on clause for left join

[Mat Fisher]

I am getting the following error message when I try to use a template I got from Template Monster:

1054 - Unknown column 'p.products_id' in 'on clause'

select count(p.products_id) as total
from products_description pd, products p left join manufacturers m on p.manufacturers_id = m.manufacturers_id,
products_to_categories p2c left join specials s on p.products_id = s.products_id
where p.products_status = '1'
and p.products_id = p2c.products_id
and pd.products_id = p2c.products_id
and pd.language_id = '1'
and p2c.categories_id = '53'

It's been a long time since I programmed in SQL so I understand the fundamentals but not all the latest nuances. Would it simply be a matter of reversing the order of the table/column combos on either side of the "=" in the on clause?

Thanks