The Doors - Moonlight Drive [Live] (Official Video)

One beautiful day I was sitting on the sand of Venice Beach enjoying the sun when my eyes caught sight of a guy walking down the beach, and I thought, "Oh my God, I know that guy, it's James Douglas Morrison," so I called out, "Hey, Jim, hey Morrison, come here."

We used to attend the same class at the film school at UCLA in Los Angeles, but then we lost touch.

He had probably lost about 15 kg. He was skinny with long hair.

"Hey Jim, you look good, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing," he replied.

"But weren’t you supposed to go to New York?"

"No, I decided to stay here."

"And what are you doing now?" I asked him.

"I'm writing songs," he replied.

"Wow, interesting, sing me a song then."

He knew I was a musician, and I knew he was a poet.

He sat down, grabbed a handful of sand and let it slowly fall between his fingers, then he began to sing "Moonlight Drive" with an almost possessed voice.

It was soft and powerful at the same time, he sang: "Let’s swim to the moon, let’s climb through the tide..
Penetrate the evening in the city that sleeps to hide..."

Wow, I thought, what magnificent words.

It was one of the best rock songs I had ever heard, the lyrics were psychedelic, speaking of life and death, existence and love.

As Morrison sang it, I could already hear the notes I could play behind him, a funky kind of sound, it was truly a funky song.

"It's fabulous, do you have any other songs?"

"Yeah, I have a couple."

And he started singing bits of other songs, I can't quite remember which ones they were, but they were brilliant and I kept imagining what I could play along with them.

Excited, I asked him, "Wow, why don’t we form a rock band?"

And he said, "That’s exactly what I want to do."

"And tell me, Fabulous man, do you have a name for the band?"

"Yes, of course!"

"And what is it?"

And he replied, "The Doors."

.: Raymond Daniel "Ray" Manzarek Jr. (or rather Manczarek) keyboardist and co-founder of the Doors :.