“The Mosquito” (1972) – The Doors * Written by Robby Krieger, John Densmore, and Ray Manzarek * Produced by The Doors * 45 B-side: “It Slipped My Mind” * LP: Full Circle * Label: Elektra * Charts: Billboard Hot 100 (#85)
Jim Morrison’s death in the summer of 1971 left the other three Doors with a glaring front-man vacancy, but they kept making music, including “The Mosquito,” a surprising borderline novelty hit. It wasn’t the single’s sales that registered surprise so much as the song itself, which had more in common with “La Cucaracha” than “Light My Fire.” Over a lightly engaged acoustic guitar, Robby Krieger mumbles for a mosquito to not bother him so he can eat his burrito, making way during the proceedings for two distinct instrumental interludes. One of these features Ray Manzarek’s organ, which overdoes it on the five-minute-plus LP version but bugs out mercifully on the under-three-minute 45. The single connected instantly with the international market, perhaps faster than any other Doors track. Before the year was over, cover renditions had begun sprouting up in Mexico, Spain, France, and beyond (none of which included the line about the burrito). Buyers of the Doors’ Full Circle album, incidentally, could enjoy the challenge of assembling a zoetrope included in the album packaging. Placed atop the record label, it would spin along at 33 1/3 rpm while showing a rudimentary animation of an evolving homosapien.