Light My Fire is a composition principally written by Robby Krieger in early 1966, with songwriting credit shared among all four members of The Doors. Krieger wrote the song at home in Pacific Palisades after Jim Morrison urged the band to develop original material beyond the covers they had been performing at club gigs. He chose fire as a theme, inspired by the Rolling Stones' Play with Fire and drawn to the idea of writing about one of the timeless elements. The piece is built on an exotic verse progression that moves from A minor to F-sharp minor, creating an ominous, sensual atmosphere, while the chorus shifts to a brighter tonal center. Its most distinctive structural feature is an extended instrumental section with solos for guitar and organ, built on a repeating chord cycle reminiscent of John Coltrane's approach on My Favorite Things, allowing for open-ended improvisation. Ray Manzarek contributed a Bach-inspired organ motif using descending major chords that bookends the composition, while John Densmore suggested the Latin rhythm that drives the piece. The other band members shaped it further in rehearsal, with Morrison adding the second verse and the chorus line about setting the night on fire. In live performance, the band frequently stretched the instrumental passages into extended jams. The song became a psychedelic rock landmark, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967 and earning induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. It has been widely covered, most notably by Jose Feliciano, whose 1968 acoustic interpretation won a Grammy Award.
