Jim Morrison

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Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison at the height of The Doors' career
Jim Morrison at the height of The Doors' career
Background information
Birth name James Douglas Morrison
Also known as The Lizard King
Born December 8, 1943
Flag of United States Melbourne, Florida, USA
Died July 3, 1971 (age: 27 years and 183 days)
Flag of France Paris, France
Genre(s) Psychedelic rock
Hard rock
Art rock
Occupation(s) Musician
Songwriter
Poet
Years active 1965 – 1971
Label(s) Elektra
Associated
acts		 The Doors
Website The Doors Official Webpage

James Douglas Morrison (8 December 1943 – 3 July 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, writer and poet. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the popular American rock band The Doors, and is considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in the history of rock music. He was also an author of several poetry books, a documentary, short film and three early music videos ("The Unknown Soldier","Moonlight Drive", and "People are Strange"). Morrison's death at the age of 27 in Paris stunned his fans; the circumstances of his death and secret burial have been the subject of endless rumours and play a significant part in the mystique that continues to surround him.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Of Scottish and Irish ancestry, Jim Morrison was the son of Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clark Morrison, who met in Hawaii in 1941 where Steve Morrison, then an ensign, was stationed.

Jim Morrison was born on December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, some two years after his parents met. Six months later, Clara Morrison moved to Clearwater, Florida along with her infant son to live with her in-laws (Paul and Caroline Morrison) while her husband returned to the Pacific front for the duration of World War II. (Later he would achieve the rank of Admiral and command the local fleet from his flagship, USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) during the Tonkin Gulf incident.) She stayed in Florida with her new son; her husband would not return to see his family until the summer of 1946. The Morrisons then had a daughter, Anne Robin (born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) and a son, Andrew "Andy" Lee (born 1948 in Red Bluff, California).

According to Morrison, one of the most important events of his life occurred when he was a child in 1949, during a family road trip in New Mexico, when he and his parents and grandmother came across the scene of an accident in the desert. As he recites in the spoken-word bridge of his song "Peace Frog" and "The Ghost Song":

“ Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding
Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile egg–shell mind.		 ”

Morrison said that he realized the Indians were bleeding to death, and that he was afraid. He came to believe that the souls of the newly-dead Indians were running around, "freaked out," and that one had leaped into him.

Both of Morrison's parents have claimed that the accident in the desert never happened. In his many comments about this episode, Morrison said that he was so upset by the incident that his parents eventually told him he was "just having a bad dream," in order to calm him down. Regardless of whether the incident was real, imagined, or fabricated, Morrison made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews.

Morrison graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was transferred to Southern California that August. Morrison was sent to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida, where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College.

He later transferred to Florida State University (1962-1963), which still afforded a favorable tuition but was too far away for a reasonable commute. Morrison thus moved close to the FSU campus where, for a time, he was a roommate of George Greer, a judge who was later notorious in his involvement of Terri Schiavo case, and appeared in a school recruitment film.[1]

In January 1964, urged on by an FSU professor, Morrison headed for Los Angeles, California where he completed his undergraduate degree in UCLA's film school, the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts. Jim made two films while attending UCLA. The first one entitled "First Love " is finally released to the public, unedited at the end of the documentary about the film called "Obscura." .

[edit] The Doors

Main article: The Doors
Jim Morrison (far left) with his bandmates in The Doors. From left to right: Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore.
Jim Morrison (far left) with his bandmates in The Doors. From left to right: Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore.

In 1965, after earning a degree in cinematography at UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in nearby Venice Beach. Due to a regimen of little food and copious quantities of drugs, by 1966 the formerly pudgy Morrison had trimmed down to the chiseled rock-god immortalized in the famed series of black-and-white photos taken by photographer Joel Brodsky. Known as "The Young Lion" photo session, it included the iconic, bare-chested "Christ" pose, a shot that was featured on the Best of the Doors LP cover.

Morrison wowed fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek with a reading of his lyrics for "Moonlight Drive", and the two then formed The Doors. They were soon joined by drummer John Densmore. Guitarist Robby Krieger auditioned at Densmore's recommendation, and was immediately added to the lineup.

While it is widely believed that the Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, Huxley's own title was a quote from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." It is more likely that The Doors took their name from Huxley's book which was about drug experimentation, however.

The Doors' sound was a significant innovation, dominated by Morrison's whispey, sonorous baritone, against the interplay of Manzarek's keyboards, Krieger's classically influenced flamenco guitar style and Densmore's crisp, fluid drumming. The Doors were unique in that there was no bass guitar in the lineup. Manzarek provided bass lines on his newly-released Fender keyboard bass, a small bass-scale version of the famous Fender Rhodes electric piano. Although the group did augment their studio recordings with bass players (including Lonnie Mack), The Doors appeared as a four-piece in concert, apart from occasions when they were joined by special guests such as John Sebastian.

In June 1966, a momentous meeting took place, at the famed Whisky-A-Go-Go when The Doors were the opening act for the Irish group, Them, whose leader was Van Morrison. According to Ray Manzarek, in his book, Light My Fire. "Jim was transfixed by Van. He studied his every move. He put the eye on him and he absorbed....The last night... saw us all in a monster jam session...Jim Morrison and Van Morrison onstage at the same time! And singing "Gloria." [2]

Lyrically, The Doors broke new ground in rock music, with Morrison's complex, surrealist, allusive lyrics exploring themes of sex, mysticism, drugs, murder, madness and death. Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times" and "Touch Me".

Morrison and Manzarek's film school education was put to effective use early on in the band's career. Decades before music videos became common-place, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through", which was to be their first single release. The video 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 lip-synced the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make innovative music videos, including ones for "The Unknown Soldier", "Moonlight Drive", and "People Are Strange".

The Doors were first noticed on the national level in the spring of 1967 after signing to the Elektra Records label. The single "Light My Fire", written by Krieger, hit number one in June 1967. Three months later, The Doors appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had, years earlier, introduced The Beatles and a young, wriggling Elvis Presley to the nation. According to the Oliver Stone film The Doors, the incident became notorious after the censors insisted that they change the lyrics of "Light My Fire" from 'Girl we couldn't get much higher' to 'Girl we couldn't get much better', because of the reference to drugs in the original lyric. The original video footage reveals Jim Morrison highlighting not the word "higher" but instead "fire", suggesting Morrison intended to remind audiences of the 12th Street Riot of July, 1967 where fires spread from northwest Detroit to the East Side.

Giving assurances to host Ed Sullivan, Morrison sang the song with the original lyrics anyway on live TV. This infuriated Sullivan so much that he refused to shake their hands after their performance. They were never invited back. To this, Jim responded:

"So what? We already did the Ed Sullivan Show."

By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia had never before been heard. The Doors' eclectic repertoire included a swag of stunning original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's operetta, "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny". The four also broke new ground in rock music with their extended concept works, including the famous epic songs, "The End" and "When The Music's Over", and the extended suite which they played in concert, "Celebration of the Lizard".

In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Originally, in production, Morrison convinced his bandmates and his producer into recording a concept album. For Side One, they recorded the usual staple of 3 minute rock songs, while for Side Two they recorded a full rendition of the extended suite, "Celebration of the Lizard". However, it was ultimately decided against by their label, Elektra Records. Subsequently, only a short piece within "Celebration of the Lizard" entitled "Not To Touch The Earth" would make it onto the final LP. As had been customary, with an extended tour de force song ending an album, Waiting for the Sun would instead feature the 5 minute "Five To One" as the album closer.

By this time, The Doors had all but exhausted the cache of songs that Morrison had written. Sourced from his early poetry writings and from favorite lines from his favorite books, this cache had provided all the material on their first three LPs. Meanwhile, Morrison's attitude towards rock music, the audience, and stardom per se began to take its toll. He became increasingly antagonistic towards fans and their constant howls of requests to play radio-friendly hits like "Light My Fire" or "Love Me Two Times" and not appreciating his exploration into poetry and performance-theatre.

This apparently had no effect on Morrison or and the band, as their fourth studio LP, The Soft Parade, was heavy with orchestration and featured a more pop sound. It was also the first album where the individual band members were given recognition on the inner-sleeve for who wrote which songs. Much of this decision had to do with the band members wanting to attach their names to the radio-friendly songs, as well as Robbie Krieger seeking credit for increased contribution to the LP during Morrison's increasing apathy and absences.

The Soft Parade was widely criticized in the media, both for alienating what fans had come to expect of The Doors, as well as for being considered tame compared to earlier Doors offerings. Morrison's lyrics received much of the criticism from the press, who labeled it "college standard one-line non-sequiturs".

Morrison infamously lived by an oft-repeated quote from Blake, "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." Even before the formation of The Doors, Morrison took copious amounts of LSD, but soon switched to alcohol; which he began to consume in herculean proportions. He reportedly also indulged in various bacchanalia. He would increasingly start to show up for recording sessions extremely inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song "Five To One") as well as being late to arrive for live performances, which caused the band to linger on stage playing only music or occasionally forcing Ray Manzarek to take on the singing duties. Such excesses and apathy took their toll on Morrison and the band.

By 1969, the formerly svelte singer began to balloon in size due to his rapidly escalating alcoholism. Although the cover of the 1970 Absolutely Live LP depicts a trim, clean-shaven, leather-clad Morrison on the front, this photo had in fact been taken about two years earlier. By the time of the tour on which the live album was recorded, Morrison was 20 pounds heavier (175 pounds). He made a concerted effort to distance himself from the "Lizard King" image by growing a beard and wearing regular slacks, jeans and T-shirts.

During a 1969 concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, an intoxicated Morrison attempted to spark a riot among those in attendance. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department for indecent exposure some three days later while the band was vacationing in Jamaica. Morrison was ultimately convicted of indecent exposure and public profanity. Fallout from that event resulted in much negative publicity and the cancellation of many of The Doors' scheduled concerts.

Following Morrison's conviction and the intense criticism of The Soft Parade, The Doors unexpectedly continued on with the sound they had created in The Soft Parade with the release of the Morrison Hotel LP. The LP featured a slightly more pop-blues sound and more listener-friendly lyrical content - instead of the intense, deeply personal poetic lyrics of songs like 'The End', Morrison Hotel featured more easily accessible lyrics. Due to the more commercial sound, Morrison Hotel shot The Doors back into the charts.

After a lengthy break, the group reconvened in October 1970 to record what proved to be their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. It proved to be the climax of the Doors new commercial sound, featuring smooth South-California instrumentation and lyrics in the Bubblegum-pop style, such as the nonsense chanting of "Mr. Mojo Risin'" (which was one of Morrison's aliases) in the title track. The L.A. Woman LP included, besides the title track, "Texas Radio and the Big Beat", "Been Down So Long", "The Changeling", and "Riders on the Storm", which, due to its more commercial sound, instantly became an FM radio staple.

The L.A. Woman album also saw another major change in the group's recording career. Shortly after sessions began, producer Paul A. Rothchild -- who had overseen all their previous recordings -- walked off the project, disenchanted with the band's new material, which he dismissed as "lounge music." Long-serving engineer Bruce Botnick took over. Several of Morrison's vocals were performed in the bathroom at The Doors' offices, due to the excellent acoustics, particularly in relation to the reverberation quality.

The Doors followed the pattern of many other underground psychedelic/garage-rock bands of the late 1960s. The Doors's early songs featured lyrics that were personally-meaningful, intense, and challenging to listerners, and a sound that was decidedly non-pop. In the early 1970s, however, The Doors became more commercialized, like much of hard rock at the time.

Among Morrison's more famous nicknames are "Mr. Mojo Risin'", an anagram of his name, which he eventually used as a refrain in his final single "L.A. Woman", and "The Lizard King" from a line in his famed epic poem "Celebration of the Lizard", part of which appeared on The Doors' 1968 album Waiting for the Sun and which was finally captured in full on the Absolutely Live double LP released in 1970. Absolutely Live was a compilation of selected live material recorded at different venues ranging from Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

[edit] Solo: poetry and film

Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he became very interested in theater, film and cinematography.

Even though Morrison was a well-known singer and lyricist, he encountered difficulty when searching for a publisher for his poetry. He self-published two slim volumes in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. Both works were dedicated to "Pamela Susan" (Courson). These were the only writings to be published during Morrison's lifetime.

The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison's thoughts on cinema. They often read as short, prose paragraphs strung together by what seems to be little more than the pages upon which they appear. McClure describes the work as Morrison's deconstruction of his UCLA thesis on film. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures.

Much later, two posthumous volumes of poetry were published, both of them selected and arranged by Morrison's friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and Courson's parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, 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 December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday. The latter recording session was attended by personal friends of Morrison and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the tapes from the 1969 session were later used as part of the Doors' An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The 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, a project begun in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete independence in its making. He was assisted by Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill. More of an art film than a commercial endeavor, Morrison played what is essentially the sole continuing character, a hitchhiker turned killer car thief. This same or very similar character is alluded to in Riders On The Storm. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the eclectic soundtrack for the film. The film shows the influence of other producer-directors of independent art films, such as Andy Warhol, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Morrison was encouraged in his desire to believe in the value of his poetry by his close friend, and Beat poet, Michael McClure. McClure would later write the Afterword for Danny Sugerman's biography of Morrison in which he laments his friends death and his forgotten status as a poet. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects, including a film version of McClure's infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played the role of Billy The Kid.

[edit] Personal life

[edit] Morrison's family

Morrison's early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother Andy explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children, and instead 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. Andy said that although he could never keep from crying, his brother never shed a tear.

Biographers record that during his youth, Morrison was a dutiful and respectful son who excelled at school and greatly enjoyed swimming and other outdoor activities. His parents hoped he would follow in his father's military footsteps and, for quite some time, Morrison was happy to emulate his father, intending to study at United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

In adolescence, however, Morrison discovered drinking and embarked on a life-long pattern of alcoholism and substance abuse. He was often disruptive in class and became a discipline problem. For a few years, Jim lived with his grandparents. He would purposely go out late and come home drunk, to get on his grandparents nerves. Neither his Grandma or grandpa drank, so he would leave empty wine bottles and beer cans in the garbage. He would come home late and make a lot of noise to make his grandparents mad.

Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison's music ascended 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. This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with the first Doors album.

In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office, October 2, 1970, Morrison's father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications, the result of an argument over his assessment of his son's musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact. He also stressed that he thought Jim was 'fundamentally a respectable citizen' and that he was proud of his son's progress. See http://www.idafan.com/FloridaProbation-ParoleLetters.htm

[edit] Romantic and sexual relationships

Morrison met his long-term companion, Pamela Courson, well before he gained any fame or fortune, and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used Morrison's name, with his apparent consent. After Courson's death in 1974, the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under "Estate Controversy").

Courson and Morrison's relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments, and periods of separation followed by tearful reunions. Doors biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.

In 1970, Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and Science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister,[1] the couple signed a document declaring themselves wedded;[2] however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal 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.

Morrison also regularly slept with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities in their own right, including one with Nico from Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on again off again relationship with 16 magazine's editor in chief Gloria Stavers, and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin that left Joplin in tears. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death, there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison's son was shown to be a fraud.

[edit] Death

Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971 with the intention of taking a break from performing and concentrating on his writing. Hoping to get his life back on track, Morrison lost a great deal of weight and shaved off his beard (although his last photographs show a considerable amount of bloating -- a classic symptom of congestive heart failure). By all accounts he became very depressed whilst in Paris, but he admired the city's architecture, saying 'When they built this city, they threw away the blueprint' in an interview with a Los Angeles journalist in summer 1971.

He died on July 3, 1971, at age 27, and was found in his bathtub by Courson. According to Stephen Davis' biography of Morrison, it was reported that he had dried blood around his mouth and nose and large bruising on his chest. This suggests Morrison might have died from a massive hemorrhage caused by tuberculosis. Many fans and biographers have speculated that the cause of death was a drug overdose, but the official report listed the cause of death as heart failure. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner found no evidence of foul play. The lack of an official autopsy left many questions unanswered and provided a fertile breeding ground for speculation and rumor.

In his autobiographical novel Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman recounts that he briefly met with Courson when she returned to America in the mid-1970s. According to his account, Courson told him that Morrison had in fact died of a heroin overdose when he inhaled copious amounts of the substance, believing it to be cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had also given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, but the majority of fans seem to have accepted the mistaken heroin overdose account. Courson herself died of a heroin overdose a few years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death. Morrison was quoted to say that when he returned from Paris he was going to let "bygones be bygones" with his father. Also, a few weeks before his death he called bandmate John Densmore and asked how the newest album had been received, and when Densmore replied that it had been doing well in the charts, Morrison replied that "if they like this, wait'll they hear what I got in mind for the next one." In Densmore's own autobiography, Riders On The Storm, the drummer reasoned that Morrison had taken heroin with a strong liquor, climbed into the bathtub, and committed suicide.

Original headstone at Jim's grave.
Original headstone at Jim's grave.

Morrison is buried in the famous Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris. In the past, some of his fans left litter, graffiti, bottles of alcohol and cannabis behind them after their visits. Originally his grave had a square headstone with his name which was topped by a carved bust of Jim's head (later removed). Well-publicized complaints by numerous families of the deceased about desecration of surrounding grave sites led many to expect that Morrison's remains would be forcibly relocated when the 30-year lease to his plot expired. Parisian authorities, however, have denied any such intention, and Morrison's family has since negotiated an agreement with the cemetery to keep him interred there in perpetuity. A member of cemetery staff is almost always on duty by the grave to ensure no further desecration takes place. Morrison's grave is amongst the most popular graves in the cemetery and has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Paris, along with the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. In 1993, his parents visited the site and made arrangements with a cleaning company to have the graffiti removed from the nearby tombstones. (WGS84: 48°51′33.8″N, 2°23′37.2″E)

Jim Morrison's grave at Père Lachaise.
Jim Morrison's grave at Père Lachaise.

Morrison's gravestone has a Greek inscription reading Κατὰ τον δαίμονα ἑαυτοῦ, in capital letters (ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ). The meaning intended by the Morrison family when the inscription was selected is "True to his own spirit." Morrison's father either selected the phrase or drafted it himself. The literal meaning is "according to his own daimōn", an Ancient Greek word that implies a minor deity, attendant spirit, luck, fortune, "guiding star" and the like, with no negative or pejorative connotations. Various erroneous interpretations of the inscription have been proposed, including "down with his own demons" (presumably in Hell), "burnt by his demons", and "with the devil himself."

Some conspiracy theorists contend that Morrison did not die in Paris. The fact that only two people (other than the police, emergency personnel, and the mortician) admitted to the press that they had seen his body has helped keep the rumor alive for over 30 years. Throughout Morrison's turbulent career, there had been numerous rumors that he had been killed in an auto accident or had died of a drug overdose. Also, in the days preceding the announcement of his death, the press had been told that Morrison was simply "very tired" and resting in an unnamed French hospital, contributing to the suspicion.

In The Lizard King, Jerry Hopkins recounts that, well before the Doors achieved noticeable success, Morrison had joked that he should fake his own death to generate publicity. According to some of Morrison's friends and bandmates, once the Doors had achieved their remarkable success, publicity was no longer seen as being so desirable. Morrison then spoke of wanting to fake his death and move to Africa in order to escape the scrutiny that surrounded his every move. He told them that if he could succeed with the ruse, he would write to them using the pseudonym/ anagram "Mr. Mojo Risin." Such a disappearing act would have paralleled the life of one of Morrison's favorite French poets, Arthur Rimbaud. According to Krieger and other Doors members, they have yet to receive any letters.

A 2006 French television documentary, from a series called 'Death of an Idol', included interviews with many people associated with Morrison's death, including then Doors' manager Bill Siddons. Siddons, who was only 22 years old at the time, never actually saw the corpse and explained that he was simply too young and overwhelmed to ask to see the body.

The documentary then interviewed several Parisians who claimed that they had seen Morrison at a Paris nightclub, Rock and Roll Circus, which was a known place for heroin dealers. The club's manager claimed to have seen Morrison that night. A Parisian woman, Nicole Gosselin, claimed that she had seen Morrison in the club on the evening of 2 July 1971. Apparently there was a shipment of heroin due that evening and Morrison was looking for some. Soon after it arrived, Gosselin claimed that she saw Morrison near the club toilets and that he was passing out against the wall completely white-faced. Gosselin also claimed that the batch of heroin was particularly potent and that she knew the person who sold it to Morrison. Some people took him out of the club and into a taxi, presumably to return him to his apartment. This would perhaps explain why Morrison was found in the bathtub, as this is a classic way of reviving overdose victims.

The documentary also spoke to the fireman who arrived at Morrison's apartment early on 3rd July. This man claimed to have seen Morrison's body, with the remnants of a trickle of blood coming from his nose. The fact that Morrison was a known alcoholic meant that adding strong heroin to his already weakened constitution was a dangerous mixture (heroin and alcohol are potentially lethal when mixed in sufficient quantities).

Speculation about the cause and actuality of Morrison's death plays a large and continuing role in the Morrison mystique. Rumors still abound that Morrison committed suicide, was assassinated by the CIA, was murdered by a witch, died in a toilet at the notorious Rock and Roll Circus, or any number of variations. There are also persistent rumors that he is still alive and living either in India, Africa, South America, as a cowboy in Oregon, above a Quik-Check in New Jersey, or in North Dakota anonymously. Clearly, the "Morrison legend" has taken on a life of its own.

[edit] Estate Controversy

In his will, made in Los Angeles County on 12 February 1969, Morrison (who describes himself as "an unmarried person") left his entire estate to Pamela Susan Courson, also naming her co-executor with his attorney, Max Fink. She thus inherited everything upon Morrison’s death in 1971.

When Courson died herself in 1974, a battle ensued between Morrison’s parents and Courson’s parents over who had legal claim to what had been Morrison’s estate. Since Morrison left a will, the question was effectively moot. On his death, his property became Courson’s property; and on her death, her property passed to her next heirs at law, who were her parents. Morrison's parents did not accept this and contested the will under which Courson and now her parents had inherited their son’s property.

To bolster their position, Courson’s parents presented a document they claimed she had acquired in Colorado, apparently an application for a declaration that she and Morrison had contracted a common law marriage under the laws of that state. The ability to contract a common-law marriage was abolished in California in 1896, but the state's conflict of laws rules provided for recognition of common-law marriages lawfully contracted in foreign jurisdictions - and Colorado was one of the eleven U.S. jurisdictions which still recognized common-law marriage. So, as long as a common-law marriage was lawfully contracted under Colorado law, it was recognised as a marriage under California law.

It is not known whether Courson acquired the application before or after Morrison’s death, or indeed whether it was she or her parents who acquired it. In either case, Morrison did not fill it out or sign it, may have never known about the document, and neither Morrison nor Courson appear to have ever been residents of Colorado. But those facts would not necessarily be relevant to the court’s deliberation on the validity of a common-law marriage, since the determination would be made according to Colorado law. Many of the jurisdictions which still permitted the common law contract of a marriage provide that either party may demand a declaration that a common law marriage was contracted between them, whether the other party (if living) agrees or not. The burden of proof is on the applicant, in any case, to prove that a marriage existed. What is ironic in this case is that both of the alleged applicants were dead, and it was their parents who were trying to prove or disprove that there had been a common-law marriage.

Whatever the circumstances of the unsigned document and the court case, and the controversy surrounding it, the California probate court decided that Courson and Morrison had a common-law marriage under the laws of Colorado. The effect of the court's ruling was to close probate of Morrison's and Courson's estates, and reinforce the Courson family's hold on the inheritance.

[edit] Artistic roots

As a naval family, the Morrisons relocated frequently. Consequently, Morrison's early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school. Nonetheless, he proved to be an intelligent and capable student drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy, and psychology, among other fields.

Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced Morrison's thinking and, perhaps, behavior. Richard Fariña's 1966 novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me is thought to have inspired the title of the blues song featured on the L.A Woman album. While still in his teens, Morrison discovered the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (after Morrison's death, John Densmore opined that the nihilism of "Nietzsche killed Jim"). He was also drawn to the dark poets of the 18th and 19th century, notably the British poet William Blake, and the French poets Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Beat Generation writers, such as Jack Kerouac, also had a strong influence on Morrison's outlook and manner of expression; Morrison was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac's On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the works of the French writer Céline. Céline's book, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake's Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison's early songs, "End of the Night." Eventually Morrison got to meet and befriend Michael McClure, a well known beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison's lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft.

Morrison's vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Julian Beck's Living Theater, which perhaps influenced some of Jim's confrontational behaviour onstage, such as in the Miami incident. But perhaps the most influential work was a rather obscure, 19th century work by Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Morrison began practicing MacKay's insights regarding influencing and manipulating crowds while still in college.

Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest, particularly Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer's The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song "Not to Touch the Earth."

He apparently borrowed some wording from the King James New Testament. Matthew 7:13-14: “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and... strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,” which speaks of death and the afterlife, one of his common themes. Their first hit single “Break On Through” includes the lines: “Gate is straight, deep and wide—break on through to the other side.” Though most of “Light My Fire” was written by Krieger, the second verse was written by Morrison and includes the line “...no time to wallow in the mire,” a wording that could have been borrowed either from 2 Peter 2:22, which reads: “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire,” or from Socrates’ deathbed statement, as recorded in Plato’s “Phaedo”: “...They said that whoever arrives in the underworld uninitiated and unsanctified will wallow in the mire....”

Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures. While he was still in school, his family moved to New Mexico where he got to see some of the places and artifacts important to the Southwest Indigenous cultures. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places, such as lizards, snakes, deserts and "ancient lakes" that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretation of the practices of a Native American "shaman" were worked into some of Morrison's stage routine, notably in his interpretation of the Ghost Dance, and a song on his later poetry album, The Ghost Song. The song Wild Child was also inspired by Native American rhythm and ritual, but often interpreted to be about one of Morrison's literary influences, Arthur Rimbaud.

[edit] Influence

Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers/writers in rock history, as The Doors' catalog has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day, he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing both onstage and off have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.

Morrison's performances have influenced many, including Nick Cave, Richard Ashcroft, Iggy Pop, Glenn Danzig, Patti Smith, Ian Curtis, David Gahan, Henry Rollins, Ian Astbury, Perry Farrell, Scott Weiland, Trent Reznor, Marilyn Manson, Eddie Vedder, Ville Valo, Sully Erna, The Blood, Billy Idol, Siouxsie Sioux, the French band Noir Désir, Finnish band The 69 Eyes and Jeff Martin.

The legendary punk prototypes Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One of his most popular songs, "The Passenger", is said to be based on one of Morrison's poems. After Morrison's death, Iggy was considered as a replacement for Morrison; the surviving Doors gave Iggy some of Morrison's belongings, and hired him as a vocalist for a series of shows.

Beat poet Michael McClure has written a poem, For Jim Morrison, in honor of their friendship. He recites this work at his poetry readings with some regularity, often to the accompaniment of Manzarek's keyboards.

On a more cerebral level, Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University and internationally recognized expert on the poet Arthur Rimbaud, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled "The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir." In this book, Fowlie recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Rimbaud's verse into English. "I don't read French easily", he wrote, "...your book travels around with me." Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud.

In 1999 Mets third baseman Robin Ventura took the phrase Mojo Risin from Morrison's song "L.A. Woman" as a theme for the team.

In 2007 it was announced that a charity, Global Cool, focusing on eliminating global warming, was commissioning a song to be made out of a poem Morrison had written, entitled "Woman in the Window". [3]

[edit] Jim Morrison & The Doors' Legacy

Jim Morrison often claimed he walked in the footsteps of French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), once having said, "I am a Rimbaud with a leather jacket". Some sources allege, although it's unverified, that while in France at the end of his life, Jim undertook a pilgrimage to Rimbaud's birthplace in northeastern France, Charleville.

This lineage between "the man with the soles of wind" (Rimbaud's nickname) and "the Lizard King" (Jim's nickname) is very fitting. Both symbolized the bravado and the rebellion of youth against a conservative society that seeks to squelch the individual through social control. Both were brilliant individuals torn between their ambition to shake things up through their art and their temptation to drift away, before being caught up and finally struck down by their inner demons. Most of all, they were both visionaries with a profound and mystical feeling that there is something "more", something "beyond", something that their poetry and music allowed us to touch, if only for a brief moment.

"If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel", Jim once said. And that is exactly what he and The Doors achieved. With their hauntingly beautiful music that stays with you long after "the music's over", they take us to uncharted territories. They let us "break on through to the other side", however briefly. They did indeed open the "doors of perception", doors that can never be shut again. And that is probably the true legacy of Jim Morrison and The Doors.

[edit] Jim Morrison in fiction and music

In 1991, Oliver Stone's movie The Doors, loosely based on the story of the band and starring Val Kilmer as Morrison, was released to mixed reviews and limited commercial success. The surviving Doors were reportedly not pleased with the historical liberties that Stone took with their story. Kilmer was Stone's second choice for the role, the first being Ian Astbury, lead singer of The Cult. Astbury declined. It was also reported that Kyle MacLachlan (who played Manzarek) had originally wanted to play the Morrison role himself. In 2000 Astbury joined Manzarek and Krieger's band, Riders On The Storm, as lead singer.[3]

- Morrison was portrayed on stage in a play titled The Lizard King by the poet and playwright Jay Jeff Jones. The play was performed in New York, London and finally in 1991 in Los Angeles at The Friends & Artists Theatre. The role of Morrison was taken by the television actor Stephen Nichols.

In Stephen King's 1990 release of The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition, Stu Redman confides a story to Fran Goldsmith about meeting a sojourner with "eyes of a man who has been trying to look into the dark for a long time and has maybe begun to see what is there." He then reveals to her that he believes the man was Jim Morrison, alive but maybe not so well. Morrison subsequently appeared as an evil version of himself in King's short story You Know They Got a Hell of a Band.

In Wayne's World 2, Michael A. Nickles portrays Jim Morrison in one of Wayne Campbell's dreams in a desert. His famous line "If you book them, they will come" (an homage to Field of Dreams) sets up the major plotline. The comedy also includes a Native American who makes mysterious appearances, another homage, this time to Stone's movie The Doors.

In The Banger Sisters the protagonists, Suzette and Vinnie, who were groupies in the 60s make numerous reference to Jim Morrison. Suzette has a tattoo depicting a crowned lizard, in honor of Morrison.

Lewis Shiner's 1993 novel Glimpses (winner of the World Fantasy Award for best novel), follows Ray Shackleford as he takes part in a series of alternative universes to help complete several unfinished music albums: The Beatles' Get Back, Brian Wilson's SMiLE, Jimi Hendrix's First Rays of the New Rising Sun, and The Doors' Celebration of the Lizard. Fictionalized versions of Wilson, Hendrix, and Morrison appear in the novel.

A portrayal of Jim Morrison (by David Brock of the Los Angeles-based Doors' tribute band Wild Child) appears in the movie Death Becomes Her. The Morrison figure comments on Bruce Willis' death-defying leap off of a building into a pool ("Well, that was pretty neat."). Brock's character plays member to a group of death-cheating immortals, a reference to the rumour that Morrison faked his own death.

In the television show The Simpsons, Lisa yells out, "I am the The Lizard Queen!" after drinking the water on a ride in Duffland. Homer sings a few lines from Jim Morrison's song, The End, when contemplating suicide, and this same song appears in a later episode when the family goes to India. In "The Treehouse of Horror II", during an opening montage of gravestones, Jim Morrison's is shown, with two hippies in front.

In the song "Anyone Can Play Guitar" by Radiohead, singer Thom Yorke playfully wails the line: "Grow my hair. I wanna be Jim Morrison". This is assumed to be a cautionary comment aimed more at the fickle idolisation of cult figures by teenage fans than it is towards the legacy of Jim Morrison.

In the Wild Cards series of novels, there is an analogue of Jim Morrison named Thomas Douglas Morrison, lead singer of the band Destiny. He was an ace called the Lizard King, and died not of an overdose in France, but from a dose of the experimental trump virus, which cured him of his ace powers, but removed his immunity to many years of drug use.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kennealy, Patricia (1992). Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison. New York: Dutton/Penguin, p.63. ISBN 0-525-93419-7. 
  2. ^ Kennealy, Patricia (1992). Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison. New York: Dutton/Penguin, plate 7. ISBN 0-525-93419-7. 
  3. ^ Riders On The Storm - Manzarek's website

[edit] Quotes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.
  • Blake said that the body was the soul's prison unless the five senses are fully developed and open. He considered the senses the 'windows of the soul.' When sex involves all the senses intensely, it can be like a mystical experience.
  • Drugs are a bet with your mind.
  • Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
  • I am the lizard king. I can do anything.
  • There are things known and there are things unknown and in between are the Doors.
  • Did you know freedom exists in a schoolbook?
  • Mankind still needs a savior such as you!
  • I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then, whoosh and I'm gone.. and they'll never see anything like it ever again, and they won't be able to forget me - ever.
  • WAKE UP
  • I think the highest and lowest points for a musician are the most important. Everything in between is well... in between.
  • Love can not save you from your own fate
  • The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder

[edit] Books

[edit] Morrison's poetry

  • The Lords and The New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5.
  • An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers, and an unauthorized version American Prayer in 1983 by now-defunct Zeppelin Publishing Company. ISBN 0-915628-46-5 (caution: the authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed)
  • Wilderness The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
  • The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5.

[edit] About Jim Morrison

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
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