Doors – Touch Me

In the early eighties, I joined Columbia House and I would sign up fictional people and get free albums. I would buy the required albums for these fictional people but you would get 6-7 free albums for signing up someone to buy one album. Plus that person would get free albums when they joined. I saw the loophole and took advantage of it but I always paid. I got most of my Doors, Moody Blues, and a few other albums through Columbia House. 

This Robbie Krieger-written song is immediately likable. This Doors song and album differed from many others because of its orchestral arrangement, which includes brass and strings. It was largely arranged by producer Paul Rothchild. It was also very radio-friendly and Morrison’s voice sounded great in this pop backdrop…he did keep his edge up on the track. Many critics and fans saw the track as a sell-out for The Doors. To me, it was just them expanding their sound to a different genre. Plus the solo in the middle is clearly jazz-influenced not heard in many top 40 hits at the time. 

The song was on the Soft Parade album released in 1969. The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard Album Charts and #4 in Canada. The song did really well. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #6 in New Zealand. 

Soft Parade was their 4th studio album. They would only release two more albums with Morrison, Morrison Motel, and L.A. Woman (my personal favorite). With Soft Parade the band decided to experiment with a more polished, orchestral sound. Producer Paul A. Rothchild and arranger Paul Harris introduced horns, strings, and elaborate arrangements and this song is a good example. The two singles off this album were Touch Me and Wishful Sinful which just missed the top forty at #44.

In the Smothers Brothers clip, you will see Robbie Krieger with a black eye. Ray Manzarek said this: Three rednecks got in a fight with Jim and Robbie down the street from the Doors’ office at a bar and there was pushing and shoving and Robbie Krieger got whacked in the eye. Jim ducked a punch, Robbie wasn’t able to duck the punch. That was 2 days before we went on The Smothers Brothers’ Show. They said to Robbie on the show, Let’s put some make-up on that black eye. You don’t want to be on national television with a black eye. And Robbie said, Yes, I do! No one has ever gone on TV with a black eye. I’m going to be the first! It’s a badge of honor.

Touch Me

Come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, babe
Can’t you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won’t you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?

Now, I’m going to love you
‘Til the heavens stop the rain
I’m going to love you
‘Til the stars fall from the sky
For you and I

Come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, babe
Can’t you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won’t you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?

Now, I’m going to love you
‘Til the heavens stop the rain
I’m going to love you
‘Til the stars fall from the sky
For you and I

I’m going to love you
‘Til the heavens stop the rain
I’m going to love you
‘Til the stars fall from the sky
For you and I

Stronger than dirt

 

 

 

 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

49 thoughts on “Doors – Touch Me”

  4. Pingback: Doors – Touch Me – MobsterTiger

      1. I sometimes wonder where their music would’ve gone Max if he would’ve lived. Would they have sounded like Steely Dan or more like a bluesy version of ACDC with Bon Scott in the late 70’s or would they have gone the other direction & been more heavy metal based. We’ll never know. ‘Strange Days’ was a cool album also.

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      2. I think a more bluesy version of themselves… some of us are not meant to make old bones…he was one of them…and Keith Moon.
        It would have been interesting I agree. He probably would have went solo and then reformed the Doors…but yea I would have liked to hear it.

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      3. Ya’, I totally agree Max. I have flash memories of them performing (probably that video we see now on YouTube of them playing ‘Touch Me’)…I remember hearing their last album or the singles from it in 2nd grade on top 40 radio. So long ago man.

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      5. Max, in case you have the MLB Network they’re running the ‘Baseball Seasons’ (’81) show & the original 1 hour ’81 World Series highlight film right after that this evening. Get that DVR ready.

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  9. Now there’s a Classic Rock song I can get behind! Oft-times I think we tend to use ‘radio friendly’ a bit dismissively, but really what’s wrong with making a song that’s easy to like? there might be one or two other Doors songs I like a bit better, but this is right there and when it comes to kind of instant-pop appeal, they never did better.

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    1. Oh there is nothing wrong with is at all. Some songs hit the right time and find an audience. Some songs are released and just have the wrong timing.
      This is probably as pop as they got.

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  11. “The Soft Parade” wasn’t my favorite album by the Doors when I checked it out. The only song that stuck was “Touch Me” though I liked it less than many of their other songs. That said, it’s been quite while and my taste has since evolved, as evidenced by the fact “Touch Me” speaks to me much more now than it did then. I should probably revisit the entire album. Robbie Krieger looked kind of wild in that TV clip!

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    1. Yea it wasn’t their most popular at all…but I didn’t mind it…my favorite is LA Woman….then the debut.
      Yea Robbie can take a punch lol.

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  12. This type of crooning really suited Morrison’s voice. True story, I first knew this song as it used to be on a mixtape that played when I worked in a bowling alley… Not sure who allowed staff to choose the music, rather than just a Top 40 mix, but it was fun to hear it blast out over the lanes.

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  15. Jim Morrison never did a thing for me back then, but watching that Smothers Brothers video, he was damfine! Wow! So funny about the guy with the black eye. Really adds something special to the video. Having all of those orchestra instruments on there and the sax solo. Great song that stands the test of time.

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    1. Yea it didn’t sound like their other stuff. Yea about Morrison…I saw a Rolling Stone Magazine cover in the 80s about Jim that said…”He’s Hot, He’s Sexy and He’s Dead” which I thought was rather morbid lol.

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  17. I think the Doors debut album is terrific and then there’s like a half-a-dozen songs from the rest of their career that I also like. “Touch Me” is one of them. The orchestration really does work with Jim’s singing.

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    1. I do like the debut album and also LA Woman. Maybe because it was the first album I got by them. This song fits him so well.

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