"Moonlight Drive" holds a special place in Doors mythology as one of the first songs Jim Morrison ever shared with Ray Manzarek, the performance that inspired them to form a band. This 1967 studio recording from Strange Days features Robby Krieger's electric guitar solo over a 12-bar blues form at 114 BPM in A, grounding the song's surreal, watery imagery in a traditional structure. Krieger's use of slide guitar on the track creates the shimmering, liquid quality that perfectly complements Morrison's lyrics about swimming to the moon. The one-chorus blues solo is notable for its economy and textural inventiveness, with Krieger using the slide to produce vocal-like inflections that blur the line between guitar and human voice. The song went through several iterations before this definitive version, with an earlier attempt recorded during the debut album sessions deemed unsatisfactory. The final recording benefits from the band's increased studio confidence and Rothchild's refined production approach, capturing the mystical atmosphere Morrison envisioned when he first recited the lyrics on Venice Beach.
