Readers recommend: songs about doors results

Readers recommendMusicJust like Jim Morrison, we break on through to the other side with this week's playlist

What's behind the door? Judging by your response to our call last week, it seems many songwriters see doors as portals to the unexpected.

Babymetal's Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!! is brimming with surprises, a blistering concoction of Japanese electronic pop and grinding death metal guitars. According to RR nominator HoshinoSakura, one store offered a free medical neck brace with every copy of the single. I've no idea what it's about (though it does mention a door, so it qualifies).

Then there's what Aldous Huxley called the doors of perception. The Misunderstood's darkly psychedelic Find a Hidden Door features thrilling interruptions to a killer guitar riff and unexpected layers of vocal harmony. As Mark68 says: "I'm guessing one finds this 'door' through the consumption of something illicit."

"I've got swinging doors, a jukebox and a barstool", sings Merle Haggard on Swinging Doors, describing his "new home" after his lover leaves him. This being a country record, you can guess the rest. Love the fact that the "swinging" doors distinguish Haggard's honky-tonk saloon from, say, a British pub.

Doors of Your Heart definitely sounds British: it's not exactly ska, or 2-Tone, and it's not exactly reggae, either. It can only be the Beat – a band ripe for revival, you'd think, given renewed interest in contemporaries the Specials and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

A closed door means the end. At any rate, it does for Smiley Lewis – the door to his heart is bolted, as Littleriver says of I Hear You Knockin', a smoking cut of New Orleans proto-rock'n'roll with, according to RR regular RockingMitch, Fats Domino on piano.

Bob Dylan's Open the Door Homer takes its chorus from Open the Door Richard, a 1947 novelty record by Jack McVea and His All Stars. The song, from the Basement Tapes, is thought to be about Dylan's friend singer-songwriter Richard Fariña, who had recently died in a motorcycle accident (Fariña was nicknamed Homer).

A loved one walks "out the door" … it's a staple line of pop, utilised in, for example, Philadelphia soul classic Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time). The 1970 song, written by Delfonics singer William Hart and producer Thom Bell, was the subject of discussion by characters in Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown.

They don't write 'em like that any more. Actually, they do – as Richard Hawley proves on the twinkly Open Up Your Door, lauded by Toffeeboy as one of the greatest songs of the 21st century. It shows that a door can also be a symbol of beginning or renewal. That's the case with The Door Into Summer, written by Bill Martin with Monkees producer Chip Douglas, and offering a tantalising glimpse of the country pop-rock that would characterise Mike Nesmith's solo career.

My Doorbell, meanwhile, is the White Stripes at their most catchy, says RR regular BeltwayBandit. It's an optimistic song, unlike Noah and the Whale's mournful My Door Is Always Open, whose protagonist knows his lost love won't take up his invitation. The slide guitar gives proceedings an eerie lift.

And we can't really ignore the Doors for this topic, whose hooks bring a pop sensibility to Willie Dixon's lascivious, lock-up-your-daughters blues anthem Back Door Man. Not that you'd necessarily want the likes of Jim Morrison anywhere near your tradesmen's entrance.

Here's the playlist:

Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!! – Babymetal

Find a Hidden Door – The Misunderstood

Swinging Doors – Merle Haggard

Doors of Your Heart – The Beat

I Hear You Knockin' – Smiley Lewis

Open the Door Homer – Bob Dylan and the Band

Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) – The Delfonics

Open Up Your Door – Richard Hawley

The Door Into Summer – The Monkees

The White Stripes – My Doorbell

My Door Is Always Open – Noah and the Whale