Jim Morrison -- A Tribute

Forty-two years ago in Paris, France, Jim Morrison passed away.

I was a Doors fan in high school.  Not a huge Doors fan, but I did have the album Absolutely Live and distinctly remember driving out to Cyrus Erie (a dance club) with high school friends, singing "Show me the way to the next whiskey bar. No don't ask why, no don't ask why..."

I don't think his death came as a shock to us.  After all, the previous year we had lost Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin within days of each other.  Rock stars overdosing seemed to be just part of the game of rock 'n' roll.

I don't think I have an absolute favorite Doors song, because so many of them have been overplayed through the years.  I did like this video of "Love Me Two Time" because it really shows how beautiful Jim was, and gives some good shots of his awesome leather pants and the rockin' hip hugger belt buckle.  That was "the look" when I was in high school.  Well, the hip huggers and the large belt buckles, not leather pants.  They, too, were just part of the game of rock 'n' roll.

The Doors songs I like to hear the most are "Roadhouse Blues" and "Riders on the Storm" because they came later in their career and weren't as incessantly played on the radio.  I also love "The End" and its use in the film Apocalypse Now.  I don't think there is any other song that could have been used that would have set the stage for Captain Willard's journey into the heart of darkness in Vietnam in quite the same way as this one. I think this is why we will always have a place for Doors music in our culture. 

A little trivia: the Doors drew their name from the poet William Blake's quote:

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.” 

 

Every once in a while I find a young person familiar with the Doors, and certainly the #1 fan was a student I had named Kelly Bermudez -- she is an amazing artist and personally dedicated to all things Jim Morrison. For a project in American Literature she created this little painting and let me keep it.  I found the perfect spot for it, too -- right above my wine cellar in the kitchen.  Every time I get out a bottle of wine I think, this is for you, Jim.

I think he would have liked that.