5.05.2011

Come On Baby ... Light My Fire

I don't know if it was wishful thinking on his sister Nancy's part, but she always remarked to Peter that he should play more ballads, because in her mind, he sounded like Jim Morrison. All of the sisters constantly remarked on how his voice was uncanny and that it had a deepness to it, that stayed with you. In fact, while I don't actually hear it the resemblance to Jim Morrison, I do remember Pete cringing and rolling his eyes back at the mention of it.

While I don't think Peter sounded like The Doors, whenever anyone played their music he'd tap out the drum or cackle along with the lyrics. For his voice, he was fond of the slower melodic parts of songs. One of my favorites in Peter's early singing days is Carnivore's  "Male Supremacy." Not very Morrison-like, but, catchy and melodic.

Pete With Sister Barbara

Cathy recalls a Summer evening where her friends got a glimpse into Pete's  early musical inspirations:

It was a lazy summer day in 1966 when the kids I grew up with on 18th street would hang out on the stoop and listen to Cousin Brucie, an AM DJ who'd start playing music at around 6 PM or so every night. Pete was only 4 going on 5 years old but he'd run with the "big" kids whenever he could and stay out till late at night hangin' out with me (12 years old), Dianne (very soft spoken and petit age 9) and her brother Tommy (age 11) both who lived 5 doors away from our house; Denise ( about 10 years old) from across the street whose last name was "Rega-something"  sounded like some italian macaroni;  and Neil  (age 11 too) who lived around the corner across from Midwood field. As long as I would keep an eye on Pete, he could hang out till late with us on our stoop listening to the radio station playing this new song called "Light My Fire" by the Doors, which we all quickly went crazy over. Well, Pete didn't wander at all once he heard the music. In fact, we all took turns trying to mimic Jim Morrison -- forming our own stoop band, we strummed our air guitars, pounded on garbage pail tops as drums, and screeched the notes of the keyboards.

Then, all of a sudden, Peter raced to the top of the stoop and sang out  ... " Set The Night On FIRE ! "

We all applauded him and ourselves and waited for Cousin Brucie to start up the next song ...

I can hear Peter asking in his best "Lenny and Squiggy" voice, "Do ya know what a STOOP is?"

9 comments:

  1. Loved this story :) A musical talent even at such a young age <3 And I love the picture!!!

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  2. ahhhhh he was ready to burn the night even back then! lol thanks for the story.-erik hernandez-

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  3. Deborah Fischer4:44 PM, May 05, 2011

    i always thought the live doors covers were amazing (as all other covers), very fitting

    love the story !

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  4. Ever since I heard Pete sing "Light My Fire" at one of the Type O concerts for an encore, that has been my primary association with the song. So it's pretty cool to read this story here! Your blog puts a smile on my face every day. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. great great story. i love the picture of pete n barbara.

    set the night on fire...indeed!!

    thanks for sharing!!

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  6. i love his rendition of light my fire, so does Barbara my mother and his sister......an incredible link to music and my family...

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  7. I love all the pictures and all the stories. Very lovely family. Thank you for sharing.

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  8. adorable story. and I agree with the comments above, Type O's cover of Light My Fire is nothing short of fantastic (and as a hardcore The Doors an, I dont usually like covers at all).
    thanks for sharing this delightful episode.

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  9. You can hear that his mimicry of Jim Morrison paid off in spades later in Blood and Fire - at the very end of the song, he belts out "No more nights - of FIIIIRRREEEE!!!" - it sounds uncannily like the ending of Light My Fire, where Jim belts out the same word, in the same fashion.

    This post sort of validates my longstanding opinion that Type O was essentially my generations equivalent of the Doors.

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