When the Music's Over
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| "When the Music's Over" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Doors from the album Strange Days | ||||
| Released | October 7, 1967 | |||
| Recorded | May and August 1967 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, progressive rock, acid rock, art rock | |||
| Length | 10:58 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Writer | Jim Morrison Ray Manzarek Robby Krieger John Densmore |
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| Producer | Paul A. Rothchild | |||
| Strange Days track listing | ||||
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"When the Music's Over" is a song by American rock band The Doors, featured on their 1967 album Strange Days. The song, at almost eleven minutes long, is their third longest recorded song, behind "The End", at 11:42, and "Celebration of the Lizard", at 17:01. A 16:16 version appears on The Doors' 1970 album Absolutely Live.
When the band originally recorded the song, Jim Morrison did not show up for the session, so the band recorded it with Ray Manzarek singing. Jim ended up coming in the next day and had to re-record the vocals.
The song starts out with a jazzy riff featuring Ray Manzarek on organ and John Densmore on drums. Right at the beginning of the song, you can hear Jim Morrison say, "Yeah, come on," to add to the feel of the intro. Also the organ tune at the start is almost identical to the piece used in Soul Kitchen from the previous album. The band kicks in to start the first verse, which they repeat twice, and then Morrison sings the chorus. A guitar solo by Robby Krieger then commences, which lasts 44 seconds. Again, another song from the first album is recalled when Morrison sings, "Turn out the lights,"—it is performed in the same way as the lyric "End of the night" is on the track of the same name. The song's volume gradually decreases as the epic poem begins. This very quiet portion of the song, which lasts about four minutes, features Morrison singing, with a quiet bass line from Manzarek, soft guitar by Krieger, and drums by Densmore. The poem portion is occasionally sparked from loud bursts from Densmore's drums. The song is almost silent when the famous lyric "We want the world and we want it now!" is declared by all four members of the Doors. A drum roll crescendo is then heard. The song abruptly kicks into gear again as Morrison screams out the rest of the lyrics. The final one and a half minutes is the first verse of the song sung once again.
"When the Music's Over" appears at the end of the workprint of the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, when Willard kills Kurtz; it was replaced by "The End" in the theatrical version.
[edit] Cover versions
- Serbian rock band Električni Orgazam recorded a version on their 1983 cover album Les Chanosones Populaires.
- Rock/Dub band Sublime used the intro organ part in the song "Cisco Kid" on the album "Robbin' the Hood"
- Melissa Auf der Maur covered the song during her 2010 tour, imitating the organ with two guitars and playing a bass solo just with her left hand
