The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)

"Texas Radio" refers to high power Mexican radio stations that blasted into Texas in the 1950s. Not restricted by American regulations these stations, whose call letters started with X, could have up to 150,000 watts. Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek both heard Wolfman Jack on one.

This is a spoken word piece of Jim Morrison's poetry accompanied by John Densmore's drums. Morrison wrote the lyrics years before this was recorded, and used to perform it as a poem.

The verse, "Comes out of the Virginia swamps cool and slow with plenty of precision with a back beat narrow and hard to master" is most likely a reference to Morrison's first real experience with the music scene. From 1958 to 1960 Morrison lived in Alexandria, Virginia and frequented the Juke Joints (blues clubs) on Route 1 just north of Fort Belvoir where Black Blues musicians would play on Friday and Saturday nights. That area where the Juke Joints used to be is right on the eastern edge of a swamp.