MORRISON and his SOFT ASYLUM/SWEET ALYSSUM

Looking for a different angle on Morrison/Doors material is always quite difficult, but when playing around with certain phrases from Morrison's lyrics, especially his phrase "Soft Asylum" from the title track of the album The Soft Parade, one sometimes finds a gem.

The phrase does not sound unlike the flower commonly known as "Sweet Alyssum" (could it possibly be a play on words?), which according to Pam Pierce's 'Widely Successful plants for Northern California' - thrives in that particular area: http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.ie/2006/06/sweet-alyssum.html 

Looking at the website Witchipedia.com (http://www.witchipedia.com/herb:alyssum), Alyssum has magical attributes such as a scent which promotes spiritual and emotional wellbeing, and can calm down an angry or "mad" person (Alyssum (also pronounced Alison) means "without madness" ). 

Although the picture below of Morrison by Lisciandro may not depict him wearing a crown of Alyssum (a flower often associated with the Virgin Mary

and reminding one of Ophelia's donning of a crown of flowers in Hamlet when madness grips her) as there are other coloured flowers among the arrangement, it seems quite coincidental that there are quite a few depictions of statue busts wearing a cluster or "crown" of Alyssum across the internet.

I'm a resident of the city/They've just picked me to play/The Prince of Denmark

Poor Ophelia

Ophelia

Leaves, sodden

in silk

Chlorine

Dream

Mad stifled

Witness

My feathered son flew

too near the sun

Of course in the context of the word Asylum, we should be looking at meanings such as refuge, a place which is "without right of seizure". where we  can think of Morrison seeking political asylum in the aftermath of the Miami incident. After Miami, we could also think of Morrison's travelling to Paris in 1970-1971, as a sort of protection under French (extradition) law, after leaving his home country as a political/cultural refugee of sorts.

If indeed "Soft Asylum" is a play on "Sweet Alyssum", it would not be the only flower reference in The Doors canon. For instance the original demo for Hyacinth House, as memory serves, is from 1968 (recorded in Krieger's home of the time, which happened to have Hyacinths growing there). It has been suggested by Jerry Hopkins/Danny Sugarman et al that the title is a reference to the cult of Hyacinthus, a Spartan Hero, lover to the God Apollo (cue a gay subtext!) who having been hit by a discus thrown by Apollo, and perhaps thrown off course by the jealous west wind Zephyrus, has a flower grown from his spilled blood by Apollo called the Hyacinth.

In terms of other Greek mythology, a somewhat oblique reference to the Greek hero Ajax, in the phrase "Stronger than dirt" a slogan used by the company Ajax is used/sung at the end of the track "Touch Me" - another track from The Soft Parade. Interestingly, like the myth of Hyacinthus, Sophocles' depicts Ajax's death in his play Ajax as involving the growth of a flower from his spilled blood.

CLASSIC ROCK - L.A. Woman and The Last Days of Jim Morrison

https://www.loudersound.com/features/l-a-woman-and-the-last-days-of-jim-morrison

AN AMERICAN DREAM by Norman Mailer

An Anonymous Amazon review of Mailer's book which is interesting if only for Doors/Morrison admirers...

• A Thriller to the Finish

  I first picked up this book after reading a Jim Morrison biography in which he declared An American Dream & Norman Mailer a major influence. It shows throughout this book. From the first chapter you actually feel yourself & your mind going 110 m.p.h. The book does a wonderful balancing act (if it can be called that) between the linear story & the insane (or not so) things going on in our main character's head. I personally felt a close bond with this book because of recurring dreams i have of being 'sweated down' by the cops at a station somewhere. I honestly couldn't put it down. There's also great underlying telepathy/deja vu themes throughout, & you'll find yourself flipping to earlier chapters to check it out. Possibly my most favorite thriller novel. (Also, for Doors fans, notice the title of the last chapter?...'cobra on my left leopard on my right'...)
• Anonymous
  Posted November 11, 2001

The biography, which "Anonymous" is probably referring to is more than likely The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison by Jerry Hopkins, a collected series of interviews with Morrison. The interview where Morrison is interviewed backstage at the Isle of Wight in 1970 quotes Morrison's interest specifically in American Dream by Mailer. Morrison also mentions Hendrix as he passes by to take the stage for his Isle of Wight set. What the reviewer also doesn't note or reference is that perhaps Mailer's title for this particular novel could have been an inspiration for not only the track lyrics of Not to touch the Earth, but also could have served as inspiration for the An American Prayer... Noted elsewhere has been the participation of Morrison/Krieger at a benefit gig for Mailer's attempt at becoming Mayor in May 30 (31),1969 at the Cinematheque 16, Sunset Boulevard... reading An American Prayer and singing various tunes. Apparently, both Feast of Friends and I, a Man, - the latter a movie that Morrison had said he would take part in originally but backed out of performing in - were screened during the benefit.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/no_more_bullshit_norman_mailer_1969_mayoral_slogan

The cover of my copy of An American Dream: