The Doors Streams New Mix Of “Touch Me”

A Stripped-Down Version

Ahead of the release of The Soft Parade 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition this October 18, The Doors streamed a stripped-down take of their 1969 hit Touch Me. Written by Robbie Krieger, he wasn’t thrilled at first when producer Paul A. Rothchild suggested the addition of orchestral strings thinking they would be deemed as Beatles or Rolling Stones copycats. But he eventually caved in. 50 years later, the band released a version sans the horns and strings.

It will appear on their new box set reissue. Krieger told Rolling Stone, “It was cool to strip that stuff down. You can’t say, ‘Oh, this is what it would have been like if we didn’t do the horns and strings, because I think we would have approached it differently, but you have an idea of what it sounded like. I think it’s kind of cool.”

The track was originally titled Hit Me but Jim Morrison refused to sing it, afraid that it might pose as a challenge for people to literally hit him. Krieger added, “Jim said, ‘I’m not saying that. People might take me literally.’ I said, ‘How about, “Touch Me”?’ ‘All right, “Touch Me.”‘ so then I wrote the words to fit ‘Touch Me.'”

Check out the new mix below.