Universal Mind

[ktwo]

I was doing time
In the universal mind,
I was feeling fine.
I was turning keys,
I was setting people free,
I was doing alright.

Then you came along,
With a suitcase and a song,
Turned my head around.
Now I'm so alone,
Just looking for a home
In every place I see.

I'm the freedom man,
I'm the freedom man,
I'm the freedom man,
That's how lucky I am.

I was doing time
In the universal mind,
I was feeling fine.
I was turning keys,
I was setting people free,
I was doing alright.

Then you came along,
With a suitcase and a song,
Turned my head around.
Now I'm so alone,
Just looking for a home
In every place I see.

I'm the freedom man.

I was doing time
In the universal mind,
I was feeling fine.
I was turning keys,
I was setting people free,
I was doing alright.

Then you came along,
With a suitcase and a song,
Turned my head around.
Now I'm so alone,
Just looking for a home
In every place I see.

I'm the freedom man.
Yeah, that's how lucky I am.
I'm the freedom man. (x2)

Does anyone have a single called Universal Mind,EKS-45708?
I'd like to see a picture of label!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

It's possible that a single may have been proposed for release, in 1970 as a taster for the Absolutely Live album.
Catalogue number EK 45708, with "Who Do You Love" as the A-side, and "The Universal Mind" as the B side.
There is also rumours of a misprinted label where the A-side is called "The Icewagon Flew", one of the lyrics from the song.
This also happened with Hello I Love You when it was called 'Hello I Love You Won't You Tell Me Your name' in some European countries.

It was supposed to come out in between You Make Me Real / Roadhouse Blues and Love Her Madly / (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further in 1970.
Whether this was ever released remains to be seen.

It's like Alabama Song. Which came after Break On Through but was replaced by Light My Fire.
Was the Alabama Song single released?

There were many Doors singles released in various countries after 1971 and Universal Mind was on one of them as I remember hearing it in the Talbot pub in Stockton in about 73/74 but I can't recall what single it was on as there were a couple of Doors singles on the pub jukebox.
It was probably a Japanese import as there were many like that around that time.

[ktwo]

Thank you for information!
yes,i know 'The Icewagon Flew' which the lyrics from WDYL..
I found this title & number on a book called Fuzz Acid & Flowers by Vernon Joynson on many years before.
And I know hardcore collectors from US and EU but nobody have it.

I have a copy of Alabama Song' single,but not US,it's from UK,and
long title's edition of HILYWYTMYN? from US & UK,and also I have complete collection of Japanese press of the Doors but there's no Universal Mind on singles and EP..

It'still big mystery for me.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

A very sad and very moving little ballad from Jim Morrison that never saw a studio version and was only ever heard during Doors concerts.
Harking back to the days The Doors worked up a song during their live sets it may well have evolved like Love Hides and possibly Old Stone Road actually on stage ad libbed by Morrison.

Another possible lament from Morrison as to the state of The Doors as he saw it.
A lot had happened since the heady success of 1967 and the artistic freedom 1966 had brought The Doors.

Morrison was indeed 'doing time' in a job he no longer relished.
The person with the suitcase and a song could have been an allegory for himself or maybe even Ray Manzarek.
By this time he was indeed all alone within his Doors world as he was isolated by a chasm in which The Doors artistic search for a muse had been swallowed up by the reality of a rock band that fed on success by virtue of the hit record.

His 'Freedom Man' perhaps simply an ironic swipe at his lot......that was how ‘lucky’ he felt....trapped in a band with an audience that craved 'the' hit song above all else and a record company who had invested heavily in the band and the band itself who depended on him for their livelihood.

A Human juke box....just like he had joked on New Years Eve 1965.
Drop a quarter in the slot and he would sing Light My Fire for you.

The pressure on his shoulders immense and a song like this a way of releasing some of that strain by the best way he knew how which was in words.

A fine example of The Doors live with some really cool jazz grooves in the middle instrumental after it starts with a soft ballady guitar vocal duet between Morrison and Krieger.

Morrison’s vocal is the most notable moment in the song as he sings his mournful declaration in such a poignant tone that it is hard to imagine that this song is about anything else than Jim Morrison.

This was performed at several concerts during the 70s and appeared on Absolutely Live.
Of course the Absolutely Live version was a con as it was cut and pasted by Paul Rothchild but nontheless it is a fine document of the band live.

The Doors: Universal Mind
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaO0b-DvJU8

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Old Stone Road

Similar in theme to Old Stone Road and the closing section of Who Scared You.
Morrison seemingly unable to escape his Doors lot using the allegory and metaphor of songs to lament what he saw himself becoming and the way his band seemed to have lost their way pursuing lucre rather than art.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

A rather melancholy Jim Morrison song from the late part of the bands career. Another song with the theme of the 'heavy load' that was seen in many of Morrison's songs as his Doors career came to a close.

It's as if he is addressing himself as 'coming along with a suitcase and a song' turning his head away from what he wanted to do. Write Poetry.

The 'so alone' part possibly a reference again of his lot with The Doors. He wrote about this in 'Jamaica' the poem he composed about the bands stay on the island after Miami when he was ostracised by the other band members.
A situation that continued up until the end of the bands career when they seemed to find themselves again for LA Woman.

His ironic 'I'm the freedom man, that's how lucky I am' sung in such a way as to leave the listener in no doubt he did not feel at all lucky. He makes this kind of point often in his songs from 1969 onwards. 'Old Stone Road' and 'Who Scared You' two good examples.
Carrying a burden, a heavy load and so alone.
Jim was clearly telling us something but we were too full of the rock star Lizard King to listen until it was too late.

Musically a nice opportunity for Robby Krieger to show how good a guitar player he was. A nice jazzy middle section with Ray and John trading licks as Robby solos. A good solid Doors song that was probably developed the old fashioned Doors way...on the road.

The Doors - Universal Mind (Bakersfield 1970

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]