The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat) - The Doors

Artist: The Doors
Song: The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)
Year: 1971
Album: L.A. Woman

I've been a big Doors fan since I was four or five. The only problem was that my dad only owned two Doors albums and recorded the rest off of the radio. The two albums that he owned were both compilations. The Doors Greatest Hits and 13. The other Doors songs I had heard came from the radio.

I first heard snippets of this poem set to music in 1991. I had purchased the soundtrack to Oliver Stone's movie about the Doors. In a poem called "Stoned Immaculate", I heard my first snippets of "The WASP". I was on a quest for the rest of the Doors catalogue. It proved to be tougher than I thought.

I purchased L.A. Woman a few years later. I had finally found my Doors go to album. It featured everything that I loved about the band. It was a departure from their previous work, but still held enough of the old music not to be off putting. This is a perfectly crafted album and quickly became my favorite.

I was always curious about "The WASP" though. It was only in the last decade that I found out what it meant. In the 1950s, Mexican radio stations would infiltrate their sounds into Texas. Because of less restrictions, these stations could be heard for miles around. This was the first introduction that many had, including a few members of the Doors, to Wolfman Jack.

Lyrics:
I wanna tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
With a back beat narrow and hard to master

Some call it heavenly in its brilliance
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping
This is the land where the Pharaoh died

The Negroes in the forest brightly feathered
They are saying, "Forget the night
Live with us in forests of azure
Out here on the perimeter there are no stars
Out here we is stoned immaculate"

Now listen to this, I'll tell you 'bout the heartache
I'll tell you 'bout the heartache and the loss of God
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
The meager food for souls forgot
I'll tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

I'll tell you this
No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn

I'll tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Soft driven, slow and mad, like some new language

Now, listen to this, I'll tell you 'bout the Texas
I'll tell you 'bout the Texas Radio
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
Wandering the Western dream
Tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul