A music video was later compiled from footage of the band performing on American Bandstand, coupled with film of Morrison and Pamela Courson at Kern River, near Bakersfield, California.

"[7] Critic James Perone noted that the song's title is open to wide interpretations, and that the crystal ship "could just as easily represent sleep as a drug trip".

"[8] A January 1990 letter to the Los Angeles Times claimed that the song was about crystal methamphetamine, with the ship representing a hypodermic needle, and the kiss the act of drug injection.

[12] According to local Santa Barbara, California, lore, Morrison wrote the song after taking LSD on an Isla Vista beach one night as he stared at the blinking lights of an offshore oil rig named Platform Holly.

[13] Critics Richie Unterberger, Samb Hicks and Jennifer Dempsey have declared "The Crystal Ship" as one of the great band performances of The Doors.