Break On Through (To the Other Side)


"Break On Through " is a song written and recorded by the Doors. It is the opening track of their debut album, The Doors. Elektra Records issued the song as the group's first single, which reached number 126 in the United States. The song became a concert staple for the band.
Twenty-four years after its original release, "Break On Through" became a minor hit in the UK after it was released as a single from the soundtrack album The Doors which peaked at number 64 in the UK Singles Chart.

Musical structure and composition

"Break On Through" is an uptempo song notated in 4/4 time. It begins with a bossa nova drum groove in which a clave pattern is played as a rim click underneath a driving ride cymbal pattern. John Densmore appreciated the new bossa nova craze coming from Brazil at the time, and decided to use it in the song. The bass line, similar to a typical bass line used in bossa nova, continues almost all of the way through the song.
Robby Krieger has stated that the guitar riff he played was inspired by the one in Paul Butterfield's version of the song "Shake Your Moneymaker". In his autobiography, Ray Manzarek commented that his keyboard part was inspired by Stan Getz and João Gilberto's bossa nova album Getz/Gilberto. Other sources have been identified as Ray Charles's "What I'd Say" and Them's "One Two Brown Eyes". In a review of the latter, Richie Unterberger elaborated:

Critical reception

In a song review for AllMusic, critic Lindsay Planer comments that Morrison's lyrics "reveal a literacy that had rarely been incorporated into rock music":

Personnel