"Hello, I Love You" is a song written by Jim Morrison of the Americanrock bandthe Doors from their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun. It was released as a single that same year, reaching number one in the United States and selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone. In Canada, it hit number one as well. The single also became the band's first big UK hit, peaking at number fifteen on the chart. This was one of six songs recorded by the proto-Doors band Rick & the Ravens on a demo for Aura Records in 1965, that the band shopped around Los Angelesrecord companies, eventually landing them a brief signing with Columbia Records. Sometimes the title is listed as "Hello, I Love You " or "Hello, I Love You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name?" The title that is printed depends on how early the pressing is. At the time the single was released, stereo 45 rpm records were generally unknown — especially in the Top 40 format. This recording by the Doors was promoted as the first rock45 rpm record in stereo. It includes a long musical sweep about 1:20 into the song, starting at the left channel and panning across into the right channel, in a very ostentatious demonstration of stereo effect. This release, along with the Rascals' hit song, "A Beautiful Morning," are credited with initiating the industry changeover to stereo recordings as the norm for 45 rpm singles.
Composition
Jim Morrison wrote the song in 1965. The track was one of six demos, and was not released until three years later. While the band was recording their third album, Waiting for the Sun, there was some difficulty as Morrison's drinking was making work impossible. Drummer John Densmore threatened to quit the band and the rest of the band decided to look through some of Morrison's old poems in an effort to calm him down. Early American pressings of the single used the title "Hello I Love You Won’t You Tell Me Your Name".
Plagiarism controversy
In the liner notes to The Doors Box Set, Robby Krieger has denied the allegations that the song's musical structure was stolen from Ray Davies, where a riff similar to it is featured in The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night". Instead, Krieger said the song's vibe was taken from Cream's song "Sunshine of Your Love". But Davies has continued to assert that the Doors' song was based on his. In a 2012 interview with Mojo magazine, Davies said, "The funniest thing was when my publisher came to me on tour and said The Doors had used the riff for 'All Day and All of the Night' for 'Hello, I Love You.' I said rather than sue them, can't we just get them to own up? My publisher said, 'They have, that's why we should sue them!'" And in a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Davies suggested that an out-of-court settlement had been reached with the Doors.
The last verse was written by Jim Morrison three years prior to the album recordings, reportedly about a beautiful black woman he saw walking while living on Venice Beach.
The song was used in the movies Platoon and Casualties of War. The song was also used in the 1981 movieNeighbors and can be heard at the beginning of the Mad Men series finale Person To Person. In the show Glee Cory Monteith sang a cover of it in the episode entitled "Hell-O".
Chart performance
The song spent two weeks at #1, and was also in the Top 5 at the same time as Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire". This put two of the Doors' tunes simultaneously in the Top 5.
