The Doors - The Crystal Ship “American Bandstand“ ABC Studios Live, Hollywood. July 22, 1967. Jim 4K

Morrison wrote that the song after taking LSD on an Isla Vista beach one night as he stared at the blinking lights of an offshore oil rig named Platform Holly. The Doors appear on Dick Clark’s American bandstand to perform “The Crystal Ship” and ‘Light My Fire”, which was just peaking on the charts. Although this is another lip-synced performance, it’s hard to tell it’s the same Jim Morrison that moped his way through the Shebang performance. Jim really gets into this one and it’s hard to tell he isn’t really singing. The camera focuses in on Ray’s hands quite a bit, and he plays along with the songs perfectly. Purists will smile at this one since on the studio version of “The Crystal Ship” we hear classical piano and on the show Ray is playing on a Vox Continental. After they perform “The Crystal Ship”, Dick Clark interviews the band. Two memorable quotes come from this interview, the first when Dick Clark asked Ray to classify the type of music The Doors play: Ray: Well, it’s impossible really to put a label on it because of where we are in the music. Being on the inside, you’re only ‘of the music’, and all categories have to come from the outside. So someone else is going to have to say what our music is rather than us, because we ARE our music. The second quote comes from Jim, who when asked by Clark, why so much is happening with the music scene in LA and San Francisco, Jim replies: “The West is the best.” After the interview, the song “Light My Fire” starts up before they are ready and the band rushes back to their instruments. #TheDoors #JimMorrison #TheCrystalShip Original Broadcast, R-Evolution, Dick Clark.