The Bard of LA: James Douglas Morrison

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

James Douglas Morrison:40 Years Gone!



"I have just returned from Paris, where I attended the funeral of Jim Morrison. Jim was buried in a simple ceremony, with only a few friends present.
The initial news of his death and funeral was kept quiet be- cause those of us who knew him intimately and loved him as a person wanted to avoid all the circus-like atmosphere that surrounded the deaths of such other rock personalities as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.
I can say that Jim died peacefully of natural causes. He had been in Paris since March with his wife, Pam. He had seen a doctor in Paris about a respiratory problem and had complained of this problem on Saturday, the day of his death.
I hope that Jim is remembered not only as a rock singer and poet, but as a warm human being. He was the most warm, most human, most understanding person I've ever known. That wasn't always the Jim Morrison people read about, but it was the Jim Morrison I knew and his close friends will remember."

Statement of Bill Siddons July 9, 1971


JIM MORRISON, LEAD SINGER OF THE DOORS, DIES

Jim Morrison, the 25-year-old lead singer of The Doors rock group, died last Saturday in Paris, his public relations firm said today. His death was attributed to natural causes, but details were withheld pending the return of Mr. Morrison's agent from France. Funeral services were held in Paris today.
In his black leather jacket and skin-tight vinyl pants, Jim Morrison personified rock music's image of superstar as sullen, mystical, sexual poet.
The Doors, a quartet founded in 1964 in and near the film school at the University of California at Los Angeles, became by 1967 one of the most popular groups in the country, attracting the attention of serious critics who discussed their music's origins and meanings, as well as screaming, hysterical teenagers who sometimes had to be peeled off the performers by the stage hands at the group's frenzied concerts.
Their performances were invariably treated by reviewers as events of theater, for the Doors helped to take the electronically amplified rock music that bloomed on the West Coast out of the sound studio and into the concert hall.
Their music was loud and distinctive, but perhaps the most attention was paid to the lyrics, written by Mr. Morrison, which were filled with suggestive and frequently perverse meanings abetted by Mr. Morrison's grunts, sneers and moans on stage.
"Think of us," Mr. Morrison once said "as erotic politicians." One critic echoed others when he called Mr. Morrison's presentations "lewd, lascivious, indecent and profane." Indeed, in one of his most famous episodes, he was arrested and later found guilty of indecent exposure at a rock concert in Miami in March of 1969.
It was this concert, which shocked even some of his teenage fans, that led to a giant Rally for Decency in the Orange Bowl later that month, attended by 30,000 persons. Mr. Morrison was also forcibly removed from a New Haven stage in 1967 after he allegedly exposed himself.
Mr. Morrison's first two hits were Light My Fire and People Are Strange. One of his important works was The End, an 11-minute extended popsong that ended with a vision of violent death.
New York Times 1971


What are your thoughts on the lead singer of The Doors as both Poet & Performer?
What do you like about the guy and if you are into his poetry....why?

Share any thoughts you may have on the phenomenon that was James Douglas Morrison....

Also check out the Jim Morrison sections on this forum which are packed with information on both Poet and Performer

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Jim Morrison was more than the crazed out of control rock loony he is portrayed as in books and by those who use him as a meal ticket and claim friendship with him.
Here are just a few snippets of the warmer human side of Jim Morrison because this thread is meant to be a tribute to the person....NOT the T Shirt...true he could be an arce when he wanted....just like any of us....but he was NOT always an arce.......The Doors may feel the urge to slap his face on a new Best Of and call that a tribute to someone who was meant to be their friend but not in my eyes....feel free to add anything here.....

“When all of the Rashomon aspects of the Doors are dissected ad nauseum, one powerful memory lingers and it is more in my heart than in my mind. On February 15, 1968, the doorbell rang in my Los Angeles home.
It was the evening of my son Adam's tenth birthday.
There was Jim, now a star, shifting uncertainly from foot to foot, clutching an erratically wrapped present for my musically inclined son.
He came in, sat quietly with Adam, and showed him how to play the kalimba, an African thumb piano. They sat there for an hour, fully absorbed - two children in their own world.”
Jac Holzman

"The Doors were boys who kept sitting on the stoop and asking me if they could come in and audition. The one who did the most talking was Jim Morrison. I said 'well Jim you got to wear shoes to come in here'.
So he turned around went back out and sat on the ledge, just joined the hippies as inside The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield and Ike & Tina would play.
And then he'd hit me again a couple of days later. 'We want to audition'.
And I said....'well Jim we can work it out but you gotta wear shoes'.
One day he said 'Bill can we come in now'.
I leaned over the counter and he had one shoe on.
I walked around the counter and I seen that he didn't have a shoe on the other foot.
I said 'did you lose a shoe?'
He said 'no I found one so I could get in'.
Bill Gazzari ....from Follow The Music

"To be a poet meant more to Jim than writing poems.
It meant embracing the tragedy, fate had chosen for him and fulfilling that destiny with gusto and nobility"
Paul A. Rothchild 1993

"Jim regularly visited poets in Venice and he always bought a number of copies of their books and passed them out to his friends. He contributed money to the LA Art Squad, mural painters in Venice and Hollywood. They always needed funds for paint, scaffolding, just to have lunch. They would turn up at the Doors office bearded and longhaired, shabby clothes and Jim would empty out the petty cash or write them a cheque".
Frank Lisciandro.

"He was striving for respect for in many ways a dead medium- poetry. That's something I've always been interested in, and I found it very easy to relate to the frustration of writing a bad poem. I know what it's like to write a bad poem and still be in love with the idea and not get it across and be lost in that way."
Val Kilmer 1991

'I never saw him do anything violent Other than maybe drive a car. I never saw him choose anybody off, or swing at anybody, or even yell at anybody.
Violence was totally not part of his personality of any kind.'
Babe Hill

'Jim never knew the time and was usually late to all events and appointments. People took this to be yet another sign of bad manners, but it was just a matter of time sliding by and Jim being entranced by its elusiveness.'
Frank Lisciandro

'He had a unique way of walking. I don't think I could describe. He never hurried anywhere, it did not matter if we were going to miss the plane....Jim was not hurrying'
Cheri Siddons

'The Southern Shuffle is the walk....it was a slither. It was like he never lifted his heels off the ground but he didn't scrape. It wasa glide sort of feline. But he was clumsy at the same time. He was forever tripping up curbs, up steps and tripping over his own feet. I mean the things are sort of antithetical but maybe because his eyes were half closed in a sexy way he couldn't see where he was going'
Kathy Lisciandro

"Andy warhol had given Jim a present. A sort of Louis XIV gold phone in a box. The car stopped at a light and there was a bum on the sidewalk. Jim rolled down the window and handed him the box. As the light changed and the car rolled away into the night we saw the bum standing there opening the box"
Steve Harris

"I remember one time we were having dinner in a restaurant and some young girls came in. They were walking by and looked in the window and they came up and asked Jim for an autograph in the middle of his meal. And he was his polite Southern gentleman person. 'Where are you from, whats your name'....that kind of thing.
Talked to them for maybe ten minutes and they went away just ecstatically happy'
Cheri Siddons

"I was deep into my own study of the occult forces and Jim liked to sift through my collection of books on the subject, selecting paragraphs at random to read aloud, setting off another round of talk. On this subject, we usually chose our words carefully and used them sparingly for we were both well aware that words, thoughts made meaningful through sound, conjure and invoke the invisibles."
Robert Gover close friend of Jim

"he spoke very slowly. It was a very deliberate way of talking as if he was thinking of what he was saying. Words just did not fall out of his mouth without him thinking what he was saying"
Kathy Lisciandro

'We spent about an hour, having a couple of beers and talking to the old guys. Jim loved to hear them talk about their lives. When we were through, Jim said ‘C’mon lets go into a couple of other bars.’ We’d sit at a table, buy some guy a drink and let him talk. Jim didn’t say much himself. He’d sit there and just nod and have that little smile on his face, like he was drinking in stuff, observing life and people.'
Henry Diltz during the Morrison Hotel photo shoot.

'I liked the man, you see. My wife liked him, and we both liked Pam. We all grew very close. I liked Jim's complexity, his brilliance. I think he was one of the finest, clearest spirits of our times.'
Mike McClure

[mywildlove4371]

While I don't have the time to discuss in full my fascination with Jim, I Honor Jim Morrison, He for some unknown reason came to me in the early 90s around 93.. With Poetry first, then music then the movie.. I remembered hearing the doors on the old Rock station my sister and I listened to.. I was as young as 6 when I would tell my mother I hated country music and would turn the dial to 99.7...Rock 99. I was more interested in the music from my mothers era.. Cream, mamas and papas, the doors. I got a hold of a copy of wilderness.. and I was blown the fuck away. The more I read the more I thought I knew.. and the more I knew made me realize.. No one , absolutely no one.. really (knew) We all have our idea's about Jim the man himself, and what he would be like if he were here today. My 9 year old son out of the blue said yesterday "when I grow up I want to build a time machine" I said "why" He replies " I think it would be cool to travel through time,I would take you back in time and and find Jim So you could talk and share you poetry." I wasn't at all shocked My son bestows upon Jim the kind of loyalty,and appreciation any mother would be proud of. I have seen several visions of Jim, Never when I was of sound mind and body, but I think sometimes thats an indication of stumbling onto something more real than one could imagine. There is some spiritual connection of life and reality combined with a sub conscience state of mind. And somehow I was given a son born on Jim's birthday Dec 8 2004
He is 18 months old now, He knows Jim's picture and I believe Or at least I like to think He will one day write poetry and Do great things with his life.When we celebrate Dustin's birthday every December, We have a Lil banner w/ Jim's name on it ( I have gotten my entire family into Jim)And we read a poem or two. My niece Has started writing poetry, And it has all evolved because of Jim. He has this sort of power and I have found no one else in this world with kind of brilliance and knowledge, and power to grip people and show them this black hole that we have all broken through. On July 3 of this year Sadly I will be working instead of basking in the Paris sun with all of you I have come to think of as great friends & family! RIP JIM

[ensenada]

cheers crystal...it wiill be cool to see you there one day!

[gizmo]

my opinion about jim (and other celebs) is quite short.
I think we know 10% of the real jim morisson, the other 90% will be something we'll never know. like what was going on in his mind and answers to actions he did (like new haven or miami) why (and how) did he write his poetry and songs, what was his meaning and feeling by each song?what was his urge to create?

i'm sure there are a lot of things hidden for the rest of the world, secrets only the ppl know who were there and even they don't have a clue on the why part.

if everyone knew instantly that jim did a lot(read to mutch) drugs and alcohol why did they let him go and do it instead of giving him a warning(like in a company(the doors were a company) or like friends?). everyone around jim knew he looked bad and was unhealthy but noone told him or took some other action coz they were all scared that jim would leave the doors (and jim was(the face of ) the doors (for the audience in that time(and now for a lot of ppl) so he took care for a lot of the incoming money. would you shoose the money or would you let it go and try to make your money in annother way?

times change but never change a winning formula unless the ppl who buy your stuff want it and change it that way. ppl wanted jim so why send him away to a clinique for HIS own health(thats what friends are for)

for me jim is the greatest preformer and poet ever. a great example and a man who cleared the road for other artists(the peppers play with only a sock around their cocks(jim would'nt have tried it in miami)). Jim was one of a few to shake and shout the world awake, who openly tried to fight the law and order by himselve (like don quishotte fought against windmills) jim will never get part of the credits for the freedom we have nowadays.

jim , we salute you and drink plenty of pints to ya
cheers mate for all you have done for us
(and take good care of marcel or else i'll kick your ass when i die)



p.s. this post is longer as i expected

[ensenada]

very good post gizmo!
i often wonder why jim's immediate friends and band members didnt advise him to chill out on the old drugs and booze intake. obviously i dont think that had clinics in those days, so that couldnt help him. but surely anyone close enough to him must have realised what he was doing to himself. unless of course they were all just as fucked up as he was.

[gizmo]

i think,from what i have read and seen on tv, that ppl where more indiviual at that time and everyone was treated as an unique creature with all respect (something wich has gone ever since) so if jim wanted to drink himselve to death, it was his choice.
happyness and feeling good where more important than becoming old. healthcare was something less important than it is now. ppl took care of each other in providing things but if you wanted alcohol? you got it as well (and as mutch as you liked).
today, ppl are more focused on becoming old instead of being happy and feeling good. rich ppl have money enough to feel good and being happy but they want it all for themselve. even chairity costs to mutch money.i hate showoffs (thoug i do that too with my weed,but i share it so is that showing off?).
i dont think the humanity of the ppl from the 60's will ever come back. we don't wanna fall out of line in this soceity, we want a tv , stereo, nice car,nice friends and stuff like that.

it where different times, something we probably can't understand. it had good and bad sides.

nobody's perfect

[strangenightvstone]

ensenada said:

very good post gizmo!
i often wonder why jim's immediate friends and band members didnt advise him to chill out on the old drugs and booze intake. obviously i dont think that had clinics in those days, so that couldnt help him. but surely anyone close enough to him must have realised what he was doing to himself. unless of course they were all just as fucked up as he was.

Doesn't it seem that Jim avoided the office/rehersal space when he was drinking? If The Doors had supported him, and allowed him to sit at the desk with his whisky bottle, and coke spoon they could have recorded a lot more music. It seems like Jim wasted so much time getting away from people lecturing him. He was hiding the whisky from them, why not allow him to indulge without giving him attitude?

[gizmo]

strangenightvstone said:

ensenada said:

very good post gizmo!
i often wonder why jim's immediate friends and band members didnt advise him to chill out on the old drugs and booze intake. obviously i dont think that had clinics in those days, so that couldnt help him. but surely anyone close enough to him must have realised what he was doing to himself. unless of course they were all just as fucked up as he was.

Doesn't it seem that Jim avoided the office/rehersal space when he was drinking? If The Doors had supported him, and allowed him to sit at the desk with his whisky bottle, and coke spoon they could have recorded a lot more music. It seems like Jim wasted so much time getting away from people lecturing him. He was hiding the whisky from them, why not allow him to indulge without giving him attitude?

i think that jim drank more we want to know. in the village where i live is a man who drinks 1.5 bottle of jenever(gin like(40%)stuff) a day each day. his blood is dark purple and medical staff(from the hospital he was lying in) can't imagine that he's still alive. he's doing this for 35-40 years and still denies he's drinking. i think that's why jim hid hid botlles, he didn't want to admit for himselve that he was a heavy drinker(depends on the idea of what the drinker has of being an alcoholic). ppl say i drink to mutch too but i think it's not dangerous for my health or work.
i ain't got an alcohol problem, when there is plenty of alcohol.

the way ppl think and act when and why they drink is for every person a different thing, most ppl try to find excuses for it (like i got a lot of things on my mind, or something to celabrate).
would you be proud when someone asks you if you're an alcoholic,and you have to answer it with yes?

when ppl know you're a heavy drinker they start to give you advice and start talking to you in a concerned way, and thats something you don't want to hear. the same with coke btw.
you're on a different level when you drink or sniff, and thats the way you talk. i can see and hear from a person if he drank or sniffed, coz i did it to mutch myselve. and whats the problem with that? (btw i stopped using harddrugs coz of my kids but i used like 500 euro's a week on coke,200 euro's a week on speed and 150 euro's a week for alcohol, weed is free for me)

hardrugs is lovely stuff , but know when to quit, and jim had such a problem

[strangenightvstone]

gizmo said:

strangenightvstone said:

quote]
i think that jim drank more we want to know. in the village where i live is a man who drinks 1.5 bottle of jenever(gin like(40%)stuff) a day each day. his blood is dark purple and medical staff(from the hospital he was lying in) can't imagine that he's still alive. he's doing this for 35-40 years and still denies he's drinking. i think that's why jim hid hid botlles,
when ppl know you're a heavy drinker they start to give you advice and start talking to you in a concerned way, and thats something you don't want to hear. the same with coke btw.
you're on a different level when you drink or sniff, and thats the way you talk. i can see and hear from a person if he drank or sniffed, coz i did it to mutch myselve. and whats the problem with that? (btw i stopped using harddrugs coz of my kids but i used like 500 euro's a week on coke,200 euro's a week on speed and 150 euro's a week for alcohol, weed is free for me)

hardrugs is lovely stuff , but know when to quit, and jim had such a problem

Have you had a lot of MDMA? I think that should be called marriage therapy. The point about the hard alcohol is that if Jim were "allowed" to have the whisky bottle sitting on his desk, Kathy could have brought him ice and soda to mix it with. He would drink slower, alcohol needs sugar to absorb properly. Chances are went into the bathroom and pounded hard liquor. He would do this over and over. He would have to be quick. If could have made cocktails at his desk while ansering the office phone, he could have been kept busy all day with mail and stuff like that. Don't you think Jim would be using a computer nowadays? The Doors should have given him a type writter and soda to mix with his whisky. Wouldn't Jim have sniffed less if he didn't have to do a whole line quickly in the bathroom? How much would you do at the time of 500 euros? A little on a key?
Is that an eightball 1/8?

[gizmo]

the problem (own experience) with alcohol and cocaine or speed is that you can keep on drinking and it makes you feel sober and sharp again so you can keep on drinking for a long time without feeling exhausted or so.
alcohol and cocaine are physical adictive drugs, so your body don't gives a sign to your brain that it needs alcohol or coke (or speed) but your brain wants a shot to feel at ease.
and that's what jim liked(and so do i )about alcohol and drugs(i guess) , your mind is taking a run with you but you don't know where it's going. and thats what drugs and alcohol adiction is all about. your brain is your leader instead of using your brain to do what you have to do (you still can do it for as long as you got enough of the substance you like, if not you got to score some before you can do it and that can take a little time).
it's not in what way you get it (like wisky-cola) but how mutch you get at one time coz your brain sais how mutch you need (if cocaine is cut really bad you draw 2 lines instead of one)

is i had for 500 euro's of coke in my house , i guess it would be all disapeared into my nose within 2 weeks, becouse it's there and i like it to mutch (in my "bad" period i did 300 euro's a week of coke, but it was so easy to get)

an eightbal is coke mixed with heroin i thought but it could be speed as well(HEROIN IS REALLY BAD SHIT. DON'T LET IT COME TO YOU!!!!)(i'd seen pll who where pretty normal before they started doing heroin and are or dead or nearly dead. DON'T DO IT)

[nick]

I think you're thinking of a Speedball. An 8-ball is an amount. 3 and a 1/2 grams or 1/8 of an o.z.--Could be wrong--I find it hard to believe Jim unknowingly used it, and if it’s true he was afraid of needles I don’t see how being drunk would derail that fear. I’ve been pumped fulla meds before in the hospital and Still cringed at the needles.

Didn’t people more commonly shot it back then? You wouldn’t think smoking it or snorting it would have done him in. Tried it twice not knowing what it was, and later got into it with the guy when someone in the room told me on the slick, and it didn’t drug me too bad (last time I did drugs). You feel warm and zone out. I’ve known junkies and most wouldn’t let someone set there and kill themselves. For one they’re gonna be afraid of the law becoming evolved and it’d be an issue of one person using everything up. If that is how he died, and we’ll never know, there must have been some irresponsible mother-fuckers in the room.

You hear that shit here and there like that IS how he died, but unless you were there… you don’t know….The gossip mongering of some of those that knew him, one in particular, is sickening….I wouldn’t find it altogether in plausible perhaps, like Gizmo was saying about the ability to intake large amounts of alcohol when high on cocaine, that maybe he’d been doing something like that and battery’d out.

At any rate. Rest in peace.

[sparky]

gizmo said:

the problem (own experience) with alcohol and cocaine or speed is that you can keep on drinking and it makes you feel sober and sharp again so you can keep on drinking for a long time without feeling exhausted or so.
alcohol and cocaine are physical adictive drugs, so your body don\\\'t gives a sign to your brain that it needs alcohol or coke (or speed) but your brain wants a shot to feel at ease.
and that\\\'s what jim liked(and so do i )about alcohol and drugs(i guess) , your mind is taking a run with you but you don\\\'t know where it\\\'s going. and thats what drugs and alcohol adiction is all about. your brain is your leader instead of using your brain to do what you have to do (you still can do it for as long as you got enough of the substance you like, if not you got to score some before you can do it and that can take a little time).
it\\\'s not in what way you get it (like wisky-cola) but how mutch you get at one time coz your brain sais how mutch you need (if cocaine is cut really bad you draw 2 lines instead of one)

is i had for 500 euro\\\'s of coke in my house , i guess it would be all disapeared into my nose within 2 weeks, becouse it\\\'s there and i like it to mutch (in my "bad" period i did 300 euro\\\'s a week of coke, but it was so easy to get)

an eightbal is coke mixed with heroin i thought but it could be speed as well(HEROIN IS REALLY BAD SHIT. DON\\\'T LET IT COME TO YOU!!!!)(i\\\'d seen pll who where pretty normal before they started doing heroin and are or dead or nearly dead. DON\\\'T DO IT)

I AGREE WITH THE HEROIN THING.
but 300 euro of coke?
shit i used to do that every weekend.
now i have stopped. i had a couple of lines friday night and i was ok.
im not going back to square one again this time.
and since this weekend i have cut pills out too, because i dont feel in control of myself when i take them and that scares me.

as for jim dying of an overdose i dont believe it, or maybe that i dont want to believe it cos i think it is such a terrible way to die.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Earliest example of Jim Morrison poet.

THE PONY EXPRESS 21st May 1954

The pony express carried the mail
Over hill, over dale.
Over rough rugged trails
And the brave men that carried it
Didn't complain,

For they knew they were helping their good country's name

They rode and rode through
Strong winds and rain just
To carry the mail and build
Up our name
Over Indian country and great sandy plains,
They carried the mail and shared our fame.



Later example of his self published work An American Prayer


Some of the views of friends, admirers and aquaintences.

"Jim Morrison probably got the closest to being an artist within rock and roll, I think. . . .His death made me sadder than anyone's. He was a really great poet."
Patti Smith

"To be a poet meant more to Jim than writing poems.
It meant embracing the tragedy, fate had chosen for him and fulfilling that destiny with gusto and nobility"
Paul A. Rothchild 1993

Suddenly, Morrison started throwing empty glasses up the stairs.
I grabbed him by the arm and yelled, "What the fuck are you doing, for Christ's sake?"
He ignored me and threw another glass up the stairs, simultaneously letting out another of his bloodcurdling screams. I expected a small army of cops to come charging down. After one final glass and one final scream, Jim turned and was gone. I was frustrated because I wanted to tell him that finally I had met someone who was truly possessed.
Tom Baker

And at the end he got drunk for the simple reason that that is what alcoholics do.
Danny Sugerman (biographer)


But Jim Morrison didn't want to be a god. Jim Morrison wanted to be a poet.
Danny Sugerman


"An American Prayer documents a fragment of the passion of Jim Morrison. It is not art as he would have it, but nothing posthumous is perfect. It is not the whole picture but the best part of the trip is intact. And like finding a roll of Diego Rivera's under an industrial sink, it is treasure unearthed. We feel a sense of
guilt but we are grateful for the glimpse. Notes toward a symphony of ritual. Last movements to reach out, to penetrate. New information. Interesting, inspiring new ammunition and that is truly something."
Patti Smith Creem Magazine 1979.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

'First of all, I can tell you that Jim Morrison was a good friend, kind,generous and thoughtful... at least he was with me. Most of the people who considered him a friend have this same impressions of him. He treated everyone fairly, both friends and those he didn't know. He constantly argued with the other members of the band for lower ticket prices for Doors concerts. He was always ready to buy drinks or a meal for whoever he was with. He gave things away, as if he feared that they would become attached to him. If he received a gift from a fan, he would give it to the next person he met. Money seemed to have no meaning to him. He never owned anything of any value, except for one car. He never owned a house or expensive art, or furniture, or those special luxuries we expect rich stars to own. He traveled with the clothes on his back, his notebooks and whatever book he was reading. He was extremely intelligent and well read. In my life (at least to now) I have not met more than one or two people who are as brilliant or as quick witted as Jim Morrison. He read everything (novels, pulp fiction, trashy magazines, scientific journals, history, philosophy, psychology) and remembered most of what he read. This wonderful gift enabled him to quote from books almost word for word.
He was a poet with the moods and conflicted spirit of poets. My opinion (and that of many others) is that he was one of the most talented and accomplished American poets of his day. To be fully appreciated his poems need to be read in their original language.
He was easy to be with, and could be very charming. As a child he had learned good manners and could fit easily in any society that expected politeness. He was very funny and loved telling jokes and having a good time. And he could be serious, discussing films or music or theater in the most profound way.
Yes he was an alcoholic, but no he was not a 'drug addict'. He might have used LSD, and even abused it, but he used it to search for something, not to escape from anything. I never saw him use heroin, and he disliked smoking marijuana. His preferred anesthetic was alcohol, and he drank too much and too often.
He lived his life with a calm, unhurried simplicity, and honesty.'
Frank Lisciandro

'So what was my first impression of Jim? He scared me to death.'
Bill Siddons

"People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain."
Jim Morrison


Rather profound for someone so young but it shows that Morrison even if he had not achieved greatness as a poet indeed had the heart of a poet.
To pay tribute to the Poet Morrison 40 years on share your thoughts here and your favourite quote or poetry.
But don't just post snippets of Morrison try to explain why you put them here.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Very interesting information from people who knew the pre Doors Morrison.


From The Lizard King Was Here
The Life & Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia
By: Mark Opsasnick

Reflections and Notes
February 18 2009

Jim Morrison moved to Alexandria, Virginia in January 1959. His first day of school at George Washington High was February 2 1959 (Sophomore year 10th grade)

Jim lived at 310 WOODLAND AVENUE (not Woodlawn Avenue) in a flagstone house built in 1941. This was in the Jefferson Park section and not in the Beverly Hills section. He occupied the basement/recreation room downstairs. This room was where Betty (Ritter) Howard committed suicide Tuesday, Sept 24 1957. (410 shotgun wound to the chest – motive – depression.)

In 6th Grade while attending (1954) Longview Elementary School in San Diego, CA –

Jeff Morehouse (friend in Elementary School & later high school – their fathers both were military men and moved to the same locations in different years):
“Jim was class president of the 6th grade. He had to lead assemblies and go up in front of the entire school and introduce what we were going to do and stuff like that and for a kid at that age, he was a very good leader. He was starting to go through changes.”

Jeff Moorehouse:
“Basically he was more withdrawn and he was reticent to be with other people. He was much happier being by himself and not really as outgoing as he had been before that.”

Jim would get a few dollars from his mother so he could by a new shirt but he would get a .50 shirt at the Salvation Army and spend the rest of the money buying books on one of his outings to Washington DC.

Jim’s resistance to authority, a practice that he developed in Alexandria was noted by Jim Merrill. He would poke fun at authority figures that he encountered at home, school and on the streets of Alexandria.

Jim Merrill
“Morrison had something that no one else had. The guy was the personification of guts and he was not going to let this disciplined system and the people making the rules change the direction he was going in and he was the only person I knew that had the balls to stand up and mock them.
Make fun of them and put them in their place.
He was starting to rebel against the whole establishment and I’m really glad I ran into him because he opened my eyes up. He was a little bit off but I don’t think Jim was crazy.
I think he was testing the limits and that’s the reason he was just so set on never following his father. I really never met anyone like him. Ever.”


Bill Thomas:
“Nietzsche and other philosophers – he’s carry around books and talk about thing and I’d be like what in the world is he talking about?
He did a lot of stuff that made no sense and in my opinion I think he was looking for a reaction. I don’t know if we all thought he was special, but there was just a general aura about him and we all knew he was different.”

Morrison according to Thomas, clearly cut his own path, had little concern for following the crowd, and stayed loyal to what he believed in.

“The whole thing with being a part of a group or trying to be with your peers didn’t mean anything to him because he was a free spirit and didn’t care what anyone else did.
Social acceptance by anybody was not anything he was concerned about and I’m certain he thought our interests were misplaced.
I remember him giving us these talks about how he didn’t like us, how we were all in high school fraternities and how we were all caught up in sports and the material stuff, and he went on about why that was wrong and how we shouldn’t be concerned with those things.
Several times he gave us big lectures on how one day he was going to be famous and when that happened he wasn’t going to give any of us the time of day.”


Jim Morrison tale:
The bus top for the middle school kids was directly in front of the Morrison house and Jim would come out in the early morning as the kids were waiting for the bus and start preaching like an evangelist and waved his arms and in a loud voice would say, ignore your teachers, disobey your parents and renounce God and become atheists before your hopes of freedom are vanquished forever.
As a result the bus stop was moved to another spot in the neighborhood.

Jim wrote a poem for Tandy Martin called, “She dances in a ring of fire”

Jim Rocca
“What I found to be very strange was that Jim seemed to be a person who moved through the school, but in a way was not a part of the school and very few people knew him and there was another life that he never let people see. I would say most people at George Washington High School knew of him rather that actually knew him personally.”


Jim Merrill

“I saw this incredible urge to be recognized and also this terrible self destructive urge that just sat there and you know that this guy was not going to be around long.
I think anybody that knew Morrison at all knew his days were numbered.”

“He had tons of books over there in his basement room and I’d go over there and look at them and I didn’t have a clue as to what most of that stuff meant.
Morrison devoured that stuff when he was a teenager and he was in another world and you have to wonder how that affected him.
The whole point is that he was so far advanced in terms of literature he took in and he really seemed to become what he read sometimes.”



Jim Morrison’s high school reading (selected titles – he had over 1000 books in his room and according to Andy Morrison when the family moved out of the house the books went to a local library and probably ended up being sold at a rummage sale for about .25c each.

Friedrich Nietzsche
Arthur Rimbaud
James Joyce
Franza Kafka
Albert Camus

Nietzsche:
“The Birth Of Tragedy” (1872) – The primary theme of which was the recognition of the interplay between two primary artistic impulses, the Apollonian and the Dionysiac, in what he considered to be the highest form of art, Greek tragedy. Nietzsche in contrasting the two elements, explained Apollonian thought as emphasizing discreet limitation, self control and freedom from all extravagant urges, while the Dionysiac state emphasized physical intoxication and celebrated the eternal desire of existence. Nietzsche’s conclusion was that European culture had been heavily dominated by Apollonian thought since the time of Socrates and had suffered as a result. As a solution he encouraged a fill release of Dionysian thought and activity that emphasized artistic creativity, a celebration of human existence and a search for truth.


In “Beyond Good and Evil” (1886) & “On The Genealogy Of Morals” (1887), Nietzsche divided up his loosely connected philosophical rants into 9 chapters dealing with a number of topics including the religious nature, morals, virtues, and nobility of man. His basic blueprint included the pronouncement of a new kind of philosopher that would emerge in the future, a free spirit compelled to find the greatness of man and determined with overcoming conventional morality through a life promoting system of thought based on the individual’s will to power and profound faith in opposite values.



“The philosopher will betray something of his own ideal when he posits: He shall be greatest who can be loneliest, the most concealed, the most deviant, the human being beyond good and evil, the master of his virtues, he that is over rich in will.” And “Whatever is profound loves masks…Might not nothing less than the opposite be the proper disguise for the shame of a god?” “All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses” “Poets treat their experiences shamelessly; they exploit them.” “Measure is alien to us…our thrill is the thrill of the infinite, the unmeasured” “We reach our bliss only when we are most – in danger.”

“On The Genealogy Of Morals” was Nietzsche’s critique of all the moral values and was divided into three separate essays that questioned the very intrinsic worth of such ideas: “Good and Evil, Good and Bad;” “Guilt Bad Conscience and Related Matters,” and “What Do Ascetic Ideals Mean?” His first essay delved into how the terms “good” and “bad” acquired their meaning, the second put forth the basic notion that “guilt” and “bad conscience” were created as natural inclination by man out of a need for self torture, and the third essay stated that ascetic ideals function as a way for man to give meaning to his will, even if it represents a will to nothingness.

“Man would sooner have the void for his purpose than be void of purpose.”


Rimbaud: Letter From The Seer #2 (written to Paul Demeny on May 15 1871)
“The poet makes himself a seer by a long, gigantic and rational derangement of all the senses.”

Many Doors fans have cited this philosophical proclamation as Morrisons’ inspiration for a life of intoxication after his rock star persona had been cemented.
Morrison was also no doubt enamored with Rimbaud’s romantic life adventures which courted the unknown.

James Joyce - Ulysses (1922)
Chronicled events of three main characters on a single day, June 16 1904. Many intellectuals hailed it as the greatest book of the 20th century. Many other claimed it was indecipherable. One character, Stephen Dedalus, a young, self loathing intellectual who disliked everyone and everything around him, argued incessantly about art and literature, and ended up on a drunken bridge in a brothel.

Dubliners 1907
A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man 1916
Exiles 1918
Finnegan’s Wake 1939

Franza Kafka – “Kafka’s Diary” 1910-1923
Voluminous entries by the author on his friends, associates, and fellow writers, along with details on his various observations, dreams and personal conflicts, and anxieties. Kafka was born in Prague and throughout his life was torn between feelings of love and resentment for his parents. He also cited for his belief that sex was repulsive, an odd situation and a devotee of one night stands. Best of all Kafka’s peculiar feelings towards his own creations, as he wanted all of his life’s writings burned upon his death ( a request that was ignored.)

Albert Camus – Novelist 1913-1960
He relocated to Paris France during WWII. He worked for COMBAT ( a resistance network concerned with intelligence and sabotage), editing the organizations newspaper and formulating his own person philosophy. Camus’ work featured his recurring doctrine of the absurd – a belief that life is meaningless because of the inevitability of death and that it is impossible for man to make rational sense of his own existence.

Camus Works In Morrison’ bookcase:

The Stranger 1942
The Plague 1947
The Fall 1956 (which one a Nobel prize of literature in 1957 as an influential work on human rights)

Plutarch of Chaeronea (Greek Historian) -
The Lives Of Nobel Grecians A.D. 100

James T. Farrell – Stud’s Lonigan Triogoly
1. Young Lonigan 1932
2. The Young Manhood Of Studs Lonigan 1934
3. Judgment Day 1935

Norman O. Brown
– Life Against Death 1959
Provided a history of the human race based on Freudian concepts.

Colin Wilson
– The Outsider 1956

A work that advanced the notion that the well being of society can be evaluated by how it treats it’s outcasts.

French Poets, Essayists and Novelists

Antonin Artaud
Charles Baudelaire
Honore de Balzac
Louis Ferdinard Celine
Jean Cocteau
Jean Baptiste Moliere
Jean Genet
Jean Paul Sarte

Brendan Behan (Irish Playwright and Novelist)

William Blake (British Poet/Artist)

Aldous Huxley (British Writer)

American Poets

T.S. Eliot
Kenneth Patchen
Kenneth Rexroth

Jack Kerouac

1. The Town and The City 1950
2. On The Road 1957
3. Dharma Bums 1958
4. The Subterraneans 1958
5. Doctor Sax 1959

Kerouac’s “The Town & The City”
The real significance of The Town & The City for Jim Morrison fans was the stunning character portrayal of Francis Martin, who was the second son of the family and was introduced as being fifteen as the story began in 1935. A careful reading of Kerouac’s descriptions of Francis through out the entire work revealed what must be considered a possible blueprint for the personality and life interests of Jim Morrison himself, as the similarities between the two were downright eerie! As the story opened Francis was described as having a sullen and sour manner in high school – he preferred keeping to himself and spent most of his time reading and staring out his bedroom window. Although dour, gloomy, and aloof he displayed brilliance in his schoolwork, was curiously respected by his peers and family members, and was well aware of the power of his own secretiveness. His own mother described him as a “strange boy” and explained to family members that he was his own boss and that his siblings just didn’t understand him. As he worked his way through school, he displayed poetic tendencies and an air of discontent ness, and embarked on solitary walks at midnight. He spent time at the local library reading biographies and French novels and believed he was the only person in town to understand the meaning of life and death. As he left for Harvard he counted among his favorite writers Franz Kafka, James Joyce, and Aldous Huxley. In one of the book’s more striking passages, Francis returned to his house in Galloway and reflected back on his life, remembering himself as a child given to long solitudes during which time he imagined himself as several different entities including a hero, a warrior and a god. In the books final stages, Francis cut off communication with his parents, gravitated towards Greenwich Village (where he explored the neighborhoods bookstores), championed Balzac and Nietzsche, and in the end relocated to Paris, France.’

The notion of Francis Martin, as presented in the pages of Kerouacs’ first novel, served as a model for Jim Morrison’s existence can be presented with great believability. Morrison undoubtly was absorbing every literary morsel the Beat Generation artists offered and may have consciously or unconsciously adopted the mannerisms, behavior, and attitudes of his favorite fictional characters.

Corso
– Gasoline 1958

William Burroughs
– The Naked Lunch 1959

John Clellon
– “Go” 1952

Jim spent a lot of time making entries in his personal notebooks, painting and drawing and watching art house films. He also perfected his ledge walking in Hanes Point by scaling across an old piece of a pier that jutted out over the Potomac River. His friends who witnessed this feat claim that if Jim had fell there would no way he could have ever recovered.

According to Andy Morrison, Jim would make collages – “take a magazine with a color photo and pour lighter fluid on it and he’d make a circle of what he wanted to the back side and take a ball point pen and go back and forth over it. It forced the ink out of it. He made his own collages out of anything he wanted.” (In later years there are reports from UCLA friends that Jim had several collages hanging on his walls at the one room apt he lived in. All of the original art work and notebooks were destroyed when Jim left Alexandria for Clearwater Florida on August 13 1961.