Post by darkstar on Jan 25, 2005 11:56:49 GMT
John Tobler (Zig Zag Magazine) Interviews Jim Morrison
Isle Of Wight Festival
August 30 1970
John: I've discovered a book on sale at this festival called The Doors Song Book, which appears to be a pirated version of all the words off all the albums, including the new one. What do you reckon
about that?
Jim: Well, I don't mind if they've got all the words spelled right. A lot of time they really screw up the meaning, just one word or one
semi-colon can ruin the whole thing.
John: Do you approve of having the lyrics on the back of your album or on the inside sleeve, because in England, two of them have had the lyrics and three haven't. Do you think it makes a difference? We didn't have the words to the `Unknown Solider' for instance.
Jim: Yeah, they really got botched up. I don't think it matters. I don't think it's necessary but….
John: You don't mind that somebody's making some bread out of your words?
Jim: No, what harm could it do?
John: Is this the first festival of this sort you've played?
Jim: Yes, it is.
John: How do you find it? I mean the chaos and the devastation and he you know, it's ok in here, but have you been outside?
Jim: Well, it's kind of hard walking around out there. I did get round back around the camp sites a little bit, but this one seems to be pretty well organized for such a huge event. I didn't have such a good time last night, because I had to perform, and I'd just gotten
off the plane. But tonight, I came back, and I can see why people like it. I think all they're wrong. I think they're going to become increasing significant in the next three or four or five years.
John: When I talked to some cats who came back from Woodstock, like Clive Selwood (London's Elektra representative), he said it was terrible. You know, the sheer inability to cope with the multitudes, and now they're made the film, and everyone's saying
`Woe! Beautiful revolution.'
Jim: I'm sure that these things get highly romanticized but I was a kind of that opinion myself when I saw the film. It seemed like a bunch of young parasites, being kind of spoonfed these three or fours days of….well you know what I mean. They looked like victims and
dupes of a culture, rather than anything, but I think that may have been sour grapes, because I wasn't there, not even as a spectator, so I think that even though they are a mess, and even though they are
not what they pretend to be, some free celebration of a young culture, it's still better than nothing. And I'm sure that some of the people take away a kind of myth back to the city with them, and
it'll affect them.
John: I take it that you don't believe in this sudden, miraculous revolution that's being spoken about as if we're all going to go back to London and take over.
Jim: That would be unreal to me. I don't want to say too much because I haven't studied politics that much, really. It just seems that you have to be in a constant state of revolution, or you're dead. There always has to be a revolution, it has to be a constant thing, not
something that's going to change things, and that's it. You know, the revolution's going to solve everything. It has to be every day.
John: I figure that you've got to convince people gradually to change, not to say, `Pow, we're coming in!' like the Black Panthers.
Jim: There have to be Black Panthers too. They have to change too, to become leopards some day, right?
John: You played mostly tracks off your first two albums last night. Why was that, because you thought we'd know them better?
Jim: No, we knew them better.
John: You don't do many gigs at that rate then?
Jim: Yeah, we do, but never anything like this. I don't think that our particular music style holds up very well in a huge outdoor event. I think that the particular kind of magic that we can breed when we do, when it works, works best in a small theatre.
John: Like the last time you came to England?
Jim: Yeah, that was beautiful, I think.
John: Yeah, right, I saw the last set; you know, when the dawn was breaking on Saturday, and it was incredible.
Jim: I think that was one of the best concerts we've ever done.
John: I was talking to the guy this morning who made the film, and I said –<br>
Jim: Which one?
John: Geoffrey Canon – he's a writer for The Guardian –<br>and he said that they were trying to put over the immediacy of rock, rather than the Doors, and I said well, I think you should have been trying to
put over the Doors, because the sound recording was really shitty,
you know.
Jim: However, I thought the film was very exciting. To get it on national television, I think that's incredible. The thing is, the guys that made the film had a thesis of what their film was going to be , before we even came over. We were going to be the political rock
group, and it have them the chance to whip out some of their anti-merican sentiments, which they thought we were going to give them, and so they had their whole film before we came over. But I still think they made a very exciting film.
John: You know, when you were at the Roundhouse, there was something… It was amazing, all those people sitting there. It was so crowded it was much worse than this, because it was an enclosed space, and there
was a queue of two thousand people waiting to get in at two o'clock in the morning. A ridiculous scene. Why haven't you been here since then?
Jim: I guess we've been too busy, and actually, there didn't seem to be that much demand. I mean, we couldn't go back to the Roundhouse;
it would have to be a step forward, and there didn't seem to be any real, uh…<br>
John: No. Well the Roundhouse is no longer an auditorium in the same way.
Jim: Oh, Calcutta's on there, right?
John: Right.
Jim: That seems strange.
John: They put sort of a terraced seating in not long after you came.
Jim: Well, that was a beautiful scene two years ago, at the Roundhouse where it's kind of a penny theatre, you know.
John: Right…It's the kind of thing one remembers for years and years, which is why I'd have expected an earlier return.
Jim: That's the reason. We were busy, and also there just didn't seem to be any real demand for it. What's the name of the magazine you
guys put out?
John: Zig Zag
Jim: I've seen it. I'd like to start a magazine, newspaper
thing in L.A. sometime. The trouble is, if you try and do it to sell copies, and get the advertising and all that, then you can't uh…….
John: Well, you certainly lose a lot of your enthusiasm when you start getting involved in business hustles. Anyway, wouldn't L.A. be rather a difficult market, with so many publications?
Jim: Well, that's it. I would only do it if I could finance it
myself, so I wouldn't have to advertise. You know those little magazines, one issue things, the Surrealists and Dadaists used to put out? Manifestos, and all that?
John: Yeah, right.
Jim: Hey look. An actual movie (As Jimi Hendrix is filmed going up the backstage ramp followed by a man struggling with an enormous camera.) Hey that's beautiful. Looks like a priest.
John: Do you think in view of what you've done that you will do a tour now?
Jim: Well, we had planned one….we had planned to do it after this, eight or nine places in Europe, including Italy and Switzerland and Paris, places like that, but I have to go back to this trial in Miami. I'm in the middle of that, so it blew the whole trip.
John: That is such a drag, as far as we here are concerned.
Jim: I thought it was going to be, but it's actually a very
fascinating thing to go through. A thing that you can observe.
John: I talked to Jac Holzman (of Elektra), and he said that it was going on so long now that perhaps nothing would ever be done about it, because it would go to appeals and appeals and appeals, but the trouble is if it keeps you in a position where you can't get out
of he country for too long, it's a drag for us here.
Jim: I think maybe we'll come back next Spring, March, April. That's a good time of year.
John: That would be good. Are you happy with the live album?
Jim: Yeah, I like it.
John: We haven't heard it yet.
Jim: It's just about to be released here. I think it's a true
document of one of our good concerts. It's not insanely good, but it's a true portrait of what we usually do on a good night. I think you'll like it.
John: Well I've really dug all the others. I heard that your favorite album was The Soft Parade. Is that right?
Jim: Oh, I don't know. I guess I don't have a favorite. Well, let's see. I think my favorite, besides the live one, is Morrison Hotel.
John: That's very good. That was getting back to the first two, perhaps, it seemed to me. Was that……….
Jim: Just in respect that we didn't use any other musicians on it, except a bass player.
John: Lonnie Mack –<br>
Jim: But it wasn't a conscious attempt to get back to anything.
Isle Of Wight Festival
August 30 1970
John: I've discovered a book on sale at this festival called The Doors Song Book, which appears to be a pirated version of all the words off all the albums, including the new one. What do you reckon
about that?
Jim: Well, I don't mind if they've got all the words spelled right. A lot of time they really screw up the meaning, just one word or one
semi-colon can ruin the whole thing.
John: Do you approve of having the lyrics on the back of your album or on the inside sleeve, because in England, two of them have had the lyrics and three haven't. Do you think it makes a difference? We didn't have the words to the `Unknown Solider' for instance.
Jim: Yeah, they really got botched up. I don't think it matters. I don't think it's necessary but….
John: You don't mind that somebody's making some bread out of your words?
Jim: No, what harm could it do?
John: Is this the first festival of this sort you've played?
Jim: Yes, it is.
John: How do you find it? I mean the chaos and the devastation and he you know, it's ok in here, but have you been outside?
Jim: Well, it's kind of hard walking around out there. I did get round back around the camp sites a little bit, but this one seems to be pretty well organized for such a huge event. I didn't have such a good time last night, because I had to perform, and I'd just gotten
off the plane. But tonight, I came back, and I can see why people like it. I think all they're wrong. I think they're going to become increasing significant in the next three or four or five years.
John: When I talked to some cats who came back from Woodstock, like Clive Selwood (London's Elektra representative), he said it was terrible. You know, the sheer inability to cope with the multitudes, and now they're made the film, and everyone's saying
`Woe! Beautiful revolution.'
Jim: I'm sure that these things get highly romanticized but I was a kind of that opinion myself when I saw the film. It seemed like a bunch of young parasites, being kind of spoonfed these three or fours days of….well you know what I mean. They looked like victims and
dupes of a culture, rather than anything, but I think that may have been sour grapes, because I wasn't there, not even as a spectator, so I think that even though they are a mess, and even though they are
not what they pretend to be, some free celebration of a young culture, it's still better than nothing. And I'm sure that some of the people take away a kind of myth back to the city with them, and
it'll affect them.
John: I take it that you don't believe in this sudden, miraculous revolution that's being spoken about as if we're all going to go back to London and take over.
Jim: That would be unreal to me. I don't want to say too much because I haven't studied politics that much, really. It just seems that you have to be in a constant state of revolution, or you're dead. There always has to be a revolution, it has to be a constant thing, not
something that's going to change things, and that's it. You know, the revolution's going to solve everything. It has to be every day.
John: I figure that you've got to convince people gradually to change, not to say, `Pow, we're coming in!' like the Black Panthers.
Jim: There have to be Black Panthers too. They have to change too, to become leopards some day, right?
John: You played mostly tracks off your first two albums last night. Why was that, because you thought we'd know them better?
Jim: No, we knew them better.
John: You don't do many gigs at that rate then?
Jim: Yeah, we do, but never anything like this. I don't think that our particular music style holds up very well in a huge outdoor event. I think that the particular kind of magic that we can breed when we do, when it works, works best in a small theatre.
John: Like the last time you came to England?
Jim: Yeah, that was beautiful, I think.
John: Yeah, right, I saw the last set; you know, when the dawn was breaking on Saturday, and it was incredible.
Jim: I think that was one of the best concerts we've ever done.
John: I was talking to the guy this morning who made the film, and I said –<br>
Jim: Which one?
John: Geoffrey Canon – he's a writer for The Guardian –<br>and he said that they were trying to put over the immediacy of rock, rather than the Doors, and I said well, I think you should have been trying to
put over the Doors, because the sound recording was really shitty,
you know.
Jim: However, I thought the film was very exciting. To get it on national television, I think that's incredible. The thing is, the guys that made the film had a thesis of what their film was going to be , before we even came over. We were going to be the political rock
group, and it have them the chance to whip out some of their anti-merican sentiments, which they thought we were going to give them, and so they had their whole film before we came over. But I still think they made a very exciting film.
John: You know, when you were at the Roundhouse, there was something… It was amazing, all those people sitting there. It was so crowded it was much worse than this, because it was an enclosed space, and there
was a queue of two thousand people waiting to get in at two o'clock in the morning. A ridiculous scene. Why haven't you been here since then?
Jim: I guess we've been too busy, and actually, there didn't seem to be that much demand. I mean, we couldn't go back to the Roundhouse;
it would have to be a step forward, and there didn't seem to be any real, uh…<br>
John: No. Well the Roundhouse is no longer an auditorium in the same way.
Jim: Oh, Calcutta's on there, right?
John: Right.
Jim: That seems strange.
John: They put sort of a terraced seating in not long after you came.
Jim: Well, that was a beautiful scene two years ago, at the Roundhouse where it's kind of a penny theatre, you know.
John: Right…It's the kind of thing one remembers for years and years, which is why I'd have expected an earlier return.
Jim: That's the reason. We were busy, and also there just didn't seem to be any real demand for it. What's the name of the magazine you
guys put out?
John: Zig Zag
Jim: I've seen it. I'd like to start a magazine, newspaper
thing in L.A. sometime. The trouble is, if you try and do it to sell copies, and get the advertising and all that, then you can't uh…….
John: Well, you certainly lose a lot of your enthusiasm when you start getting involved in business hustles. Anyway, wouldn't L.A. be rather a difficult market, with so many publications?
Jim: Well, that's it. I would only do it if I could finance it
myself, so I wouldn't have to advertise. You know those little magazines, one issue things, the Surrealists and Dadaists used to put out? Manifestos, and all that?
John: Yeah, right.
Jim: Hey look. An actual movie (As Jimi Hendrix is filmed going up the backstage ramp followed by a man struggling with an enormous camera.) Hey that's beautiful. Looks like a priest.
John: Do you think in view of what you've done that you will do a tour now?
Jim: Well, we had planned one….we had planned to do it after this, eight or nine places in Europe, including Italy and Switzerland and Paris, places like that, but I have to go back to this trial in Miami. I'm in the middle of that, so it blew the whole trip.
John: That is such a drag, as far as we here are concerned.
Jim: I thought it was going to be, but it's actually a very
fascinating thing to go through. A thing that you can observe.
John: I talked to Jac Holzman (of Elektra), and he said that it was going on so long now that perhaps nothing would ever be done about it, because it would go to appeals and appeals and appeals, but the trouble is if it keeps you in a position where you can't get out
of he country for too long, it's a drag for us here.
Jim: I think maybe we'll come back next Spring, March, April. That's a good time of year.
John: That would be good. Are you happy with the live album?
Jim: Yeah, I like it.
John: We haven't heard it yet.
Jim: It's just about to be released here. I think it's a true
document of one of our good concerts. It's not insanely good, but it's a true portrait of what we usually do on a good night. I think you'll like it.
John: Well I've really dug all the others. I heard that your favorite album was The Soft Parade. Is that right?
Jim: Oh, I don't know. I guess I don't have a favorite. Well, let's see. I think my favorite, besides the live one, is Morrison Hotel.
John: That's very good. That was getting back to the first two, perhaps, it seemed to me. Was that……….
Jim: Just in respect that we didn't use any other musicians on it, except a bass player.
John: Lonnie Mack –<br>
Jim: But it wasn't a conscious attempt to get back to anything.
Stoned Immaculate is daft as the answers Jim gives are to questions we don't hear which OziT cleared up by putting the questions on for the Ultimate Spoken Word CD which made more sense.....