Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jun 21, 2011 14:33:42 GMT
The Doors: "I Looked Into Her Eyes And Pretty Much Felt That Jim Was Dead"
FOR SOME YEARS now, I've had this big problem. One which often leads to incredulity in those to whom I explain it. It concerns my number one Sixties Hero, Jim Morrison. The thing is, I don't think he's dead. My evidence is as watertight as a string bag, but I still don't believe it.
For a kick off, Jim Morrison wouldn't have died in his bath. I'm sure he wouldn't have been a frequent bather anyway – it weakens you, you know. It's like washing your hair and cleaning your teeth, which, if performed too often, will result in, respectively, baldness and fillings. (So that's where I went wrong! – Ed). I, of course, have a good deal of hair and very few of the latter, so that's one of my secrets out of the window. But, returning to the point, a heart attack in a bath seems a MOST unlikely exit for someone of Morrison's calibre. If the rock'n'roll reaper had chosen to dispose of the man, he'd have chosen a method showing FAR more panache and invention. I mean, how insulting can you get? A bath, indeed.
Anyway....down to business. Recently I ran into John Densmore – former drummer, as I'm sure you're aware, for The Doors (and a better one than anyone else I can think of, actually; really sympathetic to everything being played around him, and never showing a trace of ego tripping). He was subsequently in The Butts Band, but the less said about them the better.
John was staying at trendy Blake's Hotel, in the trendy Gloucester Road area, and though there was a conspicuous lack of rock stars puking or loitering in the foyer, the muzak filling the hall at the time of our meeting happened, by a weird and strangely appropriate quirk, to be Jose Feliciano murdering 'Light My Fire' – one of The Doors' masterpieces. I expressed my belief that Feliciano removed all trace of fire from the song, and left the listener with the image of some dim and unattractive chick bent over his fireplace with a box of Swan Vestas. Morrison, on the other hand, was being driven to the point of explosion by a most succulent chick who had obviously just consumed about fifteen gallons of Spanish Fly, and was now about to consume the singer. Densmore didn't agree...he saw nothing peculiar in Feliclano's effort – though I wouldn't be surprised if his judgement was taking into account the vast songwriters' royalties that such popular cover versions bring rolling in, (Though Robby Krieger actually wrote the song, royalties were always divided equally in those early Doors days).
Densmore was here on holiday – presumably to get some drizzle on his sun tan – but he was happy to fill me in on the new Jim Morrison album, particularly as he'd heard there were some bad vibes floating around.
"It's certainly not a case of a record company exploiting a dead artiste....the idea sprang from us – Robby, Ray (Manzarek) and me. You see, Jim often spoke of putting together a poetry album, and he even went as far as recording some of his poems....just him reciting. Obviously, he was never able to finish it, so we thought we'd finish it for him – in a way that he'd have approved of. It's not a question of re-packaging rejected tracks and the odd hit; this will be a worthy project".
"Jim taped several poems and stories, with John Haeny engineering, on 16 track – and we're going to write new music under the poems, plus a little bit of old stuff to tie it together. He tells some real nice stories; he just rapped about various things he'd done, like making his film and touring around – so it's going to have a real interesting autobiographical theme. He talks about the different stages of his life; his childhood, his teenage years, his life as a young man in the public eye, and in the last part there's going to be some live stuff.
"We've got hold of various interviews, from journalists and his friends, and we're looking around for any more that might exist....so if you know of anybody, please put them in touch as soon as you can, because we want to get it out around Christmas".
Well, if any of you squirrels out there have got Jim Morrison talking on tape, and would like your stuff considered for inclusion on this album, please send it to me, c/o Zigzag, and I'll send it on....but do it as quickly as possible because there isn't too much time to play with. There's a good chance the album will also include material recorded for Absolutely Live – dynamite stuff which they had to leave off the album purely on the grounds of running time – and that alone ought to be worth the price. Selections from Jim's poetry book, The Lords And The New Creatures (published in America by Simon & Schuster, if you're interested) will also be featured.
Inevitably, the conversation steered towards speculation over Morrison's death. I don't know how many of you possess issue 54 of this journal, but a fellow called Dominic Boone wrote a short piece about visiting Jim's alleged grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetary in Paris, and as well as noting the unending stream of visitors and the amount of graffiti on the headstone, he mentioned that if someone didn't pay a renewal on the lease of the plot pretty soon, the coffin would be disinterred and put in a collective paupers' grave. That, apparently, is the way they do things in France. I asked John if he was aware of this. "Well, er, yes....I know a little. On the front of the entertainment section of The L.A. Calendar a while ago, there was a photograph of the grave and a story about what was going on over there, and they showed pictures of kids writing on the stone and playing folk guitars all around the spot where he's buried, and the outcome was that we (Robby, Ray and I) gave some money to have the grave taken care of. It was quite a considerable sum, and should have been enough to make sure that the body is left where it is, but somebody made off with it. I don't want to say who, one of his close relatives or whatever, but that's the story on the grave. We tried, you know".
Last time I spoke to Densmore, some years ago, he was certain that Morrison was actually dead. 100% sure. I asked him if he still felt the same. After a long pause he told me he was only 99% sure now!
ZZ: Nobody you ever met actually saw the body, did they?
JD: Well, Pamela (Morrison's common law wife) saw it, but she is also dead, of course.
ZZ: Yes, that was strange, wasn't it?
JD: Not strange, pathetic! I saw Pamela afterwards, a few months later, and I looked into her eyes, and I pretty much felt that Jim was dead. On the other hand, he's just about the only person I've met in my whole life who was wild enough to pull a fast one like that......it's fun talking about it, but he was wild enough to go to the Greek Islands and not tell anybody.
At this point, Densmore changed the subject – perhaps because he thinks I'm a looney, or maybe because he knows more than he is willing to admit. I wasn't about to press him further, and I reckon it'll just be down to waiting for the album to see if there are any clues there. Whether or not you believe that Morrison might still be alive, I trust you have no doubts at all about the fact that he and the Doors were among the greatest rock'n'roll figures there have ever been. If you don't have any Doors albums in your record pile, go straight to the nearest record shop and buy one! OK?
John Tobler, ZigZag, July 1977
FOR SOME YEARS now, I've had this big problem. One which often leads to incredulity in those to whom I explain it. It concerns my number one Sixties Hero, Jim Morrison. The thing is, I don't think he's dead. My evidence is as watertight as a string bag, but I still don't believe it.
For a kick off, Jim Morrison wouldn't have died in his bath. I'm sure he wouldn't have been a frequent bather anyway – it weakens you, you know. It's like washing your hair and cleaning your teeth, which, if performed too often, will result in, respectively, baldness and fillings. (So that's where I went wrong! – Ed). I, of course, have a good deal of hair and very few of the latter, so that's one of my secrets out of the window. But, returning to the point, a heart attack in a bath seems a MOST unlikely exit for someone of Morrison's calibre. If the rock'n'roll reaper had chosen to dispose of the man, he'd have chosen a method showing FAR more panache and invention. I mean, how insulting can you get? A bath, indeed.
Anyway....down to business. Recently I ran into John Densmore – former drummer, as I'm sure you're aware, for The Doors (and a better one than anyone else I can think of, actually; really sympathetic to everything being played around him, and never showing a trace of ego tripping). He was subsequently in The Butts Band, but the less said about them the better.
John was staying at trendy Blake's Hotel, in the trendy Gloucester Road area, and though there was a conspicuous lack of rock stars puking or loitering in the foyer, the muzak filling the hall at the time of our meeting happened, by a weird and strangely appropriate quirk, to be Jose Feliciano murdering 'Light My Fire' – one of The Doors' masterpieces. I expressed my belief that Feliciano removed all trace of fire from the song, and left the listener with the image of some dim and unattractive chick bent over his fireplace with a box of Swan Vestas. Morrison, on the other hand, was being driven to the point of explosion by a most succulent chick who had obviously just consumed about fifteen gallons of Spanish Fly, and was now about to consume the singer. Densmore didn't agree...he saw nothing peculiar in Feliclano's effort – though I wouldn't be surprised if his judgement was taking into account the vast songwriters' royalties that such popular cover versions bring rolling in, (Though Robby Krieger actually wrote the song, royalties were always divided equally in those early Doors days).
Densmore was here on holiday – presumably to get some drizzle on his sun tan – but he was happy to fill me in on the new Jim Morrison album, particularly as he'd heard there were some bad vibes floating around.
"It's certainly not a case of a record company exploiting a dead artiste....the idea sprang from us – Robby, Ray (Manzarek) and me. You see, Jim often spoke of putting together a poetry album, and he even went as far as recording some of his poems....just him reciting. Obviously, he was never able to finish it, so we thought we'd finish it for him – in a way that he'd have approved of. It's not a question of re-packaging rejected tracks and the odd hit; this will be a worthy project".
"Jim taped several poems and stories, with John Haeny engineering, on 16 track – and we're going to write new music under the poems, plus a little bit of old stuff to tie it together. He tells some real nice stories; he just rapped about various things he'd done, like making his film and touring around – so it's going to have a real interesting autobiographical theme. He talks about the different stages of his life; his childhood, his teenage years, his life as a young man in the public eye, and in the last part there's going to be some live stuff.
"We've got hold of various interviews, from journalists and his friends, and we're looking around for any more that might exist....so if you know of anybody, please put them in touch as soon as you can, because we want to get it out around Christmas".
Well, if any of you squirrels out there have got Jim Morrison talking on tape, and would like your stuff considered for inclusion on this album, please send it to me, c/o Zigzag, and I'll send it on....but do it as quickly as possible because there isn't too much time to play with. There's a good chance the album will also include material recorded for Absolutely Live – dynamite stuff which they had to leave off the album purely on the grounds of running time – and that alone ought to be worth the price. Selections from Jim's poetry book, The Lords And The New Creatures (published in America by Simon & Schuster, if you're interested) will also be featured.
Inevitably, the conversation steered towards speculation over Morrison's death. I don't know how many of you possess issue 54 of this journal, but a fellow called Dominic Boone wrote a short piece about visiting Jim's alleged grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetary in Paris, and as well as noting the unending stream of visitors and the amount of graffiti on the headstone, he mentioned that if someone didn't pay a renewal on the lease of the plot pretty soon, the coffin would be disinterred and put in a collective paupers' grave. That, apparently, is the way they do things in France. I asked John if he was aware of this. "Well, er, yes....I know a little. On the front of the entertainment section of The L.A. Calendar a while ago, there was a photograph of the grave and a story about what was going on over there, and they showed pictures of kids writing on the stone and playing folk guitars all around the spot where he's buried, and the outcome was that we (Robby, Ray and I) gave some money to have the grave taken care of. It was quite a considerable sum, and should have been enough to make sure that the body is left where it is, but somebody made off with it. I don't want to say who, one of his close relatives or whatever, but that's the story on the grave. We tried, you know".
Last time I spoke to Densmore, some years ago, he was certain that Morrison was actually dead. 100% sure. I asked him if he still felt the same. After a long pause he told me he was only 99% sure now!
ZZ: Nobody you ever met actually saw the body, did they?
JD: Well, Pamela (Morrison's common law wife) saw it, but she is also dead, of course.
ZZ: Yes, that was strange, wasn't it?
JD: Not strange, pathetic! I saw Pamela afterwards, a few months later, and I looked into her eyes, and I pretty much felt that Jim was dead. On the other hand, he's just about the only person I've met in my whole life who was wild enough to pull a fast one like that......it's fun talking about it, but he was wild enough to go to the Greek Islands and not tell anybody.
At this point, Densmore changed the subject – perhaps because he thinks I'm a looney, or maybe because he knows more than he is willing to admit. I wasn't about to press him further, and I reckon it'll just be down to waiting for the album to see if there are any clues there. Whether or not you believe that Morrison might still be alive, I trust you have no doubts at all about the fact that he and the Doors were among the greatest rock'n'roll figures there have ever been. If you don't have any Doors albums in your record pile, go straight to the nearest record shop and buy one! OK?
John Tobler, ZigZag, July 1977