"Hello, I Love You" is a song recorded by American rock band the Doors for their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun. Elektra Records released it as a single that same year, which topped the charts in the U.S. and Canada. Although the Doors are credited as the songwriters, songs by other artists have been identified as likely sources.
Apart from the single's success, a portion of the band's fans have dismissed the tune, arguing that it does not represent the Doors sound, due to its commercial nature and shallow lyrics.[4] The Doors themselves strongly objected when Elektra Records pressured them to record the song for their third album, since it was one of the first songs they played together and they felt it represented a shallow pop approach that they had long since evolved beyond.[5]
Composition
"Hello, I Love You" was written and first recorded in 1965. It was one of six songs recorded by Rick & the Ravens (a forerunner of the Doors) at World Pacific Jazz studios that the group used to try to secure a record deal.[6] The lyrics were inspired by a young black girl whom Jim Morrison saw at Venice Beach: "Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?".[6]
Both the single and Waiting for the Sun liner notes list the song as a group composition; the performance rights organization ASCAP shows the writers as each of the individual Doors members.[7] The majority of the track's structure is notated in the key of A major.[8]
The funniest thing was when my publisher came to me on tour and said the Doors had used the riff for "All Day and All of the Night" for "Hello, I Love You". I said rather than sue them, can we just get them to own up? My publisher said, "They have, that’s why we should sue them!" (laughs) Jim Morrison admitted it, which to me was the most important thing. The most important thing, actually, is to take (the idea) somewhere else.[10]
In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Davies suggested that an out-of-court settlement had been reached with the Doors.[11] Keyboardist Ray Manzarek, admitted in an interview with Musician magazine that it was "a lot like a Kinks song."[12]
Release and charts
Stereo single
At the time the single was released, stereo 45 rpm records were generally unknown – especially in the Top 40 format. This recording by the Doors was promoted as one of the first rock 45 rpm records in stereo.[13] It includes a long musical sweep about 1:20 into the song, starting at the left channel and panning across into the right channel, in a very ostentatious demonstration of stereo effect. This release, along with the Rascals' hit song, "A Beautiful Morning", are credited with initiating the industry changeover to stereo recordings as the norm for 45 rpm singles.[14] Early American pressings of the single used the title "Hello I Love You Won’t You Tell Me Your Name".[15]
Reception
In a 1968 interview, Morrison said, "Sure, 'Hello, I Love You' isn't one of our best songs, but I am not ashamed of it. Really I like the other side ["Love Street"] better. I was hoping they would flip it and play that, but they haven't.”[16] The single was declared by Billboard as a "solid dance beat throughout."[17]Cash Box said that it is "a steady paced blues track with explosive close (and a stereo gimmick)."[18]Record World said that "The Doors have fun with [the song] and so will their teen following."[19]
Charts and certifications
The song spent two weeks at No. 1 and was also in the Top 5 at the same time as Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire". This put two of the Doors' tunes simultaneously in the Top 5.[20] On its first appearance on the Canadian charts it was listed under the B-side title.[21]
^ abPlaner, Lindsay. "The Doors – 'Hello, I Love You'". AllMusic. Retrieved April 14, 2021. This very pop-oriented tune also demonstrates the multiplicity of the Doors as both a definitive envelope-pushing and conscious-shattering psychedelic band and a straight-ahead '60s pop/rock combo.
^Greene, Andy (November 27, 2014). "Ray Davies". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 10, 2017. My publisher wanted to sue. I was unwilling to do that. I think they cut a deal somewhere, but I don't know the details.
^Everett, Walter (May 2010). "'If You're Gonna Have a Hit': Intratextual Mixes and Edits of Pop Recordings". Popular Music. 29 (2): 233. doi:10.1017/s026114301000005x. S2CID162240986.
