Do you hope to make her see you, fool?
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?

The Doors didn’t even want to bother with “Hello, I Love You,” it was one of their first songs and they thought it was a throwaway. Jac Holzman, the head of Elektra Records, talked everyone involved into recording it after his 10-year-old son heard the band’s original demo and said, “Dad, I think that’s a hit single.”

The book to read is Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture.