AUGUST marks the 58th anniversary of one of classic rock’s most popular 1960s songs, ‘Hello, I Love You’—celebrating the day it finally nabbed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The exciting milestone happened on Aug. 3, 1968 with the iconic love song becoming the Doors’ second No. 1 hit. Unfortunately, it was also the band’s final No. 1 hit before the group disbanded in 1973.
‘Hello, I Love You’ was released as an official single in the Doors’ third studio album, ‘Waiting for the Sun’. It was the band’s second single for the album, following ‘The Unknown Soldier’.
Looking behind the song’s beginning, the story goes that it was inspired by a young woman whom lead singer Jim Morrison saw at Venice Beach. The lyrics depict what the musician would’ve said to the woman if given the chance, with lines like, “Hello, I love you/Won’t you tell me your name?”
And in the song, the lyrics goes on: “She holds her head so high/Like a statue in the sky/Her arms are wicked and her legs are long/When she moves, my brain screams out this song.”
Though some would say ‘Hello, I Love You’ isn’t the Doors’ best song, still Morrison in a 1968 interview remarked: “(It) isn’t one of our best songs, but I am not ashamed of it.”
He goes on, “Really I like the other side better. I was hoping they would flip it and play that, but they haven’t. But now that we have got our foot in the door perhaps they will listen a bit more.”
Morrison was referring to the B-side ‘Love Street’.
After the song was released as a single, it was a huge success and by the start of August, it had reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, holding this position for two weeks before another track replaced it.
‘Hello, I Love You’ also topped the US Cash Box Top 100 chart, as well as Canada’s top singles chart. It made it into the Top 40 in multiple other countries as well, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, South Africa, New Zealand and many more.