Soul Kitchen (song)


"Soul Kitchen" is a song by the Doors from their self-titled debut album The Doors. Singer Jim Morrison wrote the lyrics as a tribute to the soul food restaurant Olivia's in Venice Beach, California. Because he often stayed too late, the staff had to kick him out, thus the lines "let me sleep all night, in your soul kitchen".

Composition

The song is notated in the key of A Major with Jim Morrison's vocal range spanning from E4 to A5.

Critical reception

According to rock critic Greil Marcus, "Soul Kitchen" is the Doors' version of "Gloria" by Van Morrison, a song the Doors often covered in their early days. Marcus writes, "It was a staircase—not, as with 'Gloria' in imagery, but in the cadence the two songs shared, slowed down so strongly in 'Soul Kitchen' that a sense of deliberation, so physical that it was more body than thought, became the guiding spirit of the song."
In a 1967 article in Crawdaddy! magazine, Paul Williams compared it to "Blowin' in the Wind" since both songs had a message, with the message of "Soul Kitchen" being "Learn to forget." He praised the song: "The End” is great to listen to when you’re high, but “Soul Kitchen” will get you high, which is obviously much cruder and more important."
In an AllMusic review, Richie Unterberger praised the song's "stomping rock".