The Doors Forum

"The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This"
From: Forever Changes, side two, song three
-Running time: 3:00
-Recorded: August 11, 1967 Sunset Sound
-Written by: Arthur Lee
-Lead vocal: Arthur Lee
-Lead guitar: Johnny Echols
-Rhythm guitar: Bryan MacLean
-Bass: Kenny Forssi
-Drums: Michael Stuart
-The original title of this song was 'Hummingbirds'. It was cut acoustically and without any singing prior to the beginning of the official Forever Changes sessions, which would be approximately sometime in late spring/early summer 1967.
-According to Arthur he wrote this song on how he thought life should be in a beautiful and harmonious world while revisiting his old high school in Los Angeles, Dorsey High. In truth he saw school kids fighting over lunch money and other things but went with the mental image in his head anyway.
-The acoustic demo bears some similarity to the Buffalo Springfield song "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing". Both songs were early in their development and neither had been officially recorded; they seem to influence each other.
-Quotable: Johnny relates on how tough it was for the final version of this song to come to fruition:

"Hummingbirds would have been one of the first songs we did. All of us felt that the trickiest parts of the whole project, was playing to an imaginary orchestra, that had no music yet. There were no cues whatsoever. We weren't even certain Elektra was going to come through with the financing for the orchestra. In effect we had to leave room for other musicians, but not too much room, just in case they were a no show.

None of us had any idea what, or if those guys were going to play at all. Yet we were required to use a totally unforgiving strobe tuner after each song, to make sure we would be in tune with these imaginary musicians. We were essentially groping around in the dark, trying to do the best we could, with ever changing circumstances. Half the group was on the verge of mutiny, added to that, we had a recalcitrant, unreliable Record Company.... The whole thing could have self destructed at any point. Every time I listen to Forever Changes, I'm amazed we actually pulled it off."

-IMHO: The quirkiest song of Forever Changes, with lyrics that are almost too happy...or is it Arthur messing with everyone's head? The lyrics are counterbalanced by the somewhat foreboding strings that make the song album worthy. Also of note is Arthur's staccato vocal delivery in classic LoVE style and the staccato false ending. I believe Bruce Botnick, Paul Rothchild or both came up with that, which was the closest any song on the album came to having a 'gimmicky' element.

-Fun fact/Myth buster: Contrary to Jac Holzman's assertion, upon the band signing with Elektra in January 1966 Arthur did not take virtually all of the signing money ($5,000) and go and buy a gull wing Mercedes and give the rest of the band $100 each. In reality, all four members got equal shares, with Arthur getting Snoopy's share (they decided that since he was not a full time member of the band he would not get an equal share). Arthur gave Snoopy $100 out of his extra share. If my math is correct that means that Arthur got $1900, Snoopy $100, and Johnny, Bryan and Kenny $1000 each. Arthur then bought a vintage Mercedes for approximately $1100. This is hardly an example of Arthur ripping off the rest of the band and blowing the money entirely on a car.

Lyrics:
Hummingbirds hum, why do they hum, little girls wearing
Pigtails in the morning, in the morning

Merry-go-rounds are going around in and all over
The town in the morning, in the morning
La da da, da da da da

Summertime's here and look over there, flowers every-
Where in the morning, in the morning
La da da, da da da da

silentseason wrote:-The original title of this song was 'Hummingbirds'. It was cut acoustically and without any singing during the sessions in June of 1966 that produced the '7 and 7 Is' single. It was shelved until revived for this project. The demo was produced by Jac Holzman.

Is this true? Here's Johnny's reply when I asked if the version of "Hummingbirds" from the "Forever Changes: Collector's Edition" was from the "Da Capo" sessions:

Johnny Echols wrote:Actually that version of "Hummingbirds" was an earlier track, from the "Forever Changes" sessions at Western Sound Recorders, there was no vocal. It was done before we were told that Elektra, due to other commitments, would not be releasing this project as a double album. That's when it hit the fan. We were some very pissed off young men (by that time) and his trying to "play us"....one against the other didn't help.

This would have been a couple of months before we re-grouped and tried again with Bruce Botnick at Sunset Sound. At that point Jac Holtzman was manipulating each of us, (long distance) by sending us money directly, instead of to our accountants. He sent us tens of thousands of dollars under the table, hoping he could bribe us into completing enough tracks for at least one album. He then set the events in motion for the group's eventual break-up, by promising Bryan a solo album, if he would stop sulking, and help get this project in the can....

Help me out with this one. The version of 'Hummingbirds' I used as the demo in my statement was the one where Jac leads off with 'Arthur Lee and his psychedelic band..." and closes with Arthur saying (paraphrasing) "...best idea of the day". My understanding was that it was recorded at the June '66 session. I did see Johnny's statement but did not use it. Is what he is saying is that this demo was not from the pre-Da Capo sessions?

Apparently so. I was actually asking about the version from "The Last Wall of the Castle", which is from the same session. The version on the "Forever Changes: Collector's Edition" (with the "Arthur Lee and his psychedelic band..." intro) is take 16, while the version on "The Last Wall of the Castle" is take 17.

I will go with Johnny's recollection as fact and revise the post. I had that one wrong from the go; I always thought it was from the '7 and 7' session. Another LoVE myth busted.

Thanks for the keen eyesight Bally. Accuracy, if nothing else, will be a highlight of these threads.

Update: From an interview in Big Takeover magazine from winter 2012, Michael believes the title of this song originated from the following. Between Da Capo and Forever Changes, Bryan took to wearing a plain white suit, somewhat akin to what Colonel Sanders wore. Arthur referred to it as Bryan's "Ice Cream Suit". Further, Arthur thought that Bryan's lyrics were too sunny and not right for the band. From this information Michael has inferred that the title to this song was a put down of Bryan and his song writing style.

Great info. That would make perfect sense.