Saturday, May 25, 2013

Who Played Bass For The Doors?

Some might choose to answer "Doug Lubahn," who played bass on the second, third and fourth Doors albums, gaining him the moniker "The Fifth Door." Or you can choose to be more clever and reply "Patricia Sullivan," who was there when the boys from LA got together at the very beginning. Or you could simply say "Ray Manzarek's left hand." I hadn't considered this bit of information for decades, finally confronted with it in my late thirties by a friend with whom I was sharing "didja know" type questions. Until that point, I had never considered that The Doors, seminal "oh wow" rock band, had any mysteries left for me.
In my youth, I spent a lot of time arguing with anyone who would engage with me about who was the best drummer, guitarist, or vocalist of any particular era. I don't recall that I made much of a fuss about bass players, which is odd since that's effectively what I was. I played tuba for long enough that I felt bass lines and perhaps took them for granted. Much of my early memory of The Beatles' catalog comes from hearing the thump of the floor as their music poured up from my big brother's room in the basement. Paul McCartney? Bass Player. Sting. Geddy Lee. John Entwhistle. Sid Vicious. I could toss those names around, but never in any sort of competitive way. When Cheap Trick switched bass players back in 1981, it didn't occur to me that I should be all shook up. It was the bass player, after all.
Ray Manzarek did all that work with his left hand, and I never fully noticed. Until I had my metaphorical nose rubbed in it. It made me feel better about the rockin' version of  Carmina Burana which my wife has chided me for over the past twenty years. Ray made the sounds of entire orchestra on that one. Don't ask me who played bass.
Aloha, Ray. Your left hand truly stomped on the terra. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't ask me who played bass.

Doug Hodges, apparently.