Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Mar 15, 2011 10:30:11 GMT
I have transfered one of Sara's excellent Time-Lines from the
Why Jim Would Have Returned To The Doors
thread.
TIME LINE
Jim: “We’re a partnership, artistically and financially. We share equally. In the beginning, a lot of it was to keep the unit together. We have a very different vision of reality, different points to make.” (1969 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 75)
MAY 1968: The Doors finished their 3rd album, “Waiting For The Sun.” This was a very difficult album to put together due to the fact that the majority of the lyrics and music was pieced together. Jim had hoped “Celebration of the Lizard” would have taken up one side of the album which in the final result only a small segment, “Not To Touch The Earth’ actually made it to vinyl. Jim was disappointed that COTL did not live up to his expectations. The band had been touring for most of 1967 and the spring of 1968 and the music and lyrics suffered the consequences when it came time to record ‘Waiting For The Sun.”
Jim Morrison: “I think most rock musicians and singers really do enjoy what they are doing,” he said. “It’d be physically unnerving to do it just for the bread. What screws it up is the surrounding bullshit that’s laid on them by the press, the gossip columnists and fan magazines…..All of a sudden everyone is laying all this extraneous bullshit on his trip. So he starts to doubt his motivation. There’s always the adulators – they just jangle the sensibilities. So you feel a little sense of shame and frustration about what you are doing. It’s too bad. It’s really too bad. (Break On Through p.252)
‘Although he had made very few concessions to commerciality, the public perceived The Doors as Jim Morrison and he was blamed the most for the shift toward Top 40. Morrison began seeing himself as a misunderstood poet living with the confines of the rock medium. More and more young kids were attending the shows now, and most of them couldn’t understand or appreciate his lyrics. They saw him only as a sex symbol and just wanted to hear the hits from the radio. The more he realized the words were being overlooked, the more frustrated he became. Jim Morrison wanted to be taken seriously as a poet more than anything else. He had always been interested in film and writing, and had taken on his duties with The Doors truly believing he couldn’t sing a note. Inside, Morrison wanted to be part of the artistic elite – recognized as a writer, a poet, a true artist.’ (Break On Through p. 252-253)
Jim: “It’s all done tongue and cheek – I don’t think too many people realize that. It’s not supposed to be taken seriously. It’s supposed to be ironic.” (1968 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 90)
Robbie: “With Jim, it was like the band, and the Voice of God up front, and everybody seemed to be overshadowed by that voice.” (1980 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 76)
JUNE 1968 Jim Morrison spoke with Ray Manzarek concerning his discontent in continuing to be a rock star. In short order, Jim wanted out of the band. Ray asked Jim to give the band another 6 months. Jim reluctantly went back to being the lead singer of The Doors.
‘Sometime in the summer of 1968 it began to dawn on him (Morrison), through the haze, that he was a rock star and, worse, that he was likely to remain one. Despite his sense of humor, no one took Morrison as seriously as Morrison took himself. Now, as the tongue in cheek Lizard King, he was forced to realize that he would never be so much Baudelaire and Rimbaud as he was Bozo Dionysus. As if grasping at a last way out of the ever expanding parody he was becoming of himself, Morrison decided to burst his own bubble. He saw the only way out and he took it. He walked into The Doors office and suddenly announced he was quitting the group. “It’s not what I want to do anymore,” he said. It was once, but it’s not anymore.”’ (Break On Through p. 252-53)
‘Amid the opened mouthed stares that greeted this remark, only Ray Manzarek was able to rise to the occasion. He talked to Jim, weighing the various possibilities and the ramifications of such a decision. In the end, Ray asked for and got six more months. But although Jim could reason out the logistics of a decision and make the right choice, he could not always live up to the commitment. There was something about Jim Morrison that always wound up doing exactly what he wanted to do whether it was the right choice or not.’ (Break On Through p. 253)
Rich Linnell: “At the beginning, for me being late ’66, early ’67 Jim always seemed to be little bit apart from the band. As time went on, Jim became more and more distant from the band. He would arrive differently, he’d come by himself, he’d leave earlier or later. Jim would have his little group in the dressing room and the three guys would have theirs. Robby, as recently as a few years ago would say, ‘yeah for along time it was the three of us against Jim. And then when we didn’t have Jim anymore, then we fought amongst ourselves.’” (A Feast Of Friends p. 82)
Vince Treanor: (Equipment Manager) “He (Jim) had no intention of quitting the band, That was all a myth, you know, just talk. He was scaring the group. What he was saying was ‘Does somebody love me? That’s all it was. He wasn’t stupid. Because the minute you take away a forum from a guy like Jim, he becomes a nonentity. What the hell was Morrison gonna do without The Doors? When a guy needs a stage to speak from is he going to quit the stage? And what would he do for money? How would he pay for his drinking, his parties, all those plane tickets, and those bashes in Palm Springs? The boy wasn’t stupid.”
MID – JUNE 1968, The Doors have a band meeting to discuss the up and coming show at the Hollywood Bowl touted in the press to be “The Biggest Rock Event Of The Year.”
Vince Treanor remembers: “Everybody was called into a big meeting……all The Doors, myself, Bill Siddons, and Kathy Lisciandro (Frank’s wife who was now The Doors secretary). Ray had worked out an elaborate production idea for the show – having the band wear Kabuki masks and Oriental theatrical costumes with special lighting and dances…..a whole theatrical production. It was very interesting with all this incredible shit going on before, during and after the performance. But the other guys felt that it just wasn’t The Doors. Jim didn’t say much of anything. He didn’t give a damn what they did. He didn’t care if they had fire hoses onstage at that point. “Just give me my microphone and do whatever you want to do.” Jim was pretty straightforward about what he wanted to do. “Let’s just get up there and do it. None of the bullshit.”
Jim had given his word that he would give the band another 6 months, but inside he already had his mind made up to shed the sex symbol image forever. In addition, it was getting harder for Morrison to communicate with the rest of the band.
Although the audience expected to see Jim Morrison, the wild man, Jim the Shaman, Jim the Lizard King perform at the Hollywood Bowl on July 5, what they got was a lead singer who ingested acid prior to going to stage. Jim was subdued and rather humorous during this performance. Jim was up for the theatrics and pulled it off on que during the “Unknown Solider” but his heart surely wasn’t in this performance. The Jim Morrison that the audience had come to rely on for their amusement was absent on this night.
The Doors traveled to the East Coast of the States as part of their ’68 tour. In September they headed to the U.K. securing a memorable performance at London’s Roundhouse which was filmed by Granada TV. Jim Morrison ingested a huge amount of drugs on the streets of Amsterdam and was unable to go on stage. While Jim was carried off to the hospital, Ray stepped in to sing the lyrics. Robby professed that the audience should have been refunded their money, but the show went on as scheduled without Jim.
SEPTEMBER 21 1968: The Doors with exception of Jim and Pam, return to Los Angeles after finishing their last gig in Stockholm, Sweden. Jim and Pam remain in London at the Belgravia Hotel through October 20 1968. (Doors On The Road p. 133)
OCTOBER 2 or 3, 1968 while Jim Morrison is in London, the other band members are approached by Buick with a lucrative offer for the use of “Light My Fire” as an underscore to a commercial. After efforts to contact Jim fail, they agree to the proposal. (The Doors On The Road p. 134)
‘While Jim and Pam were gone, another incident happened that drove a wedge between Morrison and the rest of the group/ An ad agency offered the band considerable money to use “Light My Fire” in a Buick commercial.
Bill Siddons: “Jim had decided to disappear. Which for me, was the first time he disappeared. For four days no one had any idea where he was and suddenly Buick was offering close to a hundred thousand dollars to use, “Light My Fire.” Since Robby was the actual writer of the song, I felt he should make the decision. For some reason it was a high pressure, ‘You gotta give an answer now’ situation, so together we all decided, ‘Well, what the hell…..why not? You, know, we were all practically teenagers. I mean, Ray was the old guy at twenty-five. And Jim came back in a couple of days and just freaked out. He thought it was the tackiest thing in the world to do with The Doors’ music. Subsequently, I figured out that he was absolutely right. Jim knew what The Doors were doing and for what they meant to people, it was the wrong thing to do. Obviously it didn’t destroy their career, but it created a real anger in him (Jim) and the other three Doors. He felt betrayed by them because of it. And no one did it to betray him. We didn’t know what to do and it was free money being dangled in front of us.”
Columbus Courson (Pamela Courson’s Father): “Jim was mad as hell. He called Ray and said, ‘Hell, this song will be classic. We sell it in a damned ad, that’ll be the end of it, nobody’ll ever give it anything.’ He was just furious, and he hung up on him. And Pam said, ‘Jim, he’s your best friend;’ and Jim was sort of violent….and she said, “Well, what are you going to do? He said, ‘Don’t worry, they’re not gonna let their little goldfish swim away.’”
Rich Linnell: “One of the few times I saw Jim angry was when he found out about, “Come on Buick Light My Fire.” Out of control. He felt betrayed. His partners had betrayed him, they had sold out to corporate America without asking him. I was there when he told them, “How could you do this to me? This my band too. How could you make that decision without me? One of them said, “Well man, you didn’t tell us where you were going, and the offer would have expired.” “So What?” He just didn’t get it. Whether he was gone for a day or a month, it didn’t matter, but you don’t sell out to the establishment. Postpone it or cancel but don’t give my soul away. That was the end of the dream. That was the end of that era of Jim’s relationship with the other members of the band; from them on it was business. That was the day Jim said, “I don’t have partners anymore, I have associates.” (A Feast Of Friends p. 83)
Cheri Siddons: He was an artist. And I think the angriest he ever was happened when The Doors decided to let Buick use “Light My Fire.” I just remember this real unhappiness. I think if he ever was going to yell, he would have yelled that day. He didn’t yell, but to me it was almost like a light switched off. That was like the last straw somehow. I’m not sure if he really liked Robby, Ray and John after that. I think he could sense they had different purposes; they were more into the money and the business and would sacrifice some of the art for that. Jim as not willing to sacrifice the art for anything. (A Feast Of Friends p. 126)
Jim: “I’m the square of the western hemisphere. Whenever somebody’d say something groovy, it’d blow my mind. Now, I’m learning, I hate people. I don’t need them. If I had an axe, I’d kill everyone…….except my friends.” (1968 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 89)
Ray Manzarek recalls the Buick Commerical fiasco in his auto-biography, Light My Fire published in 1997:
“So to be asked to use a rock song over a commerical for a new, sharp little machine was at once lucrative and subversive. We could get "Light My Fire" played again on national television. We could get rock and roll on a medium that had very little to do with rock
music. We could make a few inroads in the changeover of consiousness. Or so I thought. Back then. Back when I was a naif.
I approved the request posthaste. So did Robby and John. Jim was nowhere to be found. He was on one of his now more frequent disappearing trips. Probably off cavorting with Jimbo. Or perhaps locked in battle with Jimbo. Wrestling for control. Fighting for the destiny of the entity christened James Douglas Morrison.
When he finally did show up a few days later, the Buick commercial was a fait accompli. They needed a yes or no immediately. We said yes and signed paper. Jim freaked.
"You can't have signed without me!" he yelled.
"Well, we did," I said.
"Why, man? We do everything together. Why'd you do this without me?"
"Because you weren't here," said Robby.
"So what? Couldn't you have waited for me?"
"Who knew when you were coming back?" added John.
"They needed an answer right away," I said. "So we signed."
"It's not like it's typical Buick road hog or something." said
Robby. It's a cool little car."
"Gets real good mileage," said John.
"Four cylinders," I added. A sports car. Two-seater."
"Fuck You!" shouted Jim.
A silence filled the rehearsal room. Jim had never screamed like that before. He was enraged. And he looked wasted. He looked as if his nerve ends were frazzled. He looked as if he had been doing
things he shouldn't have. And he looked shattered. He was clearly not in control of himself...or his emotions. He stomped around the room, agitated, hyper, angered.
"Fuck You guys!" he said again. "I thought it was supposed to be all for one and one for all. I thought we were suppose to be brothers!"
"Jiiim. we are, man" I said in feeble response to his strange and terrible outburst. Nothing has changed."
"You weren't here," said Robby.
"Everything has fucking changed, Ray! Jim said. "Everything!"
"Why? I don't understand. Just because we signed a contract for a
fucking song...why has everything changed?" I asked him.
And then he came back with a line that really hurt me. Hurt John and Robby, too. Stabbed the Doors in their collective heart.
"Because I can't trust you anymore," he snarled.
"But it's good little car, man" protested John.
"It's fucking industry! It's corporate! It's the devil, you
asshole." Jim glared. "You guys just made a pact with the devil."
"The hell we did," said Robby.
"Oh yes you did, Robby. He seduced you with cute little gas efficient
cars. He shows you what you want and then he puts a little twist in
it. Makes you say yes to him when you know you shouldn't..." He
paced the room, manic. "But you go along with it because the deal's
just too good. It tastes too good." And then he looked at me, "It's
too much money, isn't it Ray?"
"Fuck You, Jim." I was getting pissed too.
Another knife in the heart. Was this actually Jim saying these things? Did he really believe what he was saying?
"Well, I'm not in it for the fucking lifestyle, man." I snarled back. "I just wanna make music. And if we can make some money at it...that's cool with me."
"Lots of money," Jim sarcastically said under his breath.
"What'd you say?"
"You heard me."
He was really pushing it.
Robby jumped into the fray. "Why weren't you here, man? A big decision had to be made and you weren't here, again!"
"Where do you go all the time" asked John.
"Wherever I want!" Jim shot back. "And it's none of your fucking business. You understand?"
John turned away from Jim's penetrating glare. Unable to confront him. Unable to say what was really on his mind. Hell, none of us could confront him. None of us had the psychic strength to call him on the carpet and read the riot act to him. It was probably just what he needed. Maybe even what he wanted.
"No one tells me what to do, John. You got that?"
I jumped in. "Nobody’s telling you what to do, man. We just want to know how come you're never around when you're needed. Where the fuck were you?"
"We called everywhere," added Robby.
"You weren't home, you weren't at the Alta Cienga," I said. "We called Barneys, the Palms, the Garden District...you weren't at the Whisky, Mario hadn't seen you in a couple of weeks." "Even Babe
didn't know where you were," said Robby.
NOTE: (All sources up to this point said Jim and Pamela were in England and had just returned to thet States to find the song had been sold to commercial. i don't understand where Ray comes up with places Jim could have been in L.A.)
Jim eruoted again. "Hey! This isn't about where I go." Then pointing an accusatory finger. "This is about you guys signing a contract without me." A silence filled the room again. Jim had broken out in a sweat. I felt cold and clammy. The evil green thing began wrapping
its tentacles around my stomach, probing for weakness. I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.
I felt bad, hurt, misunderstood. Here I was trying to hold the whole damn thing together. Trying to be the adult. Jim had abandoned ship.
He was over the top, gone. The Ray and Jim show from Venice do longer existed. I was the oldest. I had to try and maintain the dream, hoping he would snap out of this phase he was in. Hoping that it was a phase. An aberration, a momentary aberration. Hoping that
he would come to his senses and we could resume our grail qust together. The four of us. The Doors. Brothers in the void. Supporting and nurturing one another. Hell, keeping one another alive! And we had so much more work to do. More music and poetry. Theater - Jim and I had talked of a multimedia theater project with
actors and dancers and rear-screen projections and recitations and Doors' music - the "Magic Theater" of Hermann Hesse. Films, directed by me, starring Jim, music by Robby Krieger and John Densmore. And
finally politics. The takeover of America by the lovers! He had to snap out of it. He had to come back to his old self. His real self.
"Well, it's too late," said Robby.
Jim wheeled on him. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that. I'm gonna smash a fucking Buick to dust on stage." He was perspiring more profusely now. "It's gonna be part of my new act. 'Smash a Buick to Smithereens.' We'll see how they like that. And then I'm gonna get Abe to sue their asses. For big bucks, Ray. For a lot more than their shitty little contract. Then let's see if they still want to use a Doors song to sell a sports car."
He was pacing and sweating and clearly out of control. He stormed out of the rehearsal room and rushed up to the offices, barged into Siddons room and told Bill to get our new, young hotshot lawyer -
Abe Sommers - on the phone. When he did, Jim got on the line and hollered at Abe to do whatever he could to stop the contract.[/color]"Threaten' them with a lawsuit," he shouted into the phone. "Tell
them I'm gonna smash a Buick with a sledgehammer onstage! Tell them anything! But stop the fucking contract!"
And in three days, Buick backed out. They simply decided they didn't want to go with a rock ad campaign after all. Nothing against the Doors or their music, you understand. They simply shifted demographic focus. It was done, finished. And Jim grinned from ear to ear. He had exercised his will against the corporate
establishment and he was a contented man. He made them back down. Hell, he made them back all the way out. It felt good. And he wanted more.
And that was called...Miami. (Ray Manzarek from his book ‘Light My Fire’ Pages 305-309
(NOTE: In 2005 Ray Manzarek testified before a Los Angeles Superior Court, under oath, when questioned about the Buick Commercial incident, he claimed the reason Jim didn’t want ‘Light My Fire’ to be used for a commercial was because Jim’s dad drove a Buick. – Another interesting point is the fact that Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger counter-sued John Densmore and Jim Morrison’s Estate on the grounds that John and Jim’s Estate would not allow Doors music to be sold for commercial use. Ray and Robby claim that they were loosing millions of dollars because John and Estate would not authorize the use of Doors music for commercial purposes.)
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Shortly after the Buick Commercial incident, The Association of Concert Halls had decided that a Special Rider should be attached to all performance contracts involving The Group:
Bill Siddons: “This group of men sent out a letter saying that The Doors were troublemakers and that, if in the judgment of the Hall Manager, the content of the performances was immoral, indecent or illegal, the show would be ended immediately. So the promoters had to do a lot of pushing and fighting to get us into the halls. They had to give a personal guarantee that if anything happens, they, the promoters, would be solely responsible for it.”
Also at this time the band’s accountants advised them that they were also in a crisis situation over ‘Feast of Friends,’ the title they had decided to call their documentary. Some thirty thousand dollars had already been spent on the project, but there was still a great deal of editing to do and none of the planned fictional sequences had been filmed. While Morrison was satisfied with the progress, the other Doors were worried that the film was turning into another white elephant along the lines of “Celebration of the Lizard.”
Jim: “I’m interested in film because, to me, it’ the closet approximation in art that we have to the actual flow of consciousness.” (1969 The Doors In Their Own Words p.85)
Frank Lisciandro: “Robby John, and Ray pulled the plug because the accountant had a bottom-line mentality about it. We were in the middle of the editing process. Paul (Ferrara) and I went to see Jim, who was staying at one of his infamous small motels somewhere. We said, ‘What’s going on? We’re in the middle of this project, we’ve got most of it filmed, what are we gonna do? He said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just keep working. I’ll take care if it.”
Ray: “At school, at UCLA, I was always interested in film, as it seemed to combine my interests in drama, visual arts, music – and the profit motive!” (1972 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 85)
A compromise was reached. Plans for additional filming were dropped and Ferrara and Lisciandro agreed to work without salary. The Doors put up the four thousand still needed to complete the editing and lab work.
Jim Morrison: “In conception, it was a very small crew following us around for three or four months in a lot of concerts, culminating in the Hollywood Bowl. Then the group went to Europe on a short tour and while we were there, Frank and Paul, the editor and photographer, starting hacking it together. We returned, we looked through the rough cut and showed it to people. No one liked it very much and a lot of people were ready to abandon the project. I was almost of that opinion, too. Frank and Paul wanted a chance, so we let them.
(Break On Through p. 271-272)
OCTOBER 1968, Eye Magazine requested an interview with Jim Morrison and Jim compromised and offered to write a “rap” instead. Here is an excerpt of Jim’s rap.
He sought exposure and lived the horror of trying to
Assemble a myth before a billion dull dry ruthless eyes.
Ask anyone what sense he would preserve above all others. Most would say sight, forfeiting a million eyes in a body for two in the skull. Blind, we could live and possibly discover wisdom. Without touch, we would turn into hunks of wood.
Mates are first chosen by visual. Not odor, rhythm, skin. It is an error to believe that the eye can caress a woman. Is a woman constructed out of light or of skin? Her image is never real in the eye, it is engraved on the ends of the fingers.
(Break On Through P. 273-274)
NOVEMBER 1968 The Doors toured the Southwest of the United States and then to the mid-west. On December 15, 1968 The Doors performed on the Smothers Brothers Show.
On DECEMBER 14 1968, The Doors performed at the L.A. Forum a concert which created an atmosphere of discontent among the audience in attendance due to Jims’ will of shedding his so-called Lizard King image. The Doors debut a few songs from what will become their 4th album, “The Soft Parade.’ To accompany the band, a brass section has been added which shares a portion of the stage.
‘Ray Manzarek, ever the artistic soul, had gotten the others to agree to have the evening opened by a traditional Japanese koto player.
Vince Trenor: “The guy was into traditional Japanese art music, poetic music. The stuff he played was young if it was two thousand years old and this was in front of 18 thousand teenage kids. Well, they damn near had a riot, they booed they guy so bad. I felt horrible for him. It was just so irreverent and terribly rude and the guy could not help but realize what was going on, but he was a traditionalist and therefore he had to finish the performance. And he went through to the bitter end.” (Break On Through p. 277)
After performing 5 songs ‘the crowd becomes impatient and begins intensifying their cries of “Light My Fire,” and even “Do something!” This is not a bad night for The Doors, but a significant portion of the music is so new it will not appear on an album for 6 months, and much of it is rather quiet compared to previous Doors shows.
Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t fare much better, playing mostly country songs to an audience who repeatedly let him know what they thought of country by booing their hearts out. Sweetwater, a local rock group, followed and did the wisest thing possible – shortened their set in front of the wild crowd and got offstage as quickly as they could. (Break On Through p. 277)
The incessant clamoring for ‘Light My Fire’ makes the audience seem harshly unsympathetic to anything else the band want to introduce. The attitude of these ever-increasing ‘top 40’ fanatics who demand nothing but the hits will contribute significantly to the band’s disgust with the way rock and roll is – or isn’t – developing. The Doors have observed a change in the audience as their music became more popular. Their apprehensions will peak with a few months when they record the spontaneous ‘Rock Is Dead’ session and Jim Morrison accosts the audience at Miami’s Dinner Key Auditorium.’
Next comes the piece everyone has been calling for, and it is a showstopper. This version of ‘Light My Fire’ is terrific, as evidenced by the audience breaking into spontaneous applause.
After the conclusion of ‘Light My Fire,’ there is a long pause before Morrison sits down cross-legged on the stage and begins to ask the audience what they really want. Although he seems relaxed, there is a mocking and confrontational tone in his voice as he suggests the band could play music all night long, but what the audience really wants is ‘something different, something more.” He then leads the band into their ‘Celebration of the Lizard,’ incorporating lyrics that are quite different from the version finally released on the live album. The audience reaction is mixed. Some seemed interested in the piece, others bored. A few aggravated patrons even bark out some obscenities during the first portion of the song.
As tonight’s rendition of ‘Celebration of the Lizard’ draws to a conclusion each of the band members leaves the stage individually. First, John Densmore inconspicuously strolls off, then Robby Krieger unplugs his guitar and follows. Finally Ray Manzarek leaves with Morrison alone onstage as he quietly recites the final poetic verses of the composition and then solemnly walks off the stage.
The effect is transcendent. As opposed to the usual thunderous applause exhibited at the end of the show, the somewhat stunned audience of over 18,000 send out a brief ripple of quiet acknowledgement, and then stare mutely before leaving the venue in near silence. (The Doors On The Road p. 143).
After the Forum show was over, Morrison said it had been “great fun,” but the party backstage felt like a funeral. Afterward, Jim went out to the Forum parking lot and played kick the can with his brother, Andy and Pamela.
A monster arrived
In the mirror
To mock the room
& it’s fool alone
(Break On Through p. 281)
In an interview after the L.A. Forum show Morrison said: “I don’t know what will happen. I’d guess we’ll carry on like this for a while then, to get our vitality back, maybe we’ll have to get out of the whole business….maybe go to an island by ourselves and start creating again. I might put some of it in a song……but the trouble is, the outcome wasn’t clear-cut enough for that.” (1969-The Doors In Their Own Words P. 63)
Moving ahead to 1969, The Doors performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City. ‘Morrison began the concert similarly to the way he had begun the Forum show – mellow, subdued, no howls or writhing. He was self-assured, even smiling, and some say he never sounded more melodic. He didn’t engage in strenuous theatrics, but still displayed why he was rock’s most exciting performer.
Why Jim Would Have Returned To The Doors
thread.
TIME LINE
Jim: “We’re a partnership, artistically and financially. We share equally. In the beginning, a lot of it was to keep the unit together. We have a very different vision of reality, different points to make.” (1969 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 75)
MAY 1968: The Doors finished their 3rd album, “Waiting For The Sun.” This was a very difficult album to put together due to the fact that the majority of the lyrics and music was pieced together. Jim had hoped “Celebration of the Lizard” would have taken up one side of the album which in the final result only a small segment, “Not To Touch The Earth’ actually made it to vinyl. Jim was disappointed that COTL did not live up to his expectations. The band had been touring for most of 1967 and the spring of 1968 and the music and lyrics suffered the consequences when it came time to record ‘Waiting For The Sun.”
Jim Morrison: “I think most rock musicians and singers really do enjoy what they are doing,” he said. “It’d be physically unnerving to do it just for the bread. What screws it up is the surrounding bullshit that’s laid on them by the press, the gossip columnists and fan magazines…..All of a sudden everyone is laying all this extraneous bullshit on his trip. So he starts to doubt his motivation. There’s always the adulators – they just jangle the sensibilities. So you feel a little sense of shame and frustration about what you are doing. It’s too bad. It’s really too bad. (Break On Through p.252)
‘Although he had made very few concessions to commerciality, the public perceived The Doors as Jim Morrison and he was blamed the most for the shift toward Top 40. Morrison began seeing himself as a misunderstood poet living with the confines of the rock medium. More and more young kids were attending the shows now, and most of them couldn’t understand or appreciate his lyrics. They saw him only as a sex symbol and just wanted to hear the hits from the radio. The more he realized the words were being overlooked, the more frustrated he became. Jim Morrison wanted to be taken seriously as a poet more than anything else. He had always been interested in film and writing, and had taken on his duties with The Doors truly believing he couldn’t sing a note. Inside, Morrison wanted to be part of the artistic elite – recognized as a writer, a poet, a true artist.’ (Break On Through p. 252-253)
Jim: “It’s all done tongue and cheek – I don’t think too many people realize that. It’s not supposed to be taken seriously. It’s supposed to be ironic.” (1968 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 90)
Robbie: “With Jim, it was like the band, and the Voice of God up front, and everybody seemed to be overshadowed by that voice.” (1980 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 76)
JUNE 1968 Jim Morrison spoke with Ray Manzarek concerning his discontent in continuing to be a rock star. In short order, Jim wanted out of the band. Ray asked Jim to give the band another 6 months. Jim reluctantly went back to being the lead singer of The Doors.
‘Sometime in the summer of 1968 it began to dawn on him (Morrison), through the haze, that he was a rock star and, worse, that he was likely to remain one. Despite his sense of humor, no one took Morrison as seriously as Morrison took himself. Now, as the tongue in cheek Lizard King, he was forced to realize that he would never be so much Baudelaire and Rimbaud as he was Bozo Dionysus. As if grasping at a last way out of the ever expanding parody he was becoming of himself, Morrison decided to burst his own bubble. He saw the only way out and he took it. He walked into The Doors office and suddenly announced he was quitting the group. “It’s not what I want to do anymore,” he said. It was once, but it’s not anymore.”’ (Break On Through p. 252-53)
‘Amid the opened mouthed stares that greeted this remark, only Ray Manzarek was able to rise to the occasion. He talked to Jim, weighing the various possibilities and the ramifications of such a decision. In the end, Ray asked for and got six more months. But although Jim could reason out the logistics of a decision and make the right choice, he could not always live up to the commitment. There was something about Jim Morrison that always wound up doing exactly what he wanted to do whether it was the right choice or not.’ (Break On Through p. 253)
Rich Linnell: “At the beginning, for me being late ’66, early ’67 Jim always seemed to be little bit apart from the band. As time went on, Jim became more and more distant from the band. He would arrive differently, he’d come by himself, he’d leave earlier or later. Jim would have his little group in the dressing room and the three guys would have theirs. Robby, as recently as a few years ago would say, ‘yeah for along time it was the three of us against Jim. And then when we didn’t have Jim anymore, then we fought amongst ourselves.’” (A Feast Of Friends p. 82)
Vince Treanor: (Equipment Manager) “He (Jim) had no intention of quitting the band, That was all a myth, you know, just talk. He was scaring the group. What he was saying was ‘Does somebody love me? That’s all it was. He wasn’t stupid. Because the minute you take away a forum from a guy like Jim, he becomes a nonentity. What the hell was Morrison gonna do without The Doors? When a guy needs a stage to speak from is he going to quit the stage? And what would he do for money? How would he pay for his drinking, his parties, all those plane tickets, and those bashes in Palm Springs? The boy wasn’t stupid.”
MID – JUNE 1968, The Doors have a band meeting to discuss the up and coming show at the Hollywood Bowl touted in the press to be “The Biggest Rock Event Of The Year.”
Vince Treanor remembers: “Everybody was called into a big meeting……all The Doors, myself, Bill Siddons, and Kathy Lisciandro (Frank’s wife who was now The Doors secretary). Ray had worked out an elaborate production idea for the show – having the band wear Kabuki masks and Oriental theatrical costumes with special lighting and dances…..a whole theatrical production. It was very interesting with all this incredible shit going on before, during and after the performance. But the other guys felt that it just wasn’t The Doors. Jim didn’t say much of anything. He didn’t give a damn what they did. He didn’t care if they had fire hoses onstage at that point. “Just give me my microphone and do whatever you want to do.” Jim was pretty straightforward about what he wanted to do. “Let’s just get up there and do it. None of the bullshit.”
Jim had given his word that he would give the band another 6 months, but inside he already had his mind made up to shed the sex symbol image forever. In addition, it was getting harder for Morrison to communicate with the rest of the band.
Although the audience expected to see Jim Morrison, the wild man, Jim the Shaman, Jim the Lizard King perform at the Hollywood Bowl on July 5, what they got was a lead singer who ingested acid prior to going to stage. Jim was subdued and rather humorous during this performance. Jim was up for the theatrics and pulled it off on que during the “Unknown Solider” but his heart surely wasn’t in this performance. The Jim Morrison that the audience had come to rely on for their amusement was absent on this night.
The Doors traveled to the East Coast of the States as part of their ’68 tour. In September they headed to the U.K. securing a memorable performance at London’s Roundhouse which was filmed by Granada TV. Jim Morrison ingested a huge amount of drugs on the streets of Amsterdam and was unable to go on stage. While Jim was carried off to the hospital, Ray stepped in to sing the lyrics. Robby professed that the audience should have been refunded their money, but the show went on as scheduled without Jim.
SEPTEMBER 21 1968: The Doors with exception of Jim and Pam, return to Los Angeles after finishing their last gig in Stockholm, Sweden. Jim and Pam remain in London at the Belgravia Hotel through October 20 1968. (Doors On The Road p. 133)
OCTOBER 2 or 3, 1968 while Jim Morrison is in London, the other band members are approached by Buick with a lucrative offer for the use of “Light My Fire” as an underscore to a commercial. After efforts to contact Jim fail, they agree to the proposal. (The Doors On The Road p. 134)
‘While Jim and Pam were gone, another incident happened that drove a wedge between Morrison and the rest of the group/ An ad agency offered the band considerable money to use “Light My Fire” in a Buick commercial.
Bill Siddons: “Jim had decided to disappear. Which for me, was the first time he disappeared. For four days no one had any idea where he was and suddenly Buick was offering close to a hundred thousand dollars to use, “Light My Fire.” Since Robby was the actual writer of the song, I felt he should make the decision. For some reason it was a high pressure, ‘You gotta give an answer now’ situation, so together we all decided, ‘Well, what the hell…..why not? You, know, we were all practically teenagers. I mean, Ray was the old guy at twenty-five. And Jim came back in a couple of days and just freaked out. He thought it was the tackiest thing in the world to do with The Doors’ music. Subsequently, I figured out that he was absolutely right. Jim knew what The Doors were doing and for what they meant to people, it was the wrong thing to do. Obviously it didn’t destroy their career, but it created a real anger in him (Jim) and the other three Doors. He felt betrayed by them because of it. And no one did it to betray him. We didn’t know what to do and it was free money being dangled in front of us.”
Columbus Courson (Pamela Courson’s Father): “Jim was mad as hell. He called Ray and said, ‘Hell, this song will be classic. We sell it in a damned ad, that’ll be the end of it, nobody’ll ever give it anything.’ He was just furious, and he hung up on him. And Pam said, ‘Jim, he’s your best friend;’ and Jim was sort of violent….and she said, “Well, what are you going to do? He said, ‘Don’t worry, they’re not gonna let their little goldfish swim away.’”
Rich Linnell: “One of the few times I saw Jim angry was when he found out about, “Come on Buick Light My Fire.” Out of control. He felt betrayed. His partners had betrayed him, they had sold out to corporate America without asking him. I was there when he told them, “How could you do this to me? This my band too. How could you make that decision without me? One of them said, “Well man, you didn’t tell us where you were going, and the offer would have expired.” “So What?” He just didn’t get it. Whether he was gone for a day or a month, it didn’t matter, but you don’t sell out to the establishment. Postpone it or cancel but don’t give my soul away. That was the end of the dream. That was the end of that era of Jim’s relationship with the other members of the band; from them on it was business. That was the day Jim said, “I don’t have partners anymore, I have associates.” (A Feast Of Friends p. 83)
Cheri Siddons: He was an artist. And I think the angriest he ever was happened when The Doors decided to let Buick use “Light My Fire.” I just remember this real unhappiness. I think if he ever was going to yell, he would have yelled that day. He didn’t yell, but to me it was almost like a light switched off. That was like the last straw somehow. I’m not sure if he really liked Robby, Ray and John after that. I think he could sense they had different purposes; they were more into the money and the business and would sacrifice some of the art for that. Jim as not willing to sacrifice the art for anything. (A Feast Of Friends p. 126)
Jim: “I’m the square of the western hemisphere. Whenever somebody’d say something groovy, it’d blow my mind. Now, I’m learning, I hate people. I don’t need them. If I had an axe, I’d kill everyone…….except my friends.” (1968 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 89)
Ray Manzarek recalls the Buick Commerical fiasco in his auto-biography, Light My Fire published in 1997:
“So to be asked to use a rock song over a commerical for a new, sharp little machine was at once lucrative and subversive. We could get "Light My Fire" played again on national television. We could get rock and roll on a medium that had very little to do with rock
music. We could make a few inroads in the changeover of consiousness. Or so I thought. Back then. Back when I was a naif.
I approved the request posthaste. So did Robby and John. Jim was nowhere to be found. He was on one of his now more frequent disappearing trips. Probably off cavorting with Jimbo. Or perhaps locked in battle with Jimbo. Wrestling for control. Fighting for the destiny of the entity christened James Douglas Morrison.
When he finally did show up a few days later, the Buick commercial was a fait accompli. They needed a yes or no immediately. We said yes and signed paper. Jim freaked.
"You can't have signed without me!" he yelled.
"Well, we did," I said.
"Why, man? We do everything together. Why'd you do this without me?"
"Because you weren't here," said Robby.
"So what? Couldn't you have waited for me?"
"Who knew when you were coming back?" added John.
"They needed an answer right away," I said. "So we signed."
"It's not like it's typical Buick road hog or something." said
Robby. It's a cool little car."
"Gets real good mileage," said John.
"Four cylinders," I added. A sports car. Two-seater."
"Fuck You!" shouted Jim.
A silence filled the rehearsal room. Jim had never screamed like that before. He was enraged. And he looked wasted. He looked as if his nerve ends were frazzled. He looked as if he had been doing
things he shouldn't have. And he looked shattered. He was clearly not in control of himself...or his emotions. He stomped around the room, agitated, hyper, angered.
"Fuck You guys!" he said again. "I thought it was supposed to be all for one and one for all. I thought we were suppose to be brothers!"
"Jiiim. we are, man" I said in feeble response to his strange and terrible outburst. Nothing has changed."
"You weren't here," said Robby.
"Everything has fucking changed, Ray! Jim said. "Everything!"
"Why? I don't understand. Just because we signed a contract for a
fucking song...why has everything changed?" I asked him.
And then he came back with a line that really hurt me. Hurt John and Robby, too. Stabbed the Doors in their collective heart.
"Because I can't trust you anymore," he snarled.
"But it's good little car, man" protested John.
"It's fucking industry! It's corporate! It's the devil, you
asshole." Jim glared. "You guys just made a pact with the devil."
"The hell we did," said Robby.
"Oh yes you did, Robby. He seduced you with cute little gas efficient
cars. He shows you what you want and then he puts a little twist in
it. Makes you say yes to him when you know you shouldn't..." He
paced the room, manic. "But you go along with it because the deal's
just too good. It tastes too good." And then he looked at me, "It's
too much money, isn't it Ray?"
"Fuck You, Jim." I was getting pissed too.
Another knife in the heart. Was this actually Jim saying these things? Did he really believe what he was saying?
"Well, I'm not in it for the fucking lifestyle, man." I snarled back. "I just wanna make music. And if we can make some money at it...that's cool with me."
"Lots of money," Jim sarcastically said under his breath.
"What'd you say?"
"You heard me."
He was really pushing it.
Robby jumped into the fray. "Why weren't you here, man? A big decision had to be made and you weren't here, again!"
"Where do you go all the time" asked John.
"Wherever I want!" Jim shot back. "And it's none of your fucking business. You understand?"
John turned away from Jim's penetrating glare. Unable to confront him. Unable to say what was really on his mind. Hell, none of us could confront him. None of us had the psychic strength to call him on the carpet and read the riot act to him. It was probably just what he needed. Maybe even what he wanted.
"No one tells me what to do, John. You got that?"
I jumped in. "Nobody’s telling you what to do, man. We just want to know how come you're never around when you're needed. Where the fuck were you?"
"We called everywhere," added Robby.
"You weren't home, you weren't at the Alta Cienga," I said. "We called Barneys, the Palms, the Garden District...you weren't at the Whisky, Mario hadn't seen you in a couple of weeks." "Even Babe
didn't know where you were," said Robby.
NOTE: (All sources up to this point said Jim and Pamela were in England and had just returned to thet States to find the song had been sold to commercial. i don't understand where Ray comes up with places Jim could have been in L.A.)
Jim eruoted again. "Hey! This isn't about where I go." Then pointing an accusatory finger. "This is about you guys signing a contract without me." A silence filled the room again. Jim had broken out in a sweat. I felt cold and clammy. The evil green thing began wrapping
its tentacles around my stomach, probing for weakness. I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.
I felt bad, hurt, misunderstood. Here I was trying to hold the whole damn thing together. Trying to be the adult. Jim had abandoned ship.
He was over the top, gone. The Ray and Jim show from Venice do longer existed. I was the oldest. I had to try and maintain the dream, hoping he would snap out of this phase he was in. Hoping that it was a phase. An aberration, a momentary aberration. Hoping that
he would come to his senses and we could resume our grail qust together. The four of us. The Doors. Brothers in the void. Supporting and nurturing one another. Hell, keeping one another alive! And we had so much more work to do. More music and poetry. Theater - Jim and I had talked of a multimedia theater project with
actors and dancers and rear-screen projections and recitations and Doors' music - the "Magic Theater" of Hermann Hesse. Films, directed by me, starring Jim, music by Robby Krieger and John Densmore. And
finally politics. The takeover of America by the lovers! He had to snap out of it. He had to come back to his old self. His real self.
"Well, it's too late," said Robby.
Jim wheeled on him. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that. I'm gonna smash a fucking Buick to dust on stage." He was perspiring more profusely now. "It's gonna be part of my new act. 'Smash a Buick to Smithereens.' We'll see how they like that. And then I'm gonna get Abe to sue their asses. For big bucks, Ray. For a lot more than their shitty little contract. Then let's see if they still want to use a Doors song to sell a sports car."
He was pacing and sweating and clearly out of control. He stormed out of the rehearsal room and rushed up to the offices, barged into Siddons room and told Bill to get our new, young hotshot lawyer -
Abe Sommers - on the phone. When he did, Jim got on the line and hollered at Abe to do whatever he could to stop the contract.[/color]"Threaten' them with a lawsuit," he shouted into the phone. "Tell
them I'm gonna smash a Buick with a sledgehammer onstage! Tell them anything! But stop the fucking contract!"
And in three days, Buick backed out. They simply decided they didn't want to go with a rock ad campaign after all. Nothing against the Doors or their music, you understand. They simply shifted demographic focus. It was done, finished. And Jim grinned from ear to ear. He had exercised his will against the corporate
establishment and he was a contented man. He made them back down. Hell, he made them back all the way out. It felt good. And he wanted more.
And that was called...Miami. (Ray Manzarek from his book ‘Light My Fire’ Pages 305-309
(NOTE: In 2005 Ray Manzarek testified before a Los Angeles Superior Court, under oath, when questioned about the Buick Commercial incident, he claimed the reason Jim didn’t want ‘Light My Fire’ to be used for a commercial was because Jim’s dad drove a Buick. – Another interesting point is the fact that Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger counter-sued John Densmore and Jim Morrison’s Estate on the grounds that John and Jim’s Estate would not allow Doors music to be sold for commercial use. Ray and Robby claim that they were loosing millions of dollars because John and Estate would not authorize the use of Doors music for commercial purposes.)
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Shortly after the Buick Commercial incident, The Association of Concert Halls had decided that a Special Rider should be attached to all performance contracts involving The Group:
Bill Siddons: “This group of men sent out a letter saying that The Doors were troublemakers and that, if in the judgment of the Hall Manager, the content of the performances was immoral, indecent or illegal, the show would be ended immediately. So the promoters had to do a lot of pushing and fighting to get us into the halls. They had to give a personal guarantee that if anything happens, they, the promoters, would be solely responsible for it.”
Also at this time the band’s accountants advised them that they were also in a crisis situation over ‘Feast of Friends,’ the title they had decided to call their documentary. Some thirty thousand dollars had already been spent on the project, but there was still a great deal of editing to do and none of the planned fictional sequences had been filmed. While Morrison was satisfied with the progress, the other Doors were worried that the film was turning into another white elephant along the lines of “Celebration of the Lizard.”
Jim: “I’m interested in film because, to me, it’ the closet approximation in art that we have to the actual flow of consciousness.” (1969 The Doors In Their Own Words p.85)
Frank Lisciandro: “Robby John, and Ray pulled the plug because the accountant had a bottom-line mentality about it. We were in the middle of the editing process. Paul (Ferrara) and I went to see Jim, who was staying at one of his infamous small motels somewhere. We said, ‘What’s going on? We’re in the middle of this project, we’ve got most of it filmed, what are we gonna do? He said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just keep working. I’ll take care if it.”
Ray: “At school, at UCLA, I was always interested in film, as it seemed to combine my interests in drama, visual arts, music – and the profit motive!” (1972 The Doors In Their Own Words p. 85)
A compromise was reached. Plans for additional filming were dropped and Ferrara and Lisciandro agreed to work without salary. The Doors put up the four thousand still needed to complete the editing and lab work.
Jim Morrison: “In conception, it was a very small crew following us around for three or four months in a lot of concerts, culminating in the Hollywood Bowl. Then the group went to Europe on a short tour and while we were there, Frank and Paul, the editor and photographer, starting hacking it together. We returned, we looked through the rough cut and showed it to people. No one liked it very much and a lot of people were ready to abandon the project. I was almost of that opinion, too. Frank and Paul wanted a chance, so we let them.
(Break On Through p. 271-272)
OCTOBER 1968, Eye Magazine requested an interview with Jim Morrison and Jim compromised and offered to write a “rap” instead. Here is an excerpt of Jim’s rap.
He sought exposure and lived the horror of trying to
Assemble a myth before a billion dull dry ruthless eyes.
Ask anyone what sense he would preserve above all others. Most would say sight, forfeiting a million eyes in a body for two in the skull. Blind, we could live and possibly discover wisdom. Without touch, we would turn into hunks of wood.
Mates are first chosen by visual. Not odor, rhythm, skin. It is an error to believe that the eye can caress a woman. Is a woman constructed out of light or of skin? Her image is never real in the eye, it is engraved on the ends of the fingers.
(Break On Through P. 273-274)
NOVEMBER 1968 The Doors toured the Southwest of the United States and then to the mid-west. On December 15, 1968 The Doors performed on the Smothers Brothers Show.
On DECEMBER 14 1968, The Doors performed at the L.A. Forum a concert which created an atmosphere of discontent among the audience in attendance due to Jims’ will of shedding his so-called Lizard King image. The Doors debut a few songs from what will become their 4th album, “The Soft Parade.’ To accompany the band, a brass section has been added which shares a portion of the stage.
‘Ray Manzarek, ever the artistic soul, had gotten the others to agree to have the evening opened by a traditional Japanese koto player.
Vince Trenor: “The guy was into traditional Japanese art music, poetic music. The stuff he played was young if it was two thousand years old and this was in front of 18 thousand teenage kids. Well, they damn near had a riot, they booed they guy so bad. I felt horrible for him. It was just so irreverent and terribly rude and the guy could not help but realize what was going on, but he was a traditionalist and therefore he had to finish the performance. And he went through to the bitter end.” (Break On Through p. 277)
After performing 5 songs ‘the crowd becomes impatient and begins intensifying their cries of “Light My Fire,” and even “Do something!” This is not a bad night for The Doors, but a significant portion of the music is so new it will not appear on an album for 6 months, and much of it is rather quiet compared to previous Doors shows.
Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t fare much better, playing mostly country songs to an audience who repeatedly let him know what they thought of country by booing their hearts out. Sweetwater, a local rock group, followed and did the wisest thing possible – shortened their set in front of the wild crowd and got offstage as quickly as they could. (Break On Through p. 277)
The incessant clamoring for ‘Light My Fire’ makes the audience seem harshly unsympathetic to anything else the band want to introduce. The attitude of these ever-increasing ‘top 40’ fanatics who demand nothing but the hits will contribute significantly to the band’s disgust with the way rock and roll is – or isn’t – developing. The Doors have observed a change in the audience as their music became more popular. Their apprehensions will peak with a few months when they record the spontaneous ‘Rock Is Dead’ session and Jim Morrison accosts the audience at Miami’s Dinner Key Auditorium.’
Next comes the piece everyone has been calling for, and it is a showstopper. This version of ‘Light My Fire’ is terrific, as evidenced by the audience breaking into spontaneous applause.
After the conclusion of ‘Light My Fire,’ there is a long pause before Morrison sits down cross-legged on the stage and begins to ask the audience what they really want. Although he seems relaxed, there is a mocking and confrontational tone in his voice as he suggests the band could play music all night long, but what the audience really wants is ‘something different, something more.” He then leads the band into their ‘Celebration of the Lizard,’ incorporating lyrics that are quite different from the version finally released on the live album. The audience reaction is mixed. Some seemed interested in the piece, others bored. A few aggravated patrons even bark out some obscenities during the first portion of the song.
As tonight’s rendition of ‘Celebration of the Lizard’ draws to a conclusion each of the band members leaves the stage individually. First, John Densmore inconspicuously strolls off, then Robby Krieger unplugs his guitar and follows. Finally Ray Manzarek leaves with Morrison alone onstage as he quietly recites the final poetic verses of the composition and then solemnly walks off the stage.
The effect is transcendent. As opposed to the usual thunderous applause exhibited at the end of the show, the somewhat stunned audience of over 18,000 send out a brief ripple of quiet acknowledgement, and then stare mutely before leaving the venue in near silence. (The Doors On The Road p. 143).
After the Forum show was over, Morrison said it had been “great fun,” but the party backstage felt like a funeral. Afterward, Jim went out to the Forum parking lot and played kick the can with his brother, Andy and Pamela.
A monster arrived
In the mirror
To mock the room
& it’s fool alone
(Break On Through p. 281)
In an interview after the L.A. Forum show Morrison said: “I don’t know what will happen. I’d guess we’ll carry on like this for a while then, to get our vitality back, maybe we’ll have to get out of the whole business….maybe go to an island by ourselves and start creating again. I might put some of it in a song……but the trouble is, the outcome wasn’t clear-cut enough for that.” (1969-The Doors In Their Own Words P. 63)
Moving ahead to 1969, The Doors performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City. ‘Morrison began the concert similarly to the way he had begun the Forum show – mellow, subdued, no howls or writhing. He was self-assured, even smiling, and some say he never sounded more melodic. He didn’t engage in strenuous theatrics, but still displayed why he was rock’s most exciting performer.