The Surprising Operatic Origins of The Doors’ “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”

The Doors’ debut eponymous 1967 album featured several of the band’s greatest hits, including “Break On Through (To the Other Side),” “Light My Fire,” and “Soul Kitchen.” But tucked away toward the end of Side A is a carnivalesque, jangly ode to whiskey bars that one could easily assume came from the liquor-laden mind of frontman Jim Morrison himself. 

One could assume that, but one would be wrong. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)” might fit perfectly within The Doors’ eccentric musical catalogue. But its origins date back decades earlier to a German political satire opera in the late 1920s.

Created On Commission in 1927

Before iconic rockers like The Doors and David Bowie covered “Alabama Song,” it was one of eleven songs in a German one-act chamber opera. Kurt Weill wrote ‘Mahagonny-Songspiel’ on commission from the 1927 Baden-Baden music festival committee. While some critics and audiences perceived the offbeat opera as a satire of American culture, others believed the opera was commenting on the Weimar Republic’s overwhelming culture of corruption, crisis, and instability.

The one-act opera — which was later fleshed out into a full opera in 1930 — follows various characters as they travel to, establish their lives in, and later depart from Mahagonny, a city of hedonism and earthly pleasure. “Alabama Song” appears in the second scene of the modern opera as a band of prostitutes eagerly travel to the city in search of new customers.

Well show me the way to the next whiskey bar
Oh, don’t ask why, oh, don’t ask why 
Show us the way to the next pretty boy
Oh, don’t ask why, oh don’t ask why 

Though Weill composed the melody, he took the lyrics from German poet Bertolt Brecht, who had published the poem in his 1927 collection ‘Hauspostille,’ or ‘Home Devotions,’ which was a play on Martin Luther’s collection of sermons. 

The first recording of “Alabama Song” was released in 1930 and performed by Austrian actor Lotte Lenya, who played the role of Jenny during the opera’s 1927 debut. Lenya’s mezzo timbre and the ensemble’s warbling accompaniment contribute to the track’s haunting quality.

From Penny Opera to Rock and Roll

One year before the rock group would release their debut LP, The Doors were the resident band at Los Angeles’ Whiskey a Go Go nightclub. Thinking it would be an appropriate addition to the group’s set, The Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek suggested the band cover Weill’s jaunty number. With the rest of the band’s approval, the penny opera tune became a staple for the Southern California band, with many audience members believing it was an original song. 

The Doors took few creative liberties with the song’s lyrics. Jim Morrison kept almost all the lyrics in the A (Show me the way…) and B (Oh, moon of Alabama…) sections the same, with the exception of the line, ‘Show me the way to the next pretty boy.’ In The Doors’ debut album version, Morrison changed the lyric to ‘Show me the way to the next little girl.’

One of the most distinctive instruments on the track, a hammer zither called a marxophone, was one keyboardist Manzarek had never heard of before. As he explained in an episode of ‘Classic Albums,’ the Doors’ producer Paul Rothchild recommended the instrument. Describing Rothchild as a “folky out of New York City,” Manzarek said, “It worked out perfectly,” the musician said, “that jingle-jangly sound. It was perfect for the whisky bar.” 

Long-time Brecht fan David Bowie covered “Alabama Song” in 1978, further cementing the song’s timeless place in the musically avant-garde canon.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images