Love Street


"Love Street" is a song by the American rock band the Doors which appears on their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun.

Background

The song was originally a poem written by singer Jim Morrison about the street in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles, California, where he lived with his girlfriend Pamela Courson and watched hippies pass by. The lyrics end on an ambiguous note with the line "I guess I like it fine so far."
The song is noted for Morrison's spoken narration, which occurs in the middle of the composition:
Morrison refers to the Canyon Country Store across the street from his house. Morrison also wrote the Waiting for the Sun album and much of The Soft Parade at the residence. The house was partially damaged during a spate of arson fires on December 30, 2011; the balcony was destroyed.
The Doors rarely played "Love Street" in live concerts, but it was played in concert in Stockholm, Sweden during their 1968 European tour.

Critical reception

critic Lindsay Planer describes "Love Street" as a "spry and melodic ballad". Planer describes the melody as being "lilting" and having a "Baroque Pop feel." Planer describes Ray Manzarek's keyboard playing as being "intricate and melodic" in the bridges but complains that Robbie Krieger's "painfully understated and jazzy" guitar playing sometimes gets buried beneath the drums and keyboards. Music critic Paul Williams described "Love Street" as "edgy, even visionary music."