Bluestone on The Doors

The Doors covered both Crawlin' Kingsnake, by John Lee Hooker, and Howlin' Wolf's Back Door Man.  These tunes are both mannish and lend themselves to Jim Morrison's baritone voice.  Hooker's Kingsnake is one of his best.  It's repetitive: a simple, repeated lick between lines.  You caught me crawlin' when the grass was very high, I'm just gonna keep on crawlin' baby until the day I die!  The Doors do what they can with this song.  It's a simple song, but Hooker just had something in him that made it great; I can't say the same about the Doors on this track.

Buy The Very Best of the Doors [US Version] on Amazon.com.

On back Door Man, however, I think The Doors outdo Howlin' Wolf on his own tune.  The two versions of Back Door Man are much more similar than those of Crawlin' Kingsnake, but I just don't dig Howlin' Wolf's voice here, it's harsh.  Here's The Doors' versions of Back Door Man and Crawlin' Kingsnake.  Realize how similar this rock band is to some classic blues guys, another testament to the foundation blues set for American music.  Also, realize how similar The Doors' versions of these songs are to each other!  To put it nicely, their style is very, very recognizable.