Paris Blues (found recording of Doors song; 1968-1971)

L.A. Woman album cover.

Status: Found

Date found: 18 Nov 2022

Found by: The Doors

The Doors were an American psychedelic rock band that was active from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. Based in Los Angeles, California, the group consisted of Jim Morrison (vocalist), Ray Manzarek (keyboardist), Robby Krieger (guitarist), and John Densmore (drummer). The group is considered to be known as one of the most influential bands in the history of rock and roll with examples of their most notable songs such as Light My Fire, Break on Through (To the Other Side), and Riders on the Storm.

In the fall of 1970, The Doors began to work on their sixth album, entitled L.A. Woman. During the album’s development, a track demo entitled Paris Blues was said to have been cut upon being recorded.

Background

Originally, Paris Blues was composed for the purpose of being a track for L.A. Woman. However, according to Robby Krieger in his 2021 autobiography, the song was scrapped as the band thought that it was not good enough to be featured on the album. When it came to the reason why it wasn’t released, later on, Krieger went on to say that it was due to the fact that both the master tapes and his personal cassette went missing, leaving the only surviving sample in the possession of Ray Manzarek via his own cassette dub. Unfortunately, the tape was then tampered with by Ray’s son, Pablo, who was said to have been an infant at the time. And as a result, the last known copy of Paris Blues was accidentally destroyed.

Composition

In a 1997 online interview with a fan, Ray Manzarek simply described the song’s tone as a blues song that was not that special and that it fitted with the concept of funky blues.

Status

The actual recording of Paris Blues was entirely lost. Due to the circumstances surrounding its absence, it was unknown whether or not the track still remains. The only remnants of the song's existence are its lyrics, which surfaced online in 2001. On September 13th, 2022, Rhino Records announced a November 25th release of a compilation of outtakes entitled "Paris Blues". It was revealed that the song has been recovered through the use of "creative editing." Ahead of the compilation's release, the band uploaded the song to their YouTube channel on November 18th, 2022.

Video

Paris Blues.