Green Door

"(The) Green Door" is a 1956 popular song with music composed by Bob Davie and lyrics written by Marvin Moore. The lyrics describe a nondescript establishment, with a green door, behind which "a happy crowd" play piano, smoke and "laugh a lot", and inside which the singer is not allowed. This club was private and it was limited to musicians union. The title was originally called "Yellow Door", however, it was one syllable too many, so it was changed to "Red Door", however due to the "Red Scare" it would be too controversial, so the title was changed to "Green Door", (Source: Big 11 Countdown Show with Johnny Hayes on radio station KRLA.)

Possible inspirations

At the time the song was popular, many believed it was inspired by a green-doored restaurant and bar called "The Shack" in Columbia, Missouri, where singer Jim Lowe had attended the University of Missouri. Long-time Shack owner Joe Franke doubts this theory, however.

The song has also been said to refer to the lesbian Gateways club (first opened in 1930), which had a green door and was featured in the movie The Killing of Sister George, although some express doubt over this connection.

Possible literary origins

"The Green Door" is also a short story by O. Henry from his 1906 book The Four Million, in which a man named Rudolf Steiner, though apparently not the Austrian esotericist, is handed a mysterious card reading, The Green Door. He enters a green door where he meets a starving young woman. He quickly rushes out and returns laden with food, and they become friends over supper; finally Steiner promises to visit her again the next day and there is romance in the offing. Eventually it turns out that the card was an advertisement for an entirely different "Green Door", a theatre play. O. Henry uses the eponymous green door as a symbol for everyday adventures which he encourages us to seek out.

It is also possible that the song is a reference to an H. G. Wells short story, "The Door in the Wall."

Another possible origin comes from the green color of a certain union card. Without a union card, one could not experience work and income, the "happy times behind the green door".

Fitz-James O'Brien's short story, "The Lost Room", details a man being locked out of his own room by a group of demons and bears some similarity to the themes of the song.

It is possible that the song is a response to the song "Hernando's Hideaway" (1954) which was written for the musical The Pajama Game and describes a dark and secretive nightclub where the password is "Joe sent me". In the lyrics of "Green Door" this password merely makes "someone laugh out loud behind the Green Door." The Johnston Brothers had a hit with this one year before "Green Door" appeared.^{[citation needed]}

In A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh (book) (1926) Christopher Robin lives "behind a green door in another part of the Forest" (the 100 Acre Wood).

Cultural impact

The song's title inspired the title of a short story that was made into a pornographic film, Behind the Green Door.^{[citation needed]} People "in the know" realize that the Mitchell brothers were inspired by an anonymous underground short story that was in circulation (via Mimeographed copies) from the time of the Second World War.^{[citation needed]}

It is also behind the name of a live album by Irish American punk band Flogging Molly, Alive Behind the Green Door.(this may only reference the Irish bar in Los Angeles Molly Malone's where they record was recorded and has a green door. It is also where the Molly in their name comes from.)

It is also the name of a letter written by David Berg, the former leader of the cult once called the Children of God and later renamed "The Family"-—he used it as a term for molesting little children.

Psychobilly band The Cramps covered the song on their 1981 album, Psychedelic Jungle.

The Spanish pop-punk group Los Nikis made a Spanish version of this song in 1986.

"The Green Door" is the name of a saloon in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as well as Park Hall, Maryland

Within the American intelligence community, "green door" is a slang verb, meaning to restrict an individual's or organization's access to information and/or locations. "We green doored them" or "The situation has been highlighted by the 'Green Door' compartmentation and exclusion".

Recordings

The hit version of the song in the United States was recorded by Jim Lowe (backed by the orchestra of songwriter Davie, with Davie also playing piano), and it reached #1 on the Billboard charts in 1956.

In the United Kingdom, Lowe's version reached #8 on the charts, but a version by Frankie Vaughan was even more popular, reaching #2. Another UK recording, by Glen Mason, reached #24 on the UK chart. The most popular version was by rock and roll star Shakin' Stevens which spent four weeks at number one in July 1981.

In 1964, Bill Haley & His Comets recorded a version for a single release on Decca Records during an unsuccessful attempt to make a comeback with the label that had made them famous with "Rock Around the Clock" (this version was produced by Milt Gabler). Country humorist Mayf Nutter re-charted the song in 1973. Crystal Gayle recorded the song in 1977, and it has since become a fan favorite at her concerts. The Cramps have also recorded the song, on the 1981 album, Psychedelic Jungle. The Spanish pop-punk group Los Nikis made a Spanish version of this song in 1986.

Other versions have been recorded by Roland Alphonso, Wynder K. Frog, Houston and Dorsey, Ray Hamilton, Danny Colfax Mallon, Gene McDaniels, Country Dick Montana, Eskew Reeder, Jumpin' Gen Simmons, Skip & Flip (1961), and Skitzo.

Preceded by "Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley	Billboard Top 100 number one single (Jim Lowe version) November 3, 1956 (3 weeks)	Succeeded by "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley
Preceded by "Ghost Town" by The Specials	UK number one single (Shakin' Stevens version) 1 August 1981 - 22 August 1981	Succeeded by "Japanese Boy" by Aneka