When The Music's Over

[othercircles]

When the music's over
When the music's over, yeah
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights, yeah

When the music's over
When the music's over
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights

For the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end
Until the end
Until the end

Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside

The face in the mirror won't stop
The girl in the window won't drop
A feast of friends
"Alive!" she cried
Waitin' for me
Outside!

Before I sink
Into the big sleep
I want to hear
I want to hear
The scream of the butterfly

Come back, baby
Back into my arm
We're gettin' tired of hangin' around
Waitin' around with our heads to the ground

I hear a very gentle sound
Very near yet very far
Very soft, yeah, very clear
Come today, come today

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

I hear a very gentle sound
With your ear down to the ground
We want the world and we want it...
We want the world and we want it...
Now
Now?
Now!

Persian night, babe
See the light, babe
Save us!
Jesus!
Save us!

So when the music's over
When the music's over, yeah
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights

Well the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end
Until the end
Until the end!



According to Ray they recorded this without Jim who didnt turn up at the studio that day. Ray did a guide vocal as they played. Then Jim redid the vocals the following day.

Are there any boots of that song with Rays origional vocal? Or is Ray full of BS? I think that'd be pretty cool to hear.

[ensenada]

that would be pretty cool to hear. but going off recent reports on Ray, i wouldnt be surprised if he was full on BS, bless his little cotton socks

[othercircles]

Seems like a pretty major thing to lie about though. Not like... a little comment John may or may not have made. I find it entirely believable that Jim would not show up lol

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Nothing has ever turned up sadly as I think this kinda thing would be incredible to hear......I imagine that a few songs were worked up in the studio this way as Jim was not that reliable.....
It would be awesome if some of this survived but whether we would ever hear it if it did is another matter.....The Doors industry lives off 'Pretty Boy' Jim Morrison so other aspects of the bands history would not be a high priority if they did not include him.....

[ensenada]

true, i would fully expect jim to have not bothered on occasions due to hangover etc

[othercircles]

In rays book he talks about how he got drunk with Jim one night. He couldnt keep up with Jim and went home. The next day he woke up so sick and hungover and it was the afternoon. He went over to the cafe or bar or something to meet the boys and there was Jim gulping down more booze already. lol

[jym]

I've always just assumed they taped over Rays vocals or stripped that track off(?)

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

You never know with these people as they are such liars!

[othercircles]

They used 8 track recording consoles on that album. I don't think its likely Rays vocal would have been erased unless they needed the space. But as it... the session tape could have been arranged something like.

1)keyboard
2)keyboard bass
3)drums
4)rays vocal
5)guitar
6)second guitar (during solo)
7)jims new vocal
8)jims second vocal (we want the world)

A smart engineer like bruce botnick would probably have even used one track for both robbies second guitar and jims second vocal as they are never heard at the same time. Weather Bruce did that or not it still would not have been nessesary to vacate the origional vocal.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

I recall a discussion on this on the LL and someone saying that the Ray vocal might well exist....might have been Jampol I can't remember......
It would be pretty damn cool if this turned up as part of this box set...Ray Manzarek doing WTMO.......lets hope that maybe the rumour might turn out to be true......

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The intro to WTMO comes from the Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man which I heard many times as a kid and was the first thing I thought of when I first heard WTMO.

Mongo Santamaria version of Watermelon Man
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjJaH40rArU&feature=fvw

Jim also used cinema in the song as The Scream Of The Butterfly was a 1965 adult drama which would have been seen at cinema's along Sunset Strip.

[casandra]

This is my favourite song, I think it's wonderful.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Coppola used it in the film Apocalpse Now.
It can be heard in the 5 hour workprint of the movie that exists.
He used it at the end of the film during the village destruction scene. Dennis Jakob is thought to have suggested that the end sequence be moved to the beginning and The End replace WTMO.


"The Doors are basically a blues oriented group with heavy dosages of rock 'n' roll, a moderate sprinkling of jazz, a minute quality of classical influence and some popular elements. But basically a white blues band".
Jim Morrison - 'Rock A Word As Bold As Love'.

Bam Balam magazine, July 1979

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

From 14 Reason's To Love John Densmore
Modern Drummer 2010
Densmore's opening hi-hat foreplay and intro fills alone make this one worth the price of admission. But there's much more to the track. A sort of sequel to The End in the hair raising epic department including one of Krieger's finest solos.
(The effects drenched multitrack masterpiece at 2.54.
WTMO also highlights Densmore's special way with the single stroke roll.
His tight brisk swelling singles can be heard all over The Doors studio and live canon of work but reach a pinnacle of effectiveness here. Especially around 2.32 and 2.45 snare drum and 8.01 floor tom.
This song finds the dynamic drummer at both his loudest and his softest applying equal conviction to every stroke.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Like The End on the first album, the recording of When the Music's Over was a real highlight of the sessions.
Whether the Doors felt obligated, or were even trying to recapture the magic of The End is open to speculation, but there is no question their efforts produced another rock masterpiece of epic proportions.

The song deals with a number of subjects, including the wanton destruction of nature's greatest gift - the earth itself. Perhaps this was the shaman part of Jim attempting to spread the message of love for nature and reverence for the planet.
As with many Doors songs, Jim wrote the lyrics, and both he and Robby contributed melodic ideas, and then the arrangement was worked out by the entire band.
In a similar fashion to The End, the song was developed night after night in the Sunset Strip clubs, as a constantly changing free-form piece.

When the Music's Over embodies much of what the Doors were trying to do, and fittingly, it was the last song recorded for the album. On the afternoon they were to begin recording the track, Jim was nowhere to be found.
After waiting around awhile, the band went ahead and laid the basic tracks, with Ray providing the vocal cues.
The track was done in two takes, and when Jim came into the studio later that evening, he put his vocal down in two takes as well - without missing a single cue.
Break On Through


WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER

The double-tracked lead on When the Music's Over could very well be my favorite solo.
It was definitely the closest I ever got in the Doors to a Coltrane type of thing.
I think we recorded about four or five takes, and we picked the best two [for the final mix].
I do remember that I had a little help from some good cannabis.
I also had some help from this little resistor that [Doors producer] Paul Rothschild kept in his briefcase at all times.
I don't know how it worked, but when he modified my amp with it, the solos would really sing. I wish I had that thing today!

Of course, it was a little bit frustrating trying to duplicate that solo onstage without the resistor but at least I was always able to just freak out and play the weirdest thing I could.
Up until a couple of years ago, I really wasn't a good enough musician to copy that solo.
I'd try, but it was just like, 'What the hell did I do there?'
It took me years of practicing to be able to play my own solo.

Robby Krieger: Guitar Player Magazine 1998

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

For the solo Robby played two guitar solos over one another
"That solo was a real challenge because the harmony is static. I had to play 56 bars over the same riff."
Robby Krieger

Morrison incorporated Greek myth, ecology, religion and simply stuff that he would have seen himself.
For instance "The Resurrection" is an evangelical Christian magazine that was delivered by mail.
The title itself comes from one night at The Whisky when one of the owners said to The Doors "When the music's over, turn out the lights."

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Jim Morrison handwritten lyric.