Comments: 43

• Dlkh223 from Easton Pennsylvaniastill love that song…..makes you want to rock and dance like the 70s
• George from Vancouver, CanadaReal fans don't go looking for any excuse to shout "sellout"; they accept & enjoy the fact that truly good artists have a wider repertoir than one sees at a first, shallow, glance. . .
• Temi from San JoseI recall being in Los Angeles to audition for a Ginger Ale commercial and then going to Venice Beach with my cousin who lived in Fullerton.
  
  There was a caucasian guy with curly hair, bare chested and bare feet who was at the beach and said 'hello' to me from a distance. I looked at him and then my cousin who told me he was with some group called the Doors. I totally ignored him.
  
  In the late 90's I was listening to a documentary on the radio about the Doors when one of the members said that Jim Morrison had seen a beautiful black woman on the beach he said 'hello' to, but ignored him was the inspiration for the song. Why did you leave this part out? Until someone tells me differently, I am the person who was the inspiration.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 5th 1968, the Doors performed "Hello, I Love You" on the British TV program 'Top of the Pops'...
  At the time the song was at #5 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; five weeks earlier on July 28th it had peaked at #1 for two weeks...
  Also at that same time Jose Feliciano's covered version of "Light My Fire" was at #3 on the Hot Top 100 chart...
  As stated above "Hello, I Love You" reached #15 in the U.K. and on August 13th, 1968 it peaked at #1 {for 1 week} on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles chart...
  R.I.P. Ray Manzarek {1939 - 2013} and to 'The Lizard King' {1943 - 1971}.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn August 4th 1968, the Doors' "Hello, I Love You" was in its second week as #1 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart...And exactly two years later on August 4th, 1970 Jim Morrison was arrested for public drunkenness after being found lying unconscious on the doorstep of a private resident in Los Angeles, California.
• Anna from New Oxford, PaAlthough I never knew you Jim, "Hello I love you, Can I jump in your game."
• Phil from Neenah, WiFunny thing is, this is one of my go to songs while I think about a girl that I used to work with. Ironically enough, she's also what one would call a 'Dusky Jewel' due to her being a dark skinned beauty. Apart from all that, it's a very catchy song that's easier on the ears than a lot of these Nicky Minaj/Chris Brown type songs out there. Nothing that's discriminating towards women or color as far as any song goes, especially one from the 60's and the late great Jim Morrison himself. I bet that if someone had covered this song today, it would possibly do just as well as it did when it came out, if not better.
• Janie from Valley Stream, NyI think the shortest Doors" song might be "Poor Otis" on the "Soft Parade" album. "Wild Child" might be a contender too. Although I've corrected Jim's grammar in my mind at times (can't stop the English teacher demon in me), I love every song. I also love Zep, but I agree with Darryl "Stairway to Heaven" is not their best. Plant even said in an article years ago he thought "Kashmir" was their iconic song. Janie, New York
• Dave from Toronto, OnRay Davies did not sue The Door or Jim. His lawyer told advised him to sue and Ray refused, even though he had been sued plenty himself.
  Jim Morrison later admitted that the song had been heavily influenced by The Kinks, prompting Ray Davies to say, and I quote, 'so I think that that admission was payment enough'.
  Sorry, I didn't mean to be pedantic, I just don't want people thinking Ray Davies is petty.
• Regina from Los Angeles, CaFrom the lips of Ray Manzarek.He and Jim were on Venice Beach. Jim saw a very young and very beautiful Black girl and wanted to approach her. Ray told him that he couldn't because she was way too young. Jim wrote this song about her. "Do you hope to pluck this DUSKY jewel" is a reference to the fact that she was BLACK. Ray told this story to Gary Bryan on the KRTH morning show in Los Angeles several months ago. If I hadn't heard the show, that line would have remained an over 40 year mystery to me.
• Steve from Whittier, CaPretty short for a Doors song, just over 2 minutes ["People are Strange" has that honor, though there still then were a lot of more mainstream bands using that length.]
• Darryl from Los Angeles / San Diego, CaI think it was very trendy for some people to say things like "The Doors Suck" , "Jim Morrison was an asshole" {your point is ?} and "Hello , I love you" was a bad, tacky song......All of these statements, of course , are total nonsense, the Power of Robbie's distortion/fuzz at the end grabs you by the nuts , the song is overwhelming and as powerful as anything around today. Are people really going to hold the fact that it went platinum against them or the song ? You want sellout ? How bout the horribly overplayed {and horrible understatement} wimpy, hippydrippy "Stairway to Heaven" ? {and no, of course I know that isn't a doors song, thank f--king god!} Now , that is a sellout..."Touch Me" was a sellout, but none the less good song...The only truly bad doors song {with Morrison} would be "Tell All The People" . That is overblown , over produced , Jim is in and out of key and obviously so drunk it is amazing he got through it....could certainly tell he really liked that one....he was in and out of key on several songs, but all the others worked regardless, almost like a jazz vocalist ....just added to the feeling , "Summer's almost gone" comes to mind....
• Chloe from St. Louis, Moi dont get why everybody thinks this song is so awful. even if the topic itself isnt very deep, the lyrics are still incredibly poetic. seriously- "sidewalk crouches at her feet" "to make the queen of angels sigh" "dusky jewel"- its poetry! and musicmama, i dont know about you, but i would not bitchslap someone as awesome as jim morrison, even if he did say "hello, i love you". haha.
• Nady from Adelaide, Australiawell said Alexandria
• Michael from Jacksonvillw, FlThe line "Queen of the angels" does NOT refer to Los Angeles, the "City of Angels." Jim stole the line from Edgar Allen Poe.
• Joel from Columbia, ScThis song is sung by Kevin Dillion in Casualties Of War.
• Lance from Malibu, CaThis song is on the Platoon soundtrack
• Alexandria from Preston, Ctmaybe when you people can write or sing as well as Jim Morrison, THEN you can criticize him.
• Musicmama from New York, NyI just heard it again today. What I said about the lyrics stands, but even more grating is the music: It has one of the most annoying beats I've ever heard.
• Dan from Greenville, ScJim Morrison never sold anything out except possibly himself... He was the best... THE BEST!!!
• Andrew from Adelaide, AustraliaThat's right. Jim did write it after seeing a beautiful woman walking down the street. The story goes that Jim and Ray was sitting on the beach in Venice when they saw this woman who resembled Venus. Jim went home and wrote a song about what he would've said to her if he had the guts. Well, it's a great party song anyhow.
  
• Alex from Layton, UtSellout? jesus, why does popularity have to be associated with selling out? What ever happened to just being yourself? Some people get so caught up in being an individual, they acually quit being themselves to simply stand out...
  Tool's popular now. Is anyone going to call tool sellouts??? p.s. If you are going to bitch slap a guy for saying that to you, you must have some issues.
• Musicmama from New York, Ny"Hello, I love you/Won't you tell me your name." Lemme tellya, if a guy were to say that to me, I'd give him a real good bitch slap. And I'm not a violent person.
• Tristan from Philadelphia, PaSome people say this song was a sell-out, a commercial song, but Morrison thought it up while on the beach, looking at a tall sexy, black woman if I'm correct. Nothing commercial about it, its only how the listener percieves it to be.
• Only1out10livestr8 from In Your Uterus..., United StatesOne of the best songs, it says what it means, "hello, i love you", a simple "you are welcome in my world, stay and live with me, no connections"
• Nadine from Riverside, CaDefinitely not one of their best, but I still love it. I don't think there is a single Doors song that I dislike.
• Stefanie from Rock Hill, ScSeems like you and I have omething ncommon Christina. I like a lot of early Kinks stuff too.
• Alex from Stockton, FranceRay Manzarek was NOT there when HILY was written by Jim Morrison..Jim wrote it as part of his sojourn on Dennis Jacobs rooftop...Ray just insinuated himself into the story afterwards like he normally does.....
• Alvar from Estonia, OtherJim Morrison and Ray Manzarek were sitting in the beach. A beautiful tahitian girl passed by them. Jim wanted to say something to her, but didn't know what. The next day Jim came to Ray and said: "Do you know what i wanted to say to that girl yesterday in the beach?" And then he poured out the lyrics of "Hello, i love you".
  The Doors has never been a sell-out in any way.
• Meagan from Lebanon, Ohthis song has to do with a woman that Jim Morrison saw on the beach. and the lyrics are what he wanted to say to her.
• Johnny from Los Angeles, CaTanya is right. But jeez, the doors can't keep spiting out "Riders On The Storm's and The End's constantly! Whenever they do a pop to balance out their forte' they are critized! O ya, on a sidenote, I just listened to "Other Voices" today and thought it was going to suck. Jimorrison was and is the heart and soul of the doors, I thought, and making an album without him is silly. But it turned out to be a very good album, and I really enjoyed it. Too bad they don't have any "Other Voices" tracks on Songfacts.
• Jonathon from Clermont, Fl If you ask me, and you maybe shouldn't, this is the best song by the Doors. I love the lyrics.
• Christina from Arnold, MdHmmm... Hello I Love You does sound similar to All Day and All of the Night. I happen to like early Kinks, you see.
• Galina from New London, CtThis song is very fun to listen and to sing along to, and I admit, I love Jim Morrison's voice.
• Galina from New London, CtMy dad and I enjoy The Doors.... especially this song.
• Ernie from Long Island, NyYour posted lyrics aren't correct....'dusky' jewel is the word Jim Morrison used to describe this beautiful (dark/olive skinned?) girl! One of my favorite songs of all time...
• Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, ScI agree with you adrian the song definitely wasn't a sell-out. It's really poetic like Jim Morrison's other songs,and it had that thing that Robby creeger did on the guitar.
• Xavier from Melbourne, AustraliaHow could it be a sellout? It was written in 1965-66, before 'Light My Fire'!
• Tanya from Los Angeles, CaThe evidence is provided by not only Ray's own mouth, but in the lyric, "Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?"
• Tanya from Los Angeles, CaAccording to Ray Manzayriek (sp?), The Doors' Keyboardist, the song was about a young 16-year old, Black girl Jim noticed on the beach. He wanted to talk and get to know her. Ray talked him out of it. So he went home and wrote this song based on her.
• Yasmin from I Live In London, EnglandIt's a "the doors" tune.. enough said. cant get better. sellout no sellout money no money its the doors!
• Adrian from Wilmington, DeThis song definitely wasn't a sellout. It includes the usual poetic poignancy of Morrison while the fuzz effect on the overdubbed guitars sounds awesome, especially on headphones. It creates a very distorted sound, almost like heavy metal.
• Jess from Springfeild, IlI read somewhere that Jim saw a beautiful girl on a beach and was in awe of her. He wanted to go straight up to her and say "hello I love you" but the rest of the band told him not to do so as she was underage, maybe 16 or 17. Jim wrote these lyrics instead.

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