how the city of mahogany is literally just las vegas

[fleaboy]

this song is so nostalgic, my mum used to play it all the time when i was wee. i used to think it was creepy 💀

[janhanchenmichelsen]

So many great artists have played Weill/Brecht. Such an important part of modern music. "Lotte Lenya Singt Kurt Weill" (1955) is a favourite of mine. In German, of course.

[aoisejadore]

I can't wait until more people get interested in classic rock and roll. Your channel is a great resource, thank you!

[avachristiansen]

You truly have the best music history videos out there, I really look forward to your uploads. Your editing is insane, you are a great storyteller, and I am always intrigued

[ListieShadows]

Man, imagine my surprised to find out that Bertolt Brecht wrote "Mack The Knife". Like, I didn't come into this video expecting to think about Mac Tonight—which, I mean, it's entirely my fault that I did, but y'know.

[mikegim]

"Mahogany: A place of wealth and debauchery built by criminals in the middle of the desert"... So basically Las Vegas