Cleansing the Doors of Perception

It is an interesting debate to consider whether the inclusion or exclusion of one word, that of "High" in Break on Through (to the Other Side) makes much difference. In fact it sounds as if Morrison is slurring the word "higher" at the end of this section.

I agree with both the usual opinions: a) that with its exclusion/excision, it allows for tension and a sort-of orgasmic build-up to climax and release - like a lot of Doors songs - much in the vein of classical music generally... the release is short lived however, as the song builds to another climax quite quickly, that culminates in the songs end, and b) with its inclusion, and extension, played out as a free-floating release from the tension of a building climax, it gives the listener time to recuperate, to build up yet again... 

It would be interesting to also mention whether any radio stations had censored the word "higher" from Light My Fire, when it was originally released... and also of note is whether or not one of the original lyrics in The Crystal Ship (the title in itself a reference to methamphetamine?) was "a thousand girls, a thousand pills" rather than "a thousand girls, a thousand thrills".

I think that perhaps producer Paul Rothchild had noted the overuse of drug imagery in the lyrics and music of the first album (as suggested in NHGOA*) and maybe suggested the downplay of such, since it was pretty obvious in the first place, and what was the point of ramming it down the listener's throat... No poetic subtlety in that!

*No One Here Gets Out Alive

Ray Manzarek at Róisín Dubh, Galway, Ireland, 1999

Autograph from Ray Manzarek on back of Wierd Scenes Inside The Gold Mine cassette inlay cover/card, obtained at a gig in 1999 in the Roisin Dubh in Galway, Ireland. Dorothy, his good lady wife, was seated beside him at the bar.

The Ballad of Tindersticks, by Tindersticks, 1997

Lyrics from The Ballad of Tindersticks, by Tindersticks, 1997, from the album "Curtains"...

Up to Sunset 
We creep up the drive to the Chateau
The suite Belushi died in ...
Or the one Morrison hung out of the window
Oh, I’ll go for Jim’s
I would fancy a little window-hanging myself, tonight, man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GVNrn6JPTQ&feature=related 

Films and filming, June, 1970, Costa-Gavras Interviewed

As noted in an earlier post about the film 'Z', this may or may not be (some like Courson herself stated it was Pursued with Robert Mitchum) the last film Jim Morrison (and possibly Courson) saw before his death in July, 1971. It would seem that it may have been a film Morrison would be interested in, since a subject matter concerning political assassination sat well with Morrison's take on contemporary society, when it came to writing his poetry/song lyrics (especially when comments on the topic of assassination by Morrison have oft been quoted, and also where Morrison in either/or or both of The Lords/The New Creatures poetry collections deals specifically but minimally with the subject of political assassinations...). Remember that Morrison during his late teens/early twenties lived through a period of intense political, social, religious and economic upheaval in the USA. Assassination, arrest, and an apocalyptic mood was the main order of the day.

DAVID BOWIE BLACK BOOK by Miles & Chris Charlesworth (Bowie Connection #2)

Bowie connection #2:

According to this Bowie biography from 1988, Bowie had compared the lighting and Brechtian atmosphere of the Station to Station tour set of 1976 to the staging of a Doors concert:

The set was very simply lit with pure white light designed by our tour manager Eric Barrett. 'It's more theatrical than 'Diamond Dogs' ever was. It's by suggestion rather than over-propping. It relies on 20th century theatre concepts of lighting and I think it comes over as being very theatrical. Whether the audiences are aware of it I don't know.'

'I wanted to use a new kind of staging and I think this staging will become one of the most important ever. It will affect every kind of rock and roll act from now on because it's the most stabilised move that I've seen in rock and roll. I've reverted to pure Brechtian theatre and I've never seen Brechtian theatre used like this since Morrison and The Doors and even then Morrison never used white light like I do. [my emphasis]'

WHAT AN UGLY, BEAUTIFUL WORLD Edited by Harold Myra

Young American Christians from 1972 espouse their (religiously inclined) positions on everything from "The Black Crisis" to drugs and war. I was specifically interested on the opinions concerning music of the period. Here are some priceless comments on Jim Morrison/The Doors:

Dean: Do you feel that the singer's personal philosophy shows up in the songs he writes?

Everyone: Oh yes, definitely.

John C.: Jim Morrison of The Doors epitomized this. "The only thing worth doing is  having physical sex." But even that didn't solve anything. It just passed the time.

[...]

Harold: In a Life magazine article several years ago, a reporter followed Jim Morrison for a while, and his story constantly used words like "satanic" and "evil" to describe him. The writer said some audiences responded to this thing and some didn't. The Doors represented a total abandonment to "evil". Perhaps we can't accurately judge what is satanic and what isn't, but I'm sure that many adults would say that all rock music is demon-controlled. What is your reaction?

Vassilis Vassilikos - Z

Morrison apparently saw the film version of the novel 'Z' (1969) - essentially about a political assassination - during his last few days in Paris... As memory serves me, Courson stated that herself and Morrison had seen Pursued starring Robert Mitchum the day before he died... 'Z' is a interesting reference as its screenwriter, Jorge Semprun, had previously written the screenplay for the Alain Resnais (a close friend of Morrison's in Paris, and one of the last people to see him alive) film The War is Over (1966). One can only assume that Resnais had recommended 'Z' to Morrison (as another friend in Paris - Alan Ronay - had apparently recommended Pursued). Officially released in 1968, a song with the same title The War Is Over, originally sung by Phil Ochs at an anti-Vietnam war rally in L.A. in 1967 inspired by a declaration by Allen Ginsberg in 1966 that the Vietnam war was over, brings to mind the mantra (of sorts) of The Doors track The Unknown Soldier (Morrison having at least met Ginsberg (Probably through Beat poet Michael McClure)): And, it's all over... The war is over...

The Doors - Five To One

I recently added a paragraph entry ( 2nd paragraph of the 1st section: Origin) to the Wikipedia entry on The Doors song "Five to One"...

[... when asked, Jim Morrison said the lyrics were not political.]

This would seem quite likely, at least for part of the song ("Your ballroom days are over baby/Night is drawing near/Shadows of the evening/crawl across the years"), which is patently lifted from the c19th hymn/al and bedtime rhyme Now the Day is Over ("Now the day is over,/Night is drawing nigh,/Shadows of the evening/Steal across the sky") for whatever reason of Morrison's. ^[1]

Similarly, Morrison quoted the Christian Child's Prayer ^[2] in a live version of Soul Kitchen sung in 1969 ^[3] and also altered the children's rhyme "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over The candlestick" ^[4] to suit part of his poem An American Prayer ^[5] ("Words dissemble/Words be quick/Words resemble walking sticks"). ^[6] Lastly, Morrison was quite possibly referring to a Dylan Thomas story entitled The Fight in Thomas' Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog ^[7], where the central character reads from a poem called Warp ( " [...] Five into one, the one made of five into one, early/Suns distorted too late."). In this instance, the "five" are described by Thomas as "tears", "suns", and "inscrutable spears in the head".






Also of note, is the inclusion of the Gospel-influenced song People Get Ready (originally sung by The Temptations in 1965 and written by Curtis - Lee - Mayfield) in The Doors live sets at the Aquarius Theatre in 1969:

People get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear diesels humming
You don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord
Yeah yeah yeah

Although the film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) was not released until at least a year after Five To One, the line "Your ballroom days are over, baby" could also refer to the depression-era novel of the same name by Horace McCoy from the 1930s, which is essentially about the assisted suicide of a female dance marathon contestant named Gloria, by her male dance partner, both of whom are taking part in a competition in La Monica Ballroom (a real ballroom) right next to the Pacific Ocean on the Santa Monica Pier, near L.A. (The Doors office was of course situated on Santa Monica Boulevard) The novel was a favourite amongst French existentialists in post WWII France. The soundtrack of the movie featured Brother, Can you spare a dime? a typical song of the actual period, recalling another line from Five To One: "Trade in your hours for a handful of dimes".

Guy Peellaert / Nik Cohn - Rock Dreams (Bowie Connection #1)

"Jim Morrison. At first Jim Morrison seemed no more than a marvellous boy in black leathers, made up by two queers on the phone. Later on, however, he emerged as something altogether more solemn. Not just a truck-stop rocker, nor even a golden stud, but a poet and a thinker, stuff full of profundities. Forthwith he embarked, like a Rock 'n' Roll Bix Beiderbecke, full speed ahead on the American route to romantic martyrdom." - Nik Cohn

 

 Bowie Connection #1: Guy Peellaert, who did the artwork for Rock Dreams, also did the Diamond Dogs album artwork for Bowie... In fact, Peelleart uses a motif similar to the above painting for the back cover.

les Inrocks 2 50 ANS DE ROCK VOL.4 LES ANNÉES 60 - Interview - February 1989

Richard Farina - Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To me

Novel that became the inspiration for the title and some lyrics of the track "Been Down So Long" from the album L.A. Woman.

J.G. Frazer - The Golden Bough

From the contents of which Morrison lifted the lines "Not to touch the earth, not to see the sun" for The Celebration of The Lizard... essentially an early c20th armchair interpretation of actual anthropological studies of 'primitive' cultures... much of which is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Published originally in many large volumes, this is a copy of the single abridged edition.

Irving Stone - Sailor On Horseback

A copy of which Morrison is apparently holding in a photo from the book Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison, suggesting that Morrison had an interest in Jack London's writings...

The title alone is worth the price of admission...

Nietzsche - The Overman

"Behold, I teach you the overman. The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go.

from Thus Spake Zarathustra: First Part


What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences and dragged her down.

from When The Music's Over by The Doors

Nietzsche - God is Dead

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers of all murderers, comfort ourselves? What was holiest and most powerful of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? [my emphasis] Is not the greatness of this deed too much for us?

For, believe me, the secret of the great fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment of existence is: to live dangerously!

from The Gay Science

Nietzsche - Shedding one's skin

Shedding one's skin. The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes. So do the spirits who are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be spirit.

from The Dawn

Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger - July, 2010, in Dublin, Ireland

The recent Ray and Robby (with orchestra) Dublin concert wasn't up to scratch vocally (could be cruel here but I won't) or audio-wise... could barely hear the orchestra most of the time... Ray and Robby were excellent however... overall though I was terribly disappointed (but at least I didn't pay for the ticket and at €66.50, it wasn't worth it)... and really we need Densmore on drums... and finally, let's face it... it wasn't/isn't The Doors... anyone expecting that is fooling themselves...