Jim morrison

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JIM MORRISON



INTRO Jim Morrison was an American singer, songwriter and poet best remembered as the lead singer of The Doors. Due to his songwriting, baritone voice, wild per­ sonality and performances, he is regarded by critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock music history, and, due to the drama­tic circumstances surrounding his life and death, in the latter part of the 20th century, he was one of the popular culture’s most rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing generational gap and youth counterculture. He was also well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Morrison was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”, and number 22 on Classic Rock Magazine’s “50 Greatest Singers In Rock”. Ray Manzarek said that Morrison “embodied hippie counterculture rebellion…”. Morrison sometimes referred to himself using other monikers, such as “Lizard King” and “King of Or­ gasmic Rock”.

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EARLY YEARS

School life, time at the University and the time before the Doors.


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Early years

ames Douglas Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, the son of Clara Virginia and future Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California.

Jimmy Wales

In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don’t even know if that’s true.”

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ith his father in the United states Navy, Morrison’s family moved oſten. He spent part of his childhood in n 1947, Morrison, then four years San Diego. While his father was sta­ old, allegedly witnessed a car accident tioned at NAS Kingsville, he a‫﬙‬ended flato in the desert, in which a family of NaElementary in Kingsville, Texas. In tive Americans were injured and possi- 1958, Morrison a‫﬙‬ended Alameda High bly killed. He referred to this incident School in Alameda, California. in the Doors’ song “Peace Frog” on the He graduated from George Washington 1970 album Morrison Hotel, as well as High School, now George Washington in the spoken word performances “Dawn’s Middle School, in Alexandria, Virginia Highway” and “Ghost Song” on the in June 1961. His father was also sta­ posthumous 1978 album An American tioned at Mayport Naval Air station in Prayer. Morrison believed this inciJacksonville, florida. Morrison read dent to be the most formative event of widely and voraciously being particularly inspired by the writings of philosophers Actually I don’t remember being born, it must have happened during one of my black and poets. He was influenced by Fried­ outs. rich Nietzsche, whose views on aesthetics, his life, and made repeated references morality, and the Apollonian and Dioto it in the imagery in his songs, poems, nysian duality would appear in his con­ and interviews. His family does not re­ versation, poetry and songs. He read call this incident happening in the way Plutarch’s “Lives of the Noble Greeks and he told it. According to the Morrison Romans”. biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, He read the works of the French SymbolMorrison’s family did drive past a car ist poet Arthur Rimbaud, whose style accident on an Indian reservation when would later influence the form of Morri­ 'he was a child, and he was very upset son’s short prose poems. He was by it. The book The Doors, wri‫﬙‬en by the remaining members of the Doors, ex­ plains how different Morrison’s account of the incident was from that of his fa­ ther. This book quotes his father as say­ ing, “We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him. He always thought about that crying Indian.” This is contrasted sharply with Morrison’s tale of “Indians sca‫﬙‬ered all over the highway, bleeding to death.”

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Jim Morrison at the age of 16


1947 - 1971

Early years

influenced by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghe‫﬙‬i, Charles Baudelaire, Molière, Franz Kafka, Honoré de Balzac and Jean Cocteau, along with most of the French existentialist philosophers. His senior-year English teacher Early Jim Morrison

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ty of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Shortly thereaſter on August 2, 1964, Morrison’s father, George stephen Morrison, commanded a carrier division of the United states fleet during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which resulted in the United states’ rapid escalation of the Vietnam War. At UCLA, Morrison enrolled in Jack Hirschman’s class on Antonin Artaud in the Comparative Literature program within the UCLA En­ glish Department. Artaud’s brand of surrealist theatre had a profound impact on Morrison’s dark poetic sensibility of Jim Morrison 21 years old

said, “Jim read as much and probably more than any student in class, but ev­ erything he read was so of﬈eat. I had another teacher check to see if the books Jim was reporting on actually existed. I suspected he was making them up, as they were English books on six­ teenth- and seventeenth - centurydemon­ cinematic theatricality. Morrison com­ pleted his undergraduate degree at UCLA’s ology. I’d never heard of them, but they existed, and I’m convinced from the paper film school within the Theater Arts department of the College of fine Arts in I’m interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity 1965. He never went to the graduation that appears to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom. ceremony, and had his diploma mailed to him. He made several short films he wrote that he read them, and the Li­ while a‫﬙‬ending UCLA. first Love, the first brary of Congress would’ve been the only of these films, made with Morrison’s source.”Morrison went to live with his classmate and roommate Max Schwartz, paternal grandparents in Clearwater, was released to the public when it ap­ Florida,where he a‫﬙‬ended classes at St. peared in a documentary about the film Petersburg College. In 1962, he trans­ Obscura. During these years, while liv­ ferred to Florida State University (FSU) ing in Venice Beach, he became friends in Tallahassee, where he appeared in a with writers at the Los Angeles Free school recruitment film. While a‫﬙‬ending Press. Morrison was an advocate of the FSU, Morrison was arrested for a prank underground newspaper until his death following a home footballgame. in 1971.

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n January 1964, Morrison moved to Los Angeles to a‫﬙‬end the Universi­



THE DOORS

The Doors form the beginning in a small room to the End.


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The Doors

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n the summer of 1965, aſter graduating with a degree from the UCLA filmschool, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Living on the rooſtop of a building inhabited by his old UCLA cinematography friend, Dennis Jakobs, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Doors would later per­ form live and record on albums, the most notable being “Moonlight Drive” and “Hello, I Love You”. According to Jakobs, he lived on canned beans and LSD for

Jimmy Wales

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he Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception (a reference to the unlocking of doors of perception through psychedelic drug use). Huxley’s own title was a quotation from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote: “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” Although Morrison was known as the lyricist of the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing I think in art, but especially in films, people are trying to confirm their own existences. or co-writing some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Light My fire”, several months. “Love Me Two Times”, “Love Her MadMorrison and fellow UCLA student, Ray ly”, and “Touch Me”. Manzarek, were the first two members On the other hand, Morrison, who didn’t of the Doors, forming the group during write most songs using an instrument, that summer. They had met months earlwould come up with vocal melodies for his ier as cinematography students. The now own lyrics, with the other band mem­ -legendary story claims that Manzarek bers contributing chords and rhythm. Morrison did not play an instrument live (except formaracas and tambourine for most shows, and harmonica on a few occasions) or in the studio (excluding maracas, tambourine, handclaps, andwhistling). However, he did play the grand piano on “Orange County Suite” was lying on the beach at Venice one day, and a Moog synthesizer on “Strange where he accidentally encountered Mor­ Days”. rison. He was impressed with Morrison’s n June 1966, Morrison and the Doors poetic lyrics, claiming that they were were the opening aﬞ at the Whisky “rock group” material. Subsequently, drummer John Densmore a Go Go in the last week of the residency of Van Morrison’s bandThem. Van’s and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore’s recom- influence on Jim’s developing stage performance was later noted by John Densmendation and was then added to the lineup. All three musicians shared a com- more in his book Riders On The storm: “Jim Morrison learned quickly from his mon interest in the Maharishi Mahesh near-namesake’s stagecraſt, his apparent Yogi’s meditation praﬞices at the time, recklessness, his air of subdued menace, a‫﬙‬ending scheduled classes. the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching Whisky a Go Go

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1965 - 1970

down by the bass drum during instru­ mental breaks.” On the final night, the two Morrisons and their two bands jammed together on “Gloria”. In November 1966, Morrison and the Doors pro­ duced a promotional film for “Break on Through (To the Other Side)”, which was their first single release. The film featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lipsynched the lyrics. Morrison and the Doors continued to make short music films, including The Unknown Soldier, Moonlight Drive, and People Are Strange.

The Doors

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Sullivan was not happy and he refused to shake hands with Morrison or any other band member aſter their performance. He had a show producer tell the band that they would never appear on The Ed Sullivan Show again. Morrison reportedly said to the producer, in a defiant tone, “Hey man. We just did the Sullivan Show!”

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y the release of their second album, Strange Days, the Doors had become Picture on a big Wall in L.A.

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he Doors achieved national recognition aſter signing with Elektra Re­ cords in 1967. The single “Light My fire” spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July/Au­ gust 1967. Later, the Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had introduced the Beatles and Elvis Presley to the United states. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from the Doors for the show, “People Are strange” and “Light My fire”. Sullivan’s censors insisted that the Doors change the lyrics of the song “Light My fire” from Girl we couldn’t get much higher to Girl we couldn’t get much be‫﬙‬er for the television viewers; this was reportedly due to what was perceived as a refer­

one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of bluesand dark rock tinged with psychedelia in­ cluded a number of original songs and distinﬞive cover versions, such as their rendition of “Alabama Song”, from Ber­ tolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

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he band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs “The End”, “When the Music’s ”The subject says: I see first many things which dance... then everything gradually Over”, and “Celebration of the Lizard”. becomes connected.” In 1966, photographer Joel Brodsky took ence to drugs in the original lyrics. Aſter a series of black-and-whitephotos of Morrison, in a photo shoot known as The giving assurances of compliance to the producer in the dressing room, Morrison Young Lion photo session. These photo­ graphs are considered among the most told the band “we’re not changing a iconic images of Jim Morrison and are word” and proceeded to sing the song frequently used as covers for compilation with the original lyrics.


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The Doors

albums, books, and other memorabilia of the Doors and Morrison. In late 1967 at an infamous concert in New Haven, Conneﬞicut, he became the first rock singer ever to get arrested on stage, an incident that further added to his mystique and emphasized his re­ bellious image.

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n 1968, the Doors released their third studio album, Waiting for the Sun. The band performed on July 5 at the Hollywood Bowl, this performance became famous with the DVD: Live at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s also this year that the band played, for the first time, in Europe. Their fourth album,The Soſt Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had wri‫﬙‬en. Previously, each song on their albums had been credited simply to “the Doors”. On September 6 and 7, 1968, the Doors played four performances at the Roundhouse, London, England with Jefferson Airplane which were filmed by Granada for a television documentary The Doors are Open direﬞed by John Sheppard. Around this time, Morrison started showing up for recording sessions visibly inebriated. He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties to subdue the impatient audience.

Jimmy Wales

Miami, Morrison a‫﬙‬empted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days lat­ er for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of the Doors’ scheduled concerts were canceled. There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors.

Morrison, who a‫﬙‬ended the sentencing “in a wool jacket adorned with Indian de­ signs”, silently listened as he was sentenced for six months in prison and had to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free on a $50,000 bond. At the sentencing, Judge Murray Goodman told Morrison that he was a “person graced with a talent” ad­ mired by many of his peers.

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n 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison, which was ann-ounced as successful on December 9, 2010. Drummer John Densmore denied Morrison ever exposed himself on stage that night.

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ollowing The Soſt Parade, the Doors released Morrison Hotel. Aſter a lengthy break the group reconvened in Oﬞober 1970 to record what would become their final album with Morrison, titled L.A. Woman. Shortly aſter the recording sessions for the album began, pro-ducer Paul A. Rothchild (who had overseen all of their previous recordings) y early 1969, the formerly svelte sing- leſt the projeﬞ. Engineer Bruce Botnick er had gained weight, grown a beard took over as producer. and mustache, and had begun dressing more casually— abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts. During a March 1, 1969 concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in

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1965 - 1970

Riders on the Storm

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Diskographie

1967

1969

THE DOORS The Doors debut album, The Doors was released on January 4, 1967, and was recorded between August 24 to 31, 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood CA. The Doors peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, and included the group’s first #1 single, Light My Fire. The Doors was produced by Paul Rothchild. The Doors first album was recorded in just 6 days and essentially played live in the studio. After The Doors recorded ”The End”, Jim returned to the studio that night and hosed down the instruments with a fire extinguisher. He apparently didn’t remember this the next morning when questioned by the rest of the band. The album was supposed to be released in October 1966, but Elektra president, Jac Holzman believed if they waited until January,they would have little to no competition, and the planned worked

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THE SOFTPARADE ——Break On Through ——Soul Kitchen ——The Crystal Ship ——Twentieth Century Fox ——Alabama Song ——Light My fire ——Back Door Man ——I Looked At You ——End Of The Night ——Take It As It Come ——The End

1967

The Doors fourth album, The Soft Parade was released on July 18, 1969, and it was recorded between July 1968 – May 1969 at Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles CA. The Soft Parade peaked at #6 on the Billboard charts, and was produced by Paul Rothchild. The Soft Parade marks a departure from The Doors stripped down sound and featured brass and stringed instruments on most tracks. It’s also the first album to credit the individual song writer (previous albums stated all songs written by The Doors). Jim didn’t want people to think he wrote the lyrics to ”Tell All the People”, which Robby Krieger had written.

—— Tell All The People ——Touch Me ——Shaman’s Blues ——Do It ——Easy Ride ——Wild Child ——Runnin’ Blue ——Wishful Sinful ——The Soſt Parade

1970

STRANGE DAYS

MORRISON HOTEL

The Doors second album, Strange Days was released on September 25, 1967, and it was recorded between February – August 1967 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood CA. Strange Days peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts, and was produced by Paul Rothchild. The album cover was photographed by Joel Brodsky, who also did the ”Young Lion” photo shoot with Jim. The album was the group’s first use of backward recording and strange vocal effects on Jim’s voice, heard on the song ”Strange Days”. They used the studio itself as an instrument.

The Doors fifth album, Morrison Hotel was released on February 1, 1970, and was recorded in November 1969, except for ”Indian Summer”, recorded in late 1966, and ”Waiting for the Sun”, which was recorded in 1968. M orrison Hotel peaked at #4 on the Billboard charts, and was produced by Paul Rothchild. The back pictures of The Doors features the group in a bar called ”The Hard Rock Cafe”, which is unrelated to the current chain of the same name, however that is where the inspiration came from for the name.

——Strange Days ——You’re Lost Li‫﬙‬le Girl ——Love Me Two Times ——Unhappy Girl ——Horse Latitudes ——Moonlight Drive ——People Are strange ——My Eyes Have Seen You ——I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind ——When The Music’s Over

1968

——Roadhouse Blues ——Waiting For The Sun ——You Make Me Real ——Peace Frog ——Blue Sunday ——Ship Of Fools ——Land Ho! ——The Spy ——Queen Of The Highway ——Indian Summer ——Maggie M’gill

1971

WAITING FOR THE SUN L.A. WOMAN The Doors third album, Waiting for the Sun was released on July 11, 1968, and was recorded between February – May 1968. Waiting for the Sun peaked at #1 on the Billboard charts, and it includes their second #1 single, Hello, I Love You. Waiting for the Sun was produced by Paul Rothchild. Waiting for the Sun was the group’s only #1 album of their career. Jim wanted his poem ”Celebration of the Lizard” on the album, which took up one side. It was added as a bonus to the 40th anniversary edition. The title track ”Waiting for the Sun” wasn’t even on this album, but was included on The Doors 5th studio album, ”Morrison Hotel”.

——Hello I Love You ——Love street ——Not To Touch The Earth ——Summer’s Almost Gone ——Wintertime Love ——The Unknown Soldier ——Spanish Caravan ——My Wild Love ——We Could Be So Good Together ——Yes The River Knows ——Five To One

The Doors sixth album, L.A. Woman was released on April 29, 197. The last studio album by The Doors with Jim Morrison included. The group released two albums after Jim passed. This is the only album that Paul Rothchild didn’t produce. During the recording of this album, Jim had been depressed, so to lift his spirits, the band brought in Elvis Presley’s bass player, Jerry Sheff, who brought energy to the album and really rounded out the sound. The Doors recorded L.A. Woman on the first floor of their office.

——The Changeling ——Love Her Madly ——Been Down So Long ——Cars Hiss By My Window ——L. A. Woman ——L’America ——Hyacinth House ——Crawling King Snake ——The Wasp ——Riders On The storm


Books and Film

1990

1971

WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE

THE LORDS AND THE NEW CREATURES

A weirdly gripping documentary about the Doors, composed entirely of archival footage of the band in the studio, on stage, and most rivetingly of all backstage, overlaid with a narrative voiceover by Johnny Depp. Director Tom DiCillo is relatively incurious about the bands' mundane professional and romantic lives, perhaps for fear of importing an injurious Spinal Tap irony. But his film material of Jim Morrison is sensational – particularly a quite extraordinary sequence in which Morrison is mingling with fans out front, at an open-air concert in which the Doors are opening for the Who. Deadpan, Morrison coolly flicks through a souvenir programme packed with photos of those less pulchritudinous rock gods Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, repeatedly asking its awestruck salesperson how much the programme costs – all the while an infatuated admirer paws at his hair. It is gobsmacking to watch Morrison on stage, surrounded by redneck cops, there theoretically to keep order, but openly hostile to this beautiful freak.

Intense, erotic, and enigmatic, Jim Morrison's persona is as riveting now as the lead singer/composer "Lizard King" was during The Doors' peak in the late sixties. His fast life and mysterious death remain controversial more than twenty years later. The Lords and the New Creatures, Morrison's first published volume of poetry, is an uninhibited exploration of society's dark side -- drugs, sex, fame, and death -captured in sensual, seething images. Here, Morrison gives a revealing glimpse at an era and at the man whose songs and savage performances have left their indelible impression on our culture.

1989

WILDERNESS THE LOST WRITINGS "Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything, it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all the doors. You can walk through any one that suits you." -- Jim Morrison As the lead singer and song writer for The Doors, Jim Morrison brought the poetry of the damned to rock'n'roll. As a poet, he infused verse with the wild lyricism and mesmerizing beat of rock. By the time of his death in 1971, Morrison had become one of the most haunting voices in the collective unconscious of America, echoed by performers such as Patti Smith.

1990

THE AMERICAN NIGHT THE AMERICAN NIGHT presents Morrison's previously unpublished work in its truest form. WIth their nightmarish images, bold associative leaps, and volcanic power of emotion, these works are the unmistakable artifacts of a great, wild voice and heart.

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POETRY AND FILM

His Life as a Poet and Filmmaker.


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Poetry and film

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orrison began writing in earnest during his adolescence. At UCLA he studied the related fields of theater, film, and cinematography. He self-published two separate volumes of his poetry in 1969, titled The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords con­ sists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison’s thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in struﬞure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison’s lifetime. Morrison befriended Beat poet Michael McClure, Jim Morrison writing

who wrote the aſterword for Danny Sugerman’s biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morri­ son reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projeﬞs, including a film version of McClure’s infamous play The Beard, in which Morrison would have played Billy the Kid. Aſter his death, a further two volumes of Morrison’s poetry were published. The contents of the books were seleﬞed and arranged by Morri­ son’s friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson’s parents, who owned the rights to his poetry.

Jimmy Wales

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he Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume I is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an in­ stant New York Times Bestseller. Volume II, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success. Morrison recorded his own poetry in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on Listen, real poetry doesn’t say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through any one that suits you.

December 8, 1970. The la‫﬙‬er recording session was a‫﬙‬ended by Morrison’s personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors’ An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached No. 54 on the music charts. Some poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family. Morrison’s best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An Ameri­ can Pastoral, a projeﬞ he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own produﬞion company in order to maintain complete control of the projeﬞ. Paul Ferrara, Frank Liscian­ dro and Babe Hill assisted with the pro­ jeﬞ. Morrison played the main charaﬞer, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to seleﬞ the soundtrack for the film.


1969 - 1970

Not to touch the Earth

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20

Interview with Jim Morrison

John Carpenter

LOS ANGELES FREEPRESS

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ohn Carpenter was the music editor of the Los Angeles Free Press, a weekly ”underground” paper distributed throughout Southern California. Like Jim, he was a bigdrink­ er, and this interview stretched over the course of a day, starting with a breakfast which included Bloody Marys, and ending in the Phone Booth, Jim’s favorite topless bar.

JC:

How did the cover on strange Days come about?

I hated that cover on the first album. So I said, ”I don’t want to be on this cover. Where is that? Put a chick on it or something. Let’s have a dandelion or a de­ sign.” The title, strange Daysca­ me and everybody said yeah, ‚cause that was where we were, what was happening. It was so right. Originally, I wanted us in a room surrounded by about 30 dogs, but that was impossible ‚cause we couldn’t get the dogs and everybody was saying, ”What do you want dogs for?” And I said that it was symbolic that it spelled God backwards. (Laughs) finally we ended up lea­ ving it up to the art director and the photographer. We wanted some real freaks though, and he came out with a typical sideshow thing. It looked European. It was be‫﬙‬er than having our fucking faces on it, though.

What place do albums have as art forms to you?

I believe they’ve replaced books. Really. Books and mo­ vies. They’re be‫﬙‬er than movies, ‚cause a movie you see once or twice, then later on television maybe. But a fucking album man, it’s more influential than any art form going. Everybody digs them. They’ve got about 40 of them in their houses and some of them you listen to 50 times, like the stones’ albums or Dylan’s. You don’t listen to the Be­ atles much anymore, but there are certain albums that just go on and on. You measure your pro­ gress mentally by your records, like when you were really young what you had then, Harry Bela­ fonte, you know, Calypso, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley.

JC:

You guys are only working weekends now, aren’t you? JC:

JM:

JC:

Do you still read a lot?

No, not as much as I used to. I’m not as prolific a writer, either. Like when, a while ago, I was living in this abandoned office building, sleeping on the roof, you know the tale. (Laughs) And all of a sudden, I threw away all my notebooks that I’d been keeping since high school and these songs just kept coming to me. Something about the moon, I don’t remember. Well, I’d have to make up words as fast as I could in order to hold on to the melody - you know a lot of people don’t know it, but I write a lot of the melo­ dies too - later, all that would be leſt would be the words ‚cause I couldn’t hold on to them. The words were leſt in a sort of vague idea. In those days when I heard a song, I heard it as an entire performance. Taking place, you know with the audience, the band and the singer. Everything. It was kind of like a prediction of the future. It was all there. JM:

JM:

No, not really. I think we work a lot. More than most people think. Like aſter the (Hollywood) Bowl we go to Texas, then Van­ couver, Sea‫﬙‬le, then jump to the East Coast, Montreal and blah, blah, blah. Take three weeks off in August for the film, then we go to Europe. JM:

JC: How did the ending of The End come about? Is the Whisky a GoGo story true?

JM: I used to have this magic formula, like, to break into the subconscious. I would lay there and say over and over ”Fuck the mother, kill the father. Fuck the mother, kill the father”. You can really get into your head just repeating that slogan over and over. Just saying it can be the thing... That mantra can never become meaningless. It’s too basic and can never become just words, ‚cause as long as you’re saying it, you can never be unconscious. That all came from up here.

That really shook the Whis­ ky audience up when you did it. Have you ever really go‫﬙‬en through to an audience like the first time you went over and got mobbed and all?

Not like the thing that’s in my mind. I think the day that thing happens it will be all over. The End. Where would you go from there? If everyone, even for a split second, became one. They could never come back. No, I don’t think it could ever happen, not like it is in my head. My audiences… They usual­ ly get pre‫﬙‬y turned on. It’s like saying at first you’re the audien­

JC:

JM:


1968

Interview with Jim Morrison

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ce and we’re up here and you’re down there. Then all of a sudden there you are and you’re right there just like us... it’s out of sight. When they know “You’re just like us,” it breaks down all the barriers and I like that a lot.

JC: I’ve heard a lot of talk from friends in England and some of the groups from there, that a lot of hostility will be aimed your way when you go over there. You know, as America’s super-sex group and all.

JM: Yeah?. . .hmmm, there’s gonna be a bit of hostility, huh? That’s a good prediction, yeah, a predic­ tion of the future. There is going to be a li‫﬙‬le bit of hostility and if there isn’t, I’m going to be a li‫﬙‬le bit disappointed. The more hosti­ lity, the be‫﬙‬er. (Laughs) Opposi­ tion is true friendship, ha!

Knock on the door. It’s the maid

JM: Come on in, we’re spli‫﬙‬ing anyway.

I’m ready if you are. (Waits) I’m ready if you are. I know you like a clean bed. (Leaves room to get cleaning materials.)

I knew this was going to be good, but not that good. Let’s split right aſter we hear what else she has to say. (Laughs)

MAID:

Im ready for you if you’re ready for me.

Come here for a li‫﬙‬le peace and quiet and everyone keeps pus­ hing me.

MAID: Is that right? (Laughs) Yeah, just keeps on doin’ it. Well, I’m ready or you if you’re ready for me. (Hums)

JM: Please, no singing, this is a holiday. I’m on holiday.

MAID:

JC:

It seems strange to walk in L.A.

JM:

BABE: Where you headed, the office?

JM:

In the elevator.

Where were you living a year ago?

A year ago? At the Tropicana. Yeah, I started that whole scene. Put it on the map. We used to have lots of fun there. Yeah, it’s boisterous. Them (the band) was there, nice guys. JM:

I really dig L.A. in the summer. Winters are a drag, but summer’s pre‫﬙‬y nice.

JM:

You had your album all ready to go and you went back into the studio to add some things, then I hear you leſt it alone. JC:

Man, I really feel good.

Yeah, we didn’t do it. I was going to add some poetry where the li‫﬙‬le space is between the cuts. But who wants to listen to some cat talking? The music is what’s happening. That’s what they want to hear. Anybody can talk, but how many cats can play music and sing?

JM:

I really dig L.A. Really a lot.

Topless bar. Babe joins us. Drinks are there.

(Indicating a dancer) Can you imagine the babies that chick could have? BABE:

Topless bar. Babe joins us. Drinks are there.

JM: He’s a happy cat, you know? He’s either a genius or really dumb, I haven’t found out which. He sure knows how to have a good time. A happy cat. Oh, there was this chick once, you know, at a concert. She came back stage and said that there was this person that wan­ ted to meet me. She said it was her friend and she was deaf and dumb so I went through the num­ ber, you know, drawing pictures, sign language, and it turns out she was pu‫﬙‬ing me on. (Laughs)

Babe goes on ahead on his bike.

JC:

JC:

Yeah, doesn’t it man! (Bike rider yells, honks, U-turns) Who was that. It’s Babe. JM:

: (To Babe) Dig you, big drinker.

JM

That’s bad for their tits when they dance topless. Ask any to­ pless dancer. If they lose them it would be like losing your head. . .She doesn’t work too hard. Just sort of stands there. . .Bless this house and all that are in it. JM:

JM:

Later.

JM: (Pointing to new dancer) She’s too satirical. She doesn’t take anything seriously. I get the fee­ ling that if you spent a lot of time in a place like this you’d corrupt your soul. Corrode it completely. But let’s hold off that. Can you imagine bringing your secretary in here? ha!


22

Interview with Jim Morrison

John Carpenter

If I Were A Carpenter, by the Four Tops on the juke

ball their old lady, and then be right there. He who laughs last, laughs his ass off.

No. No. If you were a good na­ tured prostitute I might, maybe. Everybody knows that prostitu­ tes make the best wives, Henry Miller taught us that, right John?

If I were a carpenter, and you were a lady, would you marry me anyway?

Henry who? (To Morrison) What do you think about what’s been printed about you and the stuff you hear back all the time? Did you read the Post magazine thing?

Yeah, I read it. You know, I knew she was going to do it that way. Journalists are people you know, and the chicks… she did a number, man. Yeah, if you don’t really come on to them, they feel neglected, you know? She en­ ded up doing a number. It was wri‫﬙‬en good, though. You really felt like you were there. It lies a lot of times. I hear things back all the time that I’m supposed to have done. Hey, Babe, you’re gonna be a famous person one of the­ se days and you should learn to hold your tongue. Especially in front of the press. How’d you like to wake up one day, and you’ve said something off the top of your head and have to read about it the next day, like that’s suppo­ sed to be where you’re at? The mentality of the writer is like the ‚psychology’ of the voyeur. Journalists never seem to speak about themselves like other people do. They absorb like a sponge and never really discuss their own psyche. I think that. . .like… I think art, which is like beauty, is the revelation of be­ auty, beauty is an absolute, you dig? And I think it’s rooted in a disinterested perception of the real world. striking an evenness, a balance between object and receiver, like revealing the world with no connotation at all. None, no bullshit. You know when you’ve done it, and if you haven’t, you are still on the way. But me, if I get something really good, I’m gonna lay it out, do you dig? But a lot of it gets into that “He was standing there on the street step with his eyeball exposed.” My perspective when people ask me questions is like I tell them where it’s at over and over and over again. Me, me, me…But then, that’s only part of it, part of the thing; not the whole answer. There’s a li‫﬙‬le more to it than that. Yeah, like I think that there is a sub-world in which everybody is sleeping. This who­ le other world that everybody’s trying to forget, but which we remember, immediately everybo­ dy knows it. But people love the game. The Game. They really dig it and nobody is supposed to ad­ mit that it’s a game. They won’t. If they did, then they would ruin the game. In the middle of the base­ ball game, like if someone ran out and said, “It’s a game, man, just a fucking game, this is fucked. Are you kidding me? It’s just a fucking game.” Well, everybo­ dy would say “Wow, man, get that fucking clown out of here.” They’d go home, eat a big meal,

BABE:

JM:

BABE: Can you dig that? Do you know what he’s saying? I think you’re serious, I haven’t been able to dig it completely yet, but it’s there, I know it’s there.

Later That’s what turns me off to some of the hippie chicks. I guess I’m old fashioned enough to still want some femininity and expect a li‫﬙‬le mystery. But those chicks in Levis and scraggly hair really turn me off. BABE:

JC:

JM:

It’s weird. People in here, aſter the initial glimpse, just start going on their own trips, talking, eating, drinking. Do you know what it is? I bet that was the appeal of the brothel. Like the atmosphere, a place for conver­ sation. Man, this is the place I’d really like to work, only instead of business men, it would be business women, you know, just stopping by for a li‫﬙‬le drink be­ fore…I must say, she is my favori­ te. She’s out of sight…I think it’s a mistake to have their breasts exposed. An error in theatrics. They should be wearing some JM:

thin negligee. Mystery… You know what’s a groovy word? Bellwether: leader of a mindless crowd. That’s what you are, Jim, the leader of a mindless crowd. BABE:

I like chicks in Levis. My taste is like whoever approaches me, I think it’s groovy. JM:

Babe, that’s what I mean. You got to learn to curb your tongue. I can see what it will be like. John would say, “and then Babe said you know what you are Jim? The leader of a mindless crowd.” If you print that, John, I won’t kill you, I’ll haunt you. They all have minds. Maybe collectively…a crowd together really has no mind. Indi­ vidually everybody does. They all have bitchin’ minds. Like, I bet there’s more philosophy in some 16 year old chick’s mind than you ever dreamed of in your whole cigare‫﬙‬e. Some of those le‫﬙‬ers to those fan magazines are really lonely and deep and open. Some of them are bullshit. I don’t read many, but some that I’ve read really knocked me out. Re­ ally open, sincere. Anyway, you got to learn to hold your tongue. Can you remember that? JM:

JC:

Sounds pre‫﬙‬y exhausting.

I’ll remember that. I’ll keep silent like deep water. Whenever I say anything from now on, it will be such a profundity that you guys will just fall out of your chairs. BABE:

WAITRESS:

That will be $39.75


1968

Interview with Jim Morrison

23



LOVE AND DEATH

His Relationships, Girls and the Myth of his Death.


26

Relationship

Jimmy Wales

Pamela Susan Courson was the long-term companion of Jim Morrison

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison is an american Writer and Journalist.

M

orrison’s early life was the semi-nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins record­ ed Morrison’s brother, Andy, explaining that his parents had determined never to use physical corporal punishment such as spanking on their children. They in­ stead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as dressing down. This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings. Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most contaﬞ with his family. By the time Morrison’s music ascended to the top of the charts (in 1967) he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child).

T

his misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with the Doors’ self-titled debut album. Admiral Morrison was not supportive of his son’s career choice in music. One day, an acquaintance brought over a record thought to have Jim on the cover. The record was the Doors’ self-titled de­ but. The young man played the record for Morrison’s father and family. Upon hearing the record, Morrison’s father wrote him a le‫﬙‬er telling him “to

give up any idea of singing or any conneﬞion with a music group because of what I consider to be a complete lack of talent in this direﬞion.” In a le‫﬙‬er to the florida Probation and Parole Commission Distriﬞ Office dated Oﬞober 2, 1970, I think the interview is the new art form. I think the self-interview is the essence of creativity. Asking yourself questions and trying to find answers. The writer is just answering a series of unuttered questions. It's similar to answering questions on a witness stand. It's that strange area where you try and pin down something that happened in the past and try honestly to remember what you were trying to do. It's a crucial mental excercise. An interview will often give you a chance to confront your mind with questions, which to me is what art is all about. An interview also gives you the chance to try and eliminate all of those space fillers… you should try to be explicit, acurate to the point… no bullshit. The interview form has antecedents in the confession box, debating and cross-examination. Once you say something, you can't really retract it. It's too late. It's a very existential moment. I'm kind of hooked to the game of art and literature; my heroes are artists and writers. I always wanted to write, but I always figured it'd be no good unless somehow the hand just took the pen and started moving without me really having anything to do with it. Like automatic writing. But it just never happened. I wrote a few poems, of course.

Morrison’s father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son’s musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluﬞant to initiate contaﬞ and that he was proud of him nonetheless.


1967 - 1971

Relationship

Grace Slick is an american Singer. She was the Leadsinger of The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson starship and starship.

M

orrison met his long-term compan­ ion, Pamela Courson, before he gained fame or fortune, and she encour­ aged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname Morrison with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. Aſter Courson’s death in 1974, and aſter her parents petitioned the court for inheritance of Morrison’s estate, the probatecourt in California decided that she and Morrison had once had what qualified as a common-law marriage, despite neither having applied for such status while they were living and com­ mon-law marriage not being recognized in California. Morrisons’s will lists him as “an unmarried person.” Morrison and Courson’s relationship was a stormy one, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to anopen relationship and the consequences of living in such a relation­ ship.

27

Nico was an german Singer, Actor and Style Icon.

marriage was filed with the state. Kennealy discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.

M

orrison also reportedly regularly had sex with fans (“groupies”), and had numerous short flings with other musicians, as well as writers and photog­ raphers involved in the music business. They included Nico, the singer associated with the Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again, off-again relationship with 16 Magazine’s Gloria stavers as well as an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. David Crosby said many years later Morrison treated Joplin poorly at a party at the Calabasas, California home of John Davidson while Davidson was out of town. She allegedly a‫﬙‬acked him with a bo‫﬙‬le of booze in front of witnesses, and that ended their only encounter. At the time of Morrison’s death there were n 1970, Morrison participated in at least three paternity actions pending a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony against him, although no claims were with rock critic and science fiction/ made against his estate by any of the fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before putative paternity claimants. wit-nesses, one of them a Presbyterian­ minister, the couple signed a document declaring themselves wed, but none of the necessary paperwork for a legal

I


28

Death

M

orrison joined Courson in Paris in March 1971. They took up residence in the city in a rented apart­ ment on the rue Beautreillis (in the 4th arrondissement of Paris on the Right Bank), and went for long walks through­ out the city, admiring the city’s architec­ ture. During this time, Morrison shaved his beard and lost some of the weight he had gained in the previous months. Morrison died on July 3, 1971 at age 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub (at 17–19 rue Beautreillis, 4th ar­ rondissement) by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner stated that there was no evidence of foul play.

T

he absence of an official autopsy has leſt many questions regarding Morrison’s cause of death. In Wonder­ land Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson aſter she returned to the United states. According to Sugerman’s account, Courson stated Sex is full of lies. The body tries to tell the truth. But, it's usually too battered with rules to be heard, and bound with pretenses so it can hardly move. We cripple ourselves with lies.

Jimmy Wales

hemorrhage aſter snorting Courson’s heroin, and that Courson nodded off in­ stead of phoning for medical help, leaving Morrison bleeding to death.

R

onay confessed in an article in Paris that he then helped cover up the cir­ cumstances of Morrison’s death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Agnès Varda say Courson lied to the police who responded to the death scene, and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs. In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years aſter Morri­ son’s death, Ronay and Varda broke their silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly aſter Morri­ son’s death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin aſter a night of drinking. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and vomited blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morri­ son was unresponsive, so she called for medical assistance. Hopkins and Suger­ man also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and vomiting blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris, but none of the mem­ bers of the Doors were in Paris with Mor­ rison in the months prior to his death.

that Morrison had died of a heroin over­ dose, having inhaled what he believed to be cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given him numerous contradiﬞory versions of Morrison’s death, saying at times that she had killed Morrison, or that his death was her fault. Courson’s story of Morrison’s uninten­ ccording to a Madame Coline‫﬙‬e, tional ingestion of heroin, followed by his who was at Père Lachaise Cemetery accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has mourning the recent loss of her hus­ band, she witnessed Morrison’s funeral. wri‫﬙‬en that Morrison died of a

A


1971 - 1995

Death

The ceremony was “pitiful”, with several of the a‫﬙‬endants mu‫﬙‬ering a few words, throwing flowers over the casket, then leaving quickly and hastily within min­ utes as if their lives depended upon it.

29

that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.” In July 2007, Sam Berne‫﬙‬, a former manager of the Rock ‚n’ Roll Circus nightclub, released a (French) book titled “The End: Jim Morrison”. In it Berne‫ ﬙‬alleges that instead of dying of a heart a‫﬙‬ack in a bathtub (the official police version of his death), Morrison overdosed on heroin on a toilet seat in the nightclub. He claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then used some himself and died in the bathroom. Morrison’s body was then moved back to his rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped into the bathtub by the two drug Those who a‫﬙‬ended included Alain dealers from whom Morrison had pur­ Ronay, Agnès Varda, Bill Siddons, Cour­ chased the heroin. Berne‫ ﬙‬says those son, and Robin Wertle (Morrison’s Cawho saw Morrison that night were sworn nadian private secretary at the time for to secrecy in order to prevent a scandal a few months). In the first version of for the famous club, and that some of the No One Here Gets Out Alive, published in witnesses immediately leſt the country. 1980, Sugerman and Hopkins gave There have been many other conspiracy some credence to the rumor that Morrison theories surrounding Morrison’s death may not have died at all, calling the fake but are less supported by witnesses than death theory not as far-fetched as it might are the accounts of Ronay and Courson. seem. This theory led to considerable n the August 1, 2014 issue of Mojo distress for Morrison’s loved ones over Magazine, Marianne Faithfull says that the years, notably when fans would stalk them, searching for evidence of Mor- her drug-dealer boyfriend at the time, Jean de Breiteuil, killed Morrison. In the rison’s whereabouts. No proof of any kind has ever been revealed to substanti- interview she says, ”I could intuitively feel trouble. I thought, I’ll take a few Tu­ ate the theory. inal and I won’t be there. And he went to n 1995, a new epilogue was added to see Jim Morrison and killed him. I mean Sugerman’s and Hopkins’s book, giving I’m sure it was an accident. Poor bastard. new faﬞs about Morrison’s death and The smack was too strong? Yeah. And he discounting the fake death theory say­ died. And I didn’t know anything about ing, ”As time passed, some of Jim and this. Anyway, everybody conneﬞed to the Pamela’s friends began to talk about what death of this poor guy is dead now. they knew, and although everything Except me.” they said pointed irrefutably to Jim’s demise, there remained and probably al­ ways will be those who refuse to believe The Doors in 1970

I

I


30

Death

W

onderland Avenue, in which author Danny Sugerman chronicles his own descent into heroin addiﬞion during the decade that followed his friend Morrison’s death, also contains a warning to young Doors fans. Sugerman tells them that Morrison died from substance abuse, plain and simple, and they should ignore any substance abusers who use the contradiﬞory accounts of Morrison’s final hours as a justifi­ cation to get drunk or stoned them­ selves. If a Doors fan is friendly with a substance abuser who announces plans to die young as a tribute to Morrison, “then let him go and die,” says Sugerman.

M

orrison is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, one of the city’s most visited tourist a‫﬙‬raﬞions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. Initially, the grave was unmarked, and listed in the cemetery direﬞory with Morrison’s name incorreﬞly rearranged as “Douglas James Morrison.” In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin voluntarily placed a bust of his own design and a new gravestone with Morrison’s name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; the bust was defaced through the years by cemetery vandals and later stolen in 1988. Mikulin made another bust of Morrison in 1989, and a bronze portrait of him in 2001; neither piece is at the gravesite. In the early 1990s Morrison’s father George Morrison, aſter consulting with Nicholas Genovese, Professor of Classics and Humanities, San Diego state University, placed a flat stone on the grave.

Jimmy Wales


1971 - 1995

The End

31


4-7

Early Years

Impresum

8-13

The Doors

Jim Mirroson Editorial von Patrick B채ssler

14-15

Discography

16-19

Poetry and Film

20-23

Interview

24-31

Love and Death

Lehrbeauftragter: Philippe Karrer Kurs: Typografie 2 SS 2015 - Hfg Karlsruhe

Auflage: 5 Font: Chiavettieri Printed with Newspapers Club (newspaperclub.com)


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