“CRAWLIN' KING SNAKE”: THE DOORS' VERSION AND ITS ORIGINS

 

The Doors' final LP, "L.A. Woman", was released in April 1971 and is their most blues-influenced work.

Three blues songs were recorded for the album: "Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss By My Window" and "Crawlin' King Snake" (link here).

The latter is the only cover amongst the three. Although the original song has been around since the 1920s and '30s along the banks of the Mississippi River, it is attributed to bluesman Big Joe Williams, who first recorded it under that title in 1941.

The tune has been part of The Doors' live repertoire since their early days. The first available recording of their version of this outstanding country blues song dates from March 1967 and was made at 'The Matrix' in San Francisco (link here).

After circulating throughout the group's history, "Crawlin' King Snake" was officially put on vinyl by The Doors in late 1970 during the "L.A. Woman" recording sessions.

Two other musicians joined the quartet on that occasion: Jerry Scheff on electric bass and Mark Benno on electric guitar.

The presence of an additional rhythm guitarist gives Robby Krieger, the band's guitarist, more freedom. He pierces the arrangement with continuous, dark, elastic-sounding glissandos, the most fascinating sonic element of the song after Jim Morrison's vocals.

Additionally, his impressive guitar solo effectively combines rapid, aggressive sequences of notes with moments of silence. This technique is borrowed from jazz music and creates a striking rhythmic contrast that captivates the listener.

Another notable feature of The Doors' version of “Crawlin’ King Snake” is Ray Manzarek's rhythmic accompaniment on the electric piano instead of the usual electric organ.

To make the keyboard sound more pervasive and undulating, Manzarek applies a distortion effect known as "tremolo" to it. This seems a risky choice with respect to the country blues tradition, but it enables the song to flow with a relaxed mood.

It is the electric piano, together with the languid march delineated by John Densmore's drums, that gives to the traditional blues a new musical guise and makes it unique.

Finally, Morrison's vocal performance highlights how his poor health at the time of the recording sessions (he died about six months later) was offset by his great passion for music.

While not one of his best performances, Morrison's singing contains the irregularities and rough imperfections that are essential for anyone attempting to sing the blues.

Overall, The Doors handle this classic country blues song very well, doing it justice and boldly innovating some of its elements while bringing it into the 1970s without betraying its original spirit.

The journey that takes 'Crawlin' King Snake' from the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s–1930s to Los Angeles in the early 1970s ("L.A. Woman") is punctuated by three key versions of the song.

The earliest verbal references to the salacious metaphor of the song's title date back to 1926 ("Black Snake Moan" by Blind Lemon Jefferson link here), while the first official recording, as mentioned previously, is by Big Joe Williams in 1941 (vocals and acoustic guitar, link here).

Williams' excellent guitar technique is accompanied by a tight rhythm and straightforward vocals that leave little room for melody. In short, this is country blues at its best, a must-have.

A few months later, also in 1941, Tony Hollins recorded his own version of the tune, featuring vocals and resonator guitar (link here).

This lesser-known but significant blues musician slows down the tempo of the composition yet retains the rough authenticity of the sound and arrangement typical of country blues. It's another great rendition of this tune that's absolutely worth listening to, and it's the closest to The Doors' version in terms of atmosphere and vocal progression.

The final essential recording of "Crawlin' King Snake" is by Johnny Lee Hooker in 1949 (link here).

This early song in Hooker's career is sung in his warm, deep voice and breaks into the "Talking Blues" style during the three middle eight sections (from min. 0:57 to min. 1:08, from min. 1:33 to min. 1:43, and from min. 2:14 to min. 2:24).

The slightly amplified guitar and foot-tapping rhythm make this a Hooker classic, as well as being the most successful version of the song at the time of its release.

About twenty years later, The Doors would write another interesting chapter in the history of "Crawlin' King Snake".

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is available on Amazon.com, .uk, .mx, .it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”