"Moonlight Drive" is a psychedelic rock song with blues-influenced roots, credited to The Doors and originally composed by Jim Morrison in 1965. The piece holds exceptional significance in the band's history: it is the song that sparked the formation of The Doors as a group, after Morrison recited its lyrics as a poem to Ray Manzarek during an encounter on a Southern California beach. When the band convened for their first rehearsal, the composition took shape as Manzarek taught the parts to Krieger and Densmore. A pivotal moment came when Robby Krieger introduced bottleneck slide guitar to the arrangement, a blues technique he deliberately sought to push beyond its traditional applications, aiming to "make a different kind of sound rather than try to play blue notes with it." The resulting texture gives the song its distinctive hypnotic quality, with Krieger's slide work creating an evocative atmosphere that Manzarek described as moving "through time and space." The composition builds gradually from a meditative foundation into a climactic passage before fading with Morrison's descent into the repeated phrase "gonna drown tonight," an arc that mirrors the lyrical imagery of surrender to moonlit waters. Despite its foundational importance to the band, the song was released only as the B-side to "Love Me Two Times" and as a track on the 1967 album Strange Days. Drummer John Densmore characterized the composition as "revolutionary" and a "psychedelic love song," and it remains a favorite among devoted listeners of The Doors.
