Robby Krieger Recalls The Doors Recording ‘L.A. Woman’

Guitarist Robby Krieger took time out to look back at band's 1971 “L.A. Woman” track. The tune, which was featured on the Doors' final album with Jim Morrison, still brings back pleasant memories for Krieger, who recalled the sessions for the track, telling Guitar Player, “This song has always been a favorite of mine. Usually, Jim (Morrison) would write words, and then either Ray (Manzarek) or I would put music to them. But in this case, we were just screwing around in our little rehearsal space. That was also where we were recording, and that gave us a lot of freedom to experiment and try things out. We didn’t have to pay crazy studio costs. We could just roll tape.”

He added: “Before you knew it, we were jamming on something pretty good. I think Jim’s words were also off the cuff. Sometimes jams don’t produce much in the way of songs. This one did.”

Krieger shed light on his guitar part for the legendary track: “During the verses, I do these little answer lines to Jim’s vocals. That was just a natural thing he and I would do. He’d sing something and I’d respond. I always liked an improv approach to that kind of thing. All in all, I think we got the whole thing down in one day. Some songs we labored over; this one was quick. Maybe we came in the next day and did it again. I ripped through the solo. I was using an SG through a (Fender) Twin (Reverb amp), but it wasn’t the SG I played on the first albums. That one got stolen. The one I used on ‘L.A. Woman’ was black and had three pickups. I think it lasted about a year.”

We asked Robby Krieger if the Doors realized how timeless “L.A. Woman” was when they laid it down: “Oh God, I don't. . . not really. I don't think so. I mean, y'know, we knew it wasn't bad, but I don't think we realized how good it was, no. I mean, it still amazes me how good that song is.”

Just before his 2013 death, Ray Manzarek told us that at the time of L.A. Woman — the Doors' sixth and final album for Elektra Records — the band was contemplating a new label for its future work in the new decade. Manzarek recalled where the band's mindset was at after the L.A. Woman sessions ended in early-1971: “This was the last album left on our contract and this was it, we were free. After we delivered this, our contract was fulfilled, we were free to break up the band, never make music again, resign with Elektra Records, go somewhere else — Ahmet Ertegun from Atlantic Records wanted the Doors, and I think at that point, anybody would've said, 'We'll take the Doors!' (We) coulda made a nice advance. So we had all those possibilities, but the one possibility that was never in anybody's mind was Jim Morrison dying.”