The Unknown Soldier

Wait until the war is over
And we're both a little older
The unknown soldier

Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Unborn living, living, dead
Bullet strikes the helmet's head

And it's all over
For the unknown soldier
It's all over
For the unknown soldier

Hut
Hut
Hut ho hee up
Hut
Hut
Hut ho hee up
Hut
Hut
Hut ho hee up
Comp'nee
Halt
Preeee-zent!
Arms!

Make a grave for the unknown soldier
Nestled in your hollow shoulder
The unknown soldier

Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Bullet strikes the helmet's head

And, it's all over
The war is over
It's all over
The war is over
Well, all over, baby
All over, baby
Oh, over, yeah
All over, baby
Wooooo, hah-hah
All over
All over, baby
Oh, whoa-yeah
All over
All over
Heeeeyyyy



- More time was consumed by the pefectionism of Paul Rothchild. Nearly every song on the album required at least twenty takes- admittedly a lot of the blown takes where Jim's fault- while "The Unknown Soldier," recorded in two parts required a total of 130 starts. (pg. 179, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

- Jim Morrison's father (George Stephen Morrison) was the youngest admiral in the U.S. Navy until 1964.

- Jim Morrison would graduate high school in 1960 from George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia - not too far from the tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Arlington National Cemetary.

- "Breakfast where the news is read, television children fed" Jim Morrison is referring to the late 60's and how the Vietnam War was the first "living-room war." Each and every household in the United States received daily news of the Vietnam War via the local newspapers, or aired daily on television sets everywhere- particularly in front of the children.

- The Saigon bureau was for years the third largest the networks maintained, after New York and Washington, with five camera crews on duty most of the time. Reference

- " Unborn living, living, dead" This has absolutely nothing to do with abortion. It is merely a reflection of how children in the United States were being fed so much television that they were the 'unborn living,' and 'living dead' is a reflection of how they were numbed by by that entertainment.

- The song was Jim Morrison's reaction to the Vietnam War and the way that conflict was portrayed in American media at the time. Lines such as, "Breakfast where the news is read/Television children fed/ unknown living, living dead/bullets strike the helmet's head", concern the way news of the war was being presented in the living rooms of ordinary people. Reference

- The middle of the song acts out a ritual in the ancient tradition of the shaman. Morrison, the artist incarnate of the shamanic spirit, sacrifices himself in a ritual – one of military execution, the firing squad – to purge us of the burden of war. Then he softly invites us to make a grave for all this death. The song recants the breakfast and television fed images, but Jim doesn’t repeat unborn living, living dead, allowing the listener to fill in that hollow space before the bullet hits the helmet’s head and The Doors close by chanting that the war is over. Reference

Five to One

Yeah, c'mon
Love my girl
She lookin' good
C'mon
One more

Five to one, baby
One in five
No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try

The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!

Yeah!

Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime

Come together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, aha
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, gotta, get together

Ohhhhhhhh!

Hey, c'mon, honey
You won't have a long wait for me, baby
I'll be there in just a little while
You see, I gotta go out in this car with these people and...

Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Take you up in my room and...
Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah
Love my girl
She lookin' good, lookin' real good
Love ya, c'mon



- The song took its title from the first line, "Five to One," a statistic that went unexplained by Jim.

- Statistics between 1960-1969

• Population 177,830,000
• Unemployment 3,852,000
• National Debt 286.3 Billion
• Average Salary $4,743
• Teacher's Salary $5,174
• Minimum Wage $1.00
• Life Expectancy: Males 66.6 years, Females 73.1 years
• Auto deaths 21.3 per 100,000
• An estimated 850,000 "war baby" freshmen enter college; emergency living quarters are set up in dorm lounges, hotels and trailer camps.

The sixties were the age of youth, as 70 million children from the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults. The movement away from the conservative fifties continued and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking and real change in the cultural fabric of American life. No longer content to be images of the generation ahead of them, young people wanted change. The changes affected education, values, lifestyles, laws, and entertainment. Many of the revolutionary ideas which began in the sixties are continuing to evolve today. Reference

- Paul Rothchild's theory is that, "Five to one is the same as one in six, the approximate ratio of blacks to whites in the U.S., and one in five I remember being reported as the dope-smoking ratio in Los Angeles." But whenever he was asked, Jim (Morrison) would only say that he didn't consider the song political. (pg 152, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

- Listened to in its entirety, the song seems to be a parody of all the naive revolutionary rhetoric heard on the streets and read in the underground press in the late sixties This interpretation is strongly supported by the final verse, the verse Jim's audience paid little attention to. In it Jim addressed some of the young people in his constituency, the "hippie/flower child" hordes he saw in growing numbers, panhandling on the city sidewalks outside every concert hall.

Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime
(pg 152, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

- He (Jim Morrison) was so drunk when he recorded this song, he needed help from the studio staff on when to begin singing. If you listen closely, you can hear someone in the background say "One more" before Jim starts his first verse. The opening part ("Yeah, c'mon - I love my girl. She lookin' good...") is some of Jim's nonsensical drunk rambling. Reference

- The song's most famous performance was at the 1969 Miami concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium. Towards the end of the performance, a drunken Morrison declared the audience "idiots" and "slaves". The concert would end with Morrison being accused of "attempting to incite a riot" among the concert goers, resulting in his arrest, and later conviction, for indecent exposure.

Author's Note: The above paragraph stated that this event occurred "towards the end of the performance" when rather it was actually near the beginning of the performance as evidenced by the link to the live recording I posted.

- If the lyric "Five to one" is taken to be the mathematical odds against "getting out of here alive," then the next line, "One in five" is incorrect. Five-to-one odds against success represents a one-in-six chance. "Four to one" would correspond to "One in five." Reference

- One of the more common interpretations was that "Five to One" was about the Vietnam War, the title a reference to the oft-repeated statistic that the Viet Cong forces outnumbered American troops by a ratio of five to one. Reference

- Most likely Morrison selected the song's title not because it echoed a ratio that had any particular referent, but simply because he like the sound and meter of the phrases 'five to one' and 'one in five.' Reference

- "Night is drawing near, shadows of the evening crawl across the years" is an adaption of the Victorian-era hymn "Shadows of the Evening," whose first verse is:
Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh.
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky. Reference

Soul Kitchen

Well, the clock says it's time to close now
I guess I'd better go now
I'd really like to stay here all night
The cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes
Street lights share their hollow glow
Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise
Still one place to go
Still one place to go

Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen
Warm my mind near your gentle stove
Turn me out in a wander baby
Stumblin' in the neon groves

Well, your fingers weave quick minarets
Speak in secret alphabets
I light another cigarette
Learn to forget, learn to forget
Learn to forget, learn to forget

Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen
Warm my mind near your gentle stove
Turn me out and I'll wander baby
Stumblin' in the neon groves

Well the clock says it's time to close now
I know I have to go now
I really want to stay here
All night, all night, all night




- "Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen" The song is in reference to a soul food restaurant in Ocean Park called Olivia's.

- The Stone Poneys were discovered at the same soul food restaurant: Discovered by a couple of music executives, while rehearsing at a nearby soul food restaurant called Olivia's which was located in Ocean Park , a community between Venice Beach and Santa Monica, and which was famous for its food and clientle, including the The Doors.

- "Well, the clock says it's time to close now, I guess I'd better go now." Jim Morrison often used to stay too late and the staff had to persistently ask him to leave so they could close for the night.

- "The cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes, street lights share their hollow glow, your brain seems bruised with numb surprise" This sentence is an obvious reflection of Jim Morrison sitting inside the restaurant (Olivia's), very late at night, most likely inebriated, and describing the world outside his window with poetic vision. If you've ever sat at a diner very late at night and watched the cars and people move slowly by- this is precisely how they behave during those wee hours when most of the city is asleep.

Break On Through (To the Other Side)

You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day;
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side

We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there,
Can you still recall
The time we cried?
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side

Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby

She gets, she gets
She gets, she gets

I found an island in your arms
A country in your eyes
Arms that chain,
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side

Made the scene from week to week
Day to day, hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through







- The Doors first single, released in January 1967

- This billboard with the message, THE DOORS: Break On Through with an Electrifying Album" was the first of its kind for a rock band. It was displayed on the Sunset Strip.

- "She gets, she gets" Jac Holzman suggested the band remove the word, "high" at the end of the line because he felt as though the word, "high" would discourage radio airplay. A video on Jac Holzman.

- "You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day." From Genesis 1. First God made heaven & earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.

- It is believed that the song was inspired, as well as the group's name, The Doors, by Aldous Huxley's book, The Doors of Perception, which was inspired by William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

- Author's Note: I believe the song is actually the four parts that make up a life. The first stanza represents "creation" or birth. "You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day, tried to run, tried to hide, break on through to the other side." This is representative of leaving the mother's womb and "breaking" into a new life.

The second stanza represents childhood: "We chased our pleasures here, dug our treasures there, can you still recall the time we cried?"

The third stanza, beginning with the line "Everybody loves my baby...she gets...I found an island in your arms, a country in your eyes, arms that chain, eyes that lie." This confirms a relationship and/or love.

And then the final stanza represents death and the final transition to another world-
Made the scene from week to week, day to day, hour to hour, the gate is straight, deep and wide, break on through to the other side

Jim Morrison created a beautiful and arresting song here. He is not content with just a normal life- he seeks something higher and more meaningful in every aspect of his life: birth, childhood, love, and death.

The following is a quote from Aldous Huxley, confirming the desire to elevate our senses:

- "If we could sniff or swallow something that would, for five or six hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, world-transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution-then, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise."

End of the Night

Take the highway to the end of the night
End of the night, end of the night
Take a journey to the bright midnight
End of the night, end of the night
Realms of bliss, realms of light
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night
End of the night, end of the night
End of the night, end of the night

Realms of bliss, realms of light
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to sweet delight
Some are born to the endless night
End of the night, end of the night
End of the night, end of the night



- End of the Night = The song is loosely inspired by one of Jim Morrison's favorite novels, Journey to the End of the Night, by Louis-ferdinand Celine. Upon reading the classic novel, it is not difficult to conclude what a profound effect this novel had on Morrison considering that the novel is about Bardamu, the sarcastic and brilliant antihero of the novel. The book addresses almost every base and negative aspect of the human experience: warfare, cowardice, lies, corruption, betrayal, slavery, manipulation, exploitation, perversion, persecution, cheating, greed, sickness, loneliness, madness, lust, gossip, abortion, disease, vengeance, and murder. (A thank you to John M. Lemon) These are all the things that appealed to Morrison; including the fact, the novel is lyrical, hallucinatory, and hilariously scathing toward nearly everybody and everything. It is no wonder Morrison dedicated this song to Celine's famous novel.

- "Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to the endless night." This line is inspired by the William Blake poem, Auguries of Innocence.

The last few stanzas of the Blake poem:

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day

- "Realms of bliss, realms of light." = Shakyamuni Buddha taught about a Buddha named Amitabha ("Boundless Light," also known as Amitayus, or "Boundless Life") who presides over a Buddha-realm known as Sukhavati, a realm of rebirth in which all impediments to the attainment of final Enlightenment are nonexistent. This realm, or Pure Land (also known as the Realm of Bliss) is the result of the accumulated merit of the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, who practiced for eons before becoming the Buddha Amitabha.

The Crystal Ship

Before you slip into unconsciousness
I'd like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss

The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We'll meet again, we'll meet again

Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather cry, I'd rather fly

The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I'll drop a line



- Released April 1967

- "The Crystal Ship" is regarded as a goodbye love song to Jim Morrison's first love, Mary Werbelow. Reference

- The inspiration for the "crystal ship" is an oil rig off of Sand's beach in Isla Vista, California.

Author's Note: This song has nothing to do with drugs and everything about Jim Morrison's heavy relationship with his first love, Mary Werbelow. As a poet, he did nothing more than use transparent images for his relation to the past. He (Jim Morrison) hasn't let go of her as evidenced in the first line, "Before you slip into unconsciousness, I'd like to have another kiss."

That means the protagonist had already left her in the physical realm, but has not left her subconsciously. The thought of her still burdens him and he just wants another kiss to somehow make it feel better.

"Another flashing chance at bliss, another kiss." Again, he cannot seem to let go of their love, their relationship, and how much she meant to him.

"The days are bright and filled with pain." He's moved on and is now doing very well as a singer/songwriter in a rock band in L.A., but he still has feelings for her and this song is his testament to her that he still has feelings for her.

"The time you ran was too insane." Jim was one to mock even his girlfriends- he would tease others, but mostly, he was testing them. This line very well could be a reference to a time he felt bad about verbally teasing her- knowing that it upset her.

"The streets are fields that never die, deliver me from reasons why, you'd rather cry, I'd rather fly." A simple line that confirms the end of the relationship and that the protagonist is willing to move on. The streets are fields are his memories, and because they are vague memories now, they also present a reason why he can forget.

And that last stanza confirms his growing popularity as a lead singer for a rock band with an ever-growing popularity. The beauty of it though is how he is saying to her that no matter how big he becomes, he will still think of her, and even call her, when he gets the chance.

The End

This is the end, Beautiful friend
This is the end, My only friend, the end.
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be, So limitless so free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land
Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane, and all the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the king's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake, he's old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best, the west is the best
Get here and we'll do the rest
The blue bus is calling us, the blue bus is calling us
Driver where you takin' us
The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door...and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother...I want to...fuck you
C'mon baby take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, on a blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, c'mon, yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end, Beautiful friend
This is the end, My only friend, the end It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end.



- Released January 4, 1967


(Mary Werbelow and Jim Morrison on the right)

- Said (Jim) Morrison in 1969, "Everytime I hear that song, it means something else to me. It started out as a simple good-bye song probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don't know. I think it's sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be." Producer Paul Rothchild said in an interview that he believed the song to be an inside trip, and that "kill the father" means destroying everything hierarchical, controlling, and restrictive in one's psyche, while "fuck the mother" means embracing everything that is expansive, flowing, and alive in the psyche. Ray Manzarek, the former keyboard player for the Doors spoke about it defensively saying,

"He was giving voice in a rock 'n' roll setting to the Oedipus complex, at the time a widely discussed tendency in Freudian psychology. He wasn't saying he wanted to do that to his own mom and dad. He was re-enacting a bit of Greek drama. It was theatre!" Reference

- Inspiration: Friedrich Nietzche's The Birth of Tragedy. Jim was quoted in the book, No One Here Gets Out Alive, "Oedipus, murderer of his father, husband of his mother, solver of the riddle of the Sphinx...You can really get into your head just repeating the slogan over and over."

"Sophocles had a romantic notion about Oedipus, one that Nietzche wrote about. He called Oedipus the "most sorrowful figure of the Greek stage...the type of noble man who despite his wisdom is fatal to error and misery, but who nevertheless, through his extraordinary sufferings, ulitmately exerts a magical, healing effect on all around him, which continues even after death." Reference pg. 98

- In 1969, Morrison said in an interview that songs like The End and When The Music's Over were free-form pieces that became static when they were recorded. They stopped changing. How do you feel about that?

PR(Paul Rothchild): Well, that's very hip, but not quite accurate. I saw the Doors perform The End no fewer than 100 times, and it simply wasn't that different most of the time - before and after we recorded it. Occasionally Jim would throw in lines - little bits of inspiration like a rhyming couplet - but most of the time the song had a very specific form.

When The End was first performed in the studio, we took almost a whole day to set it up, because it was a very complex piece to record. When we finally got the tape rolling, it was THE most awe-inspiring thing I'd ever witnessed in the studio. It's still one of the top musical events of my LIFE, and I've made over 160 records.

We were about 6 minutes into it when I turned to Bruce (Botnick, the Doors' engineer on every album) and said "Do you understand what's happening here? This is one of the most important moments in recorded rock 'n' roll." Bruce was a just a kid then, and he said, "Really?" I said, "Stop listening to the sound - it's fine - and listen to THE SONG." When it was done, I had goosebumps from head to toe. It was MAGIC.

I went into the studio, and I told them exactly what I just told you, and then, I asked them to do it again. "Let's make sure we've got it." So they did it again, and it was equally brilliant. Afterwards, Ray (Manzarek) said "Whew, I don't think we can do that any better.'"I said, "You don't have to. Between the two takes, we have one of the best masters ever cut." It turns out we used the front half of take one, and the back half of take two. We did the same thing with Light My Fire.

My point is, what you hear on the record is EXACTLY the way the Doors wanted you to hear 'The End'. We had done some trimming before we recorded it - cut away some fat - but what's there WAS the song. So I'd say Jim's statement is not quite the truth. Reference

- The blue bus is calling us =The lyrical reference to "the Blue Bus" has been variously conjectured to refer to either Indian mystic Meher Baba's "Blue Bus" tours of the 1930s or to Santa Monica's "Big Blue Bus" public bus lines. The link to Meher Baba seems unlikely given the dark and nihilistic tone of the song, with its references to insanity, patricide and incest, concepts alien to the life and outlook of Meher Baba. A reference to a bus line is a somewhat better possibility, but probably the most likely conjecture is that Morrison was referring to the drug numorphan (oxymorphone), an opioid substitute for morphine, which in the drug culture at the time was often referred to as "The Blue Bus" (it was available in blue 10mg instant-release tabs). Because of its highly euphoric effect Numorphan was very popular with the drug using community before it was withdrawn from the market in the 1970's. Given Morrison's well-known affinity for drug and alcohol use, and the overall "otherworldly" tenor of the song, this seems a more likely probability. The inspiring image would be that of being together with one's lover in the altered, dreamy state of consciousness induced after taking the powerful opiate-like drug. Similarly, the line "the blue bus is calling us" likely refers to the addictive attraction of oxymorphone that develops in abusers of the drug, and "driver where you takin' us" would refer, again, to the dreamy, exploratory, unpredictable state of altered consciousness experienced while under the influence of the drug.

Another explanation for "the Blue Bus" phrase would be as a reference to the blue buses that, in the United States, military inductees boarded for transport to basic training during the era of the Vietnam War, when the song was written. Morrison may have intended it to be an anti-Vietnam anthem. Morrison's father was an admiral in the U.S. Navy and as a "navy brat", he was familiar with military life; no doubt he saw many "blue buses" in his youth. Reference

- Doin' the blue rock = I am not able to confirm this, and none of the slang references to drugs in the 60's can confirm this, but I am led to believe that Jim Morrison is referring to this.

Love Street

She lives on Love Street
Lingers long on Love Street
She has a house and garden
I would like to see what happens

She has robes and she has monkeys
Lazy diamond studded flunkies
She has wisdom and knows what to do
She has me and she has you

She has wisdom and knows what to do
She has me and she has you

I see you live on Love Street
There's this store where the creatures meet
I wonder what they do in there
Summer Sunday and a year
I guess I like it fine, so far

She lives on Love Street
Lingers long on Love Street
She has a house and garden
I would like to see what happens

La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la




- "Love Street" is a 1968 song by The Doors which appears on their album Waiting For The Sun. The song is about the street in Laurel Canyon, California where Jim Morrison lived with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. Their address was 1812 Rothdell Trail. Reference

- "She has me and she has you." The lyrics indicate that Morrison knows that his girlfriend Pamela Courson has relations with other men. Reference

- Excellent read about a visit to Love Street

- "She has robes and she has monkeys" Pamela Courson left for Morocco with her sometime boyfriend Jean de Breteuil to buy clothes to stock her boutique. The original line of the song was, "she has robes and she has junkies" referred to the count and his cadre of gay blades who hung around Pamela. Jim later changed junkies to monkeys. - From the book, "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend" by Stephen Davis.

- Jean de Breteuil - According to Bernett, Morrison bought the heroin from two men working for Jean de Breteuil, a French playboy and drug dealer.

"The dealers who Jim was talking to were well known," said Bernett.

"Both were French guys in their 20s. I knew what they were up to, and kept an eye out for Jim. He disappeared to the toilets at around 2am. Then, about half an hour later, a cloakroom attendant came up to me and told me someone was locked in one of the cubicles and wasn't coming out. It was then that I got a bouncer to smash the door down. Bernett was met by the sight of Morrison's body, slumped on the toilet" Reference

- "After other fights Pamela (Courson) would get whacked out of her skull on downers or, occasionally, smack, and be seen in public, tongue-wrestling with a bartender from the Beverly Hills Polo Lounge, under a table at the Troubadour bar, moving from party to party in the rich-rock-star circuit, asprawl in the back seat of limousines playing rock 'n' roll finger pie. She had dozen of affairs. One of them with a French young count (Jean de Breteuil) who had land in North Africa and who shared her affection for heroin, was considered serious." (Pg 263, No One Here Gets Out Alive.)

- "Jim's (Morrison) accountant was harping on Pamela's (Courson) extravagances Her allowance he could accept; even the spending sprees and charge accounts were within the limits of sanity. But the boutique was madness. It had already cost Jim $80,000.00, and Pamela was in Europe buying more stuff. That was the worst part for Jim. They had fought and Pamela had gone off to see the French count (Jean de Breteuil) she told her girlfriends she loved. (pg. 275, No One Here Gets Out Alive.)

- "Where Jim (Morrison) went after the movie , or if Jim went to the movie, is a matter for speculation. The various reports of that evening are snarled with contradictions Some say he went to the Rock 'n' Roll Circus (now the WAGG Bar and Club), so steeped in depression that he bought some heroin and O.D.'d in the club lavatory, on to be carried out the back door and dumped at his flat, in the bathtub." (pg. 365, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

- "(Bill) Siddons arrived in Paris on Tuesday, July 6. He was met at the flat by Pamela, a sealed coffin, and a signed death certificate. Funeral arrangements were quickly and secretly confirmed. On July 7 Pamela filed the death certificate with the U.S. Embassy, identifying Jim as James Douglas Morrison, a poet. She said there were no living relatives. The official cause of death was listed as a heart attack." "....Five mourners were present: Pamela, Siddons, Alan Ronay, Agnes Varda, and Robin Wertle. They threw flowers on the grave and said their goodbyes." (pg. 367, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

"What he (Bill Siddons) did see at Jim and Pamela's flat was a sealed coffin and a death certificate with one doctor's signature. There was no police report, no doctor present. No autopsy had been conducted. All he had was Pamela's word that Jim was dead." (pg. 369, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

- "Who was the doctor? Siddons didn't know; Pamela didn't remember. But signatures can be forged or bought. (pg. 369, No One Here Gets Out Alive)(The doctor was the French medical examiner, Dr. Max Vasille)

- "The Parisians hold out for heroin as the cause of death. Jim had been a regular at the Rock 'n' Roll Circus, the French night spot then known as a haven for the local heroin underground." (pg. 369, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

"...Still, wasn't Jim found in the bathtub, usually the first place an O.D. victim is taken for attempted revival?" (pg. 369, No One Here Gets Out Alive)

Author's Note: Based upon my personal research and hypothesis- Jean de Breteuil, who was Pamela's sometime boyfriend (lover) may in fact be responsible for the death of Jim Morrison. If he indeed sold Morrison the heroin, he is then an accomplice to Jim Morrison's death. Was his intent to overdose Morrison because of his love interest with Pamela? Or was it merely an accidental overdose, we can never know. But, it is interesting to discover that one of the last men seen with Jim Morrison at the time of his death was Pamela's sometime boyfriend. This is my deepest and most heartfelt belief that Jean de Breteuil was in some way directly responsible for the death of Jim Morrison. All of the pieces fit: Pamela was known to be out with the French count doing smack the night of Jim's death. Jim didn't like Jean de Breteuil, but Jean de Breteuil absolutely adored Pamela, and Jean de Breteuil was a known dealer and a very wealthy man with strong connections. He was the one that Pamela called the next morning to say Jim was dead. It doesn't take much to see the connection here: a man with strong connections, lots of money, combined with the power of being a drug dealer, and being in love with someone who is "married" to a rock star who is a foreigner in a visiting country. And on top of all of that, there's no autopsy, a closed casket, a rushed death certificate, and Bill Siddons refusal to see the body. Jean de Breteuil had something to do with the death of Jim Morrison. Another reason why I believe Jean de Breteuil is partly responsible is because I find it rather disturbing that Bill Siddons flew across the United States, across the Atlantic Ocean, and arriving in Paris in the early morning hours only to witness a boarded up casket. He was the manager of the band- The Doors paid his salary. One would think that he'd want to confirm the death of his most prized investment; particularly after flying all that way from Los Angeles. He was paid to keep quiet.

There is also the statement that the first fireman on the scene arrived some time after 8:30AM when Pamela awoke to discover Jim. This fireman is Alain Raisson. According to the fireman, Jim's body was still warm even though the estimated time of death was around 5AM. Now, I'm not a scientist or anything, but I can assure you that bath water would not still be warm after three hours- particularly with a cold, lifeless body lying in it. Reference

And lastly, there is absolutely no way for Jim to pull off a fake death with Pamela's involvement. The gal was an unstable heroin addict, and I find it rather implausible for someone in her mental and emotional incapacity to be able to follow through with a fake death. Besides, she loved him, and I doubt very much she'd let him pull off something like faking his own death.

Author's Note: I want to thank Johanna for this absolutely amazing and utterly haunting video. I think Jim would have loved it. Please take a few moments to watch it.

- Additional Source Regarding the last days of Jim Morrison

- Did Jim Morrison really die in his bathtub?

- The 'Death' of Jim Morrison

- A definitive reference guide to Jim Morrison's Final Days

- Jim Morrison's Quiet Days in Paris

Light My Fire

You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl we couldn't get much higher

Come on baby light my fire
Come on baby light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

The time hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre

Come on baby light my fire
Come on baby light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl we couldn't get much higher

Come on baby light my fire
Come on baby light my fire
Try to set the night on fire




- Released June 1967

- Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robbie Krieger, along with the late Jim Morrison, came together in Venice, California in 1965, as the Doors. They had varied musical backgrounds and drew from a variety of influences, including jazz, blues, classical, British psychedelic rock, and the surf music of Southern California. Light My Fire was written and recorded in 1967. The sound wasn't conventional or definable as pop or folk or jazz or rock. And it was more than seven minutes long. Many in the music industry were convinced it could never be a success at that length. By July 1967, it was number one in America. Reference

- Light My Fire = Most of the lyrics were written by Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger. He wanted to write about one of the elements: fire, air, earth, and water. Jim Morrison wrote some of the second verse, and Ray Manzarek came up with the organ intro. Reference

- The extended organ and guitar solos in the album version of the song are based on John Coltrane's Jazz cover of the song "My Favorite Things" from the motion picture The Sound of Music

John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things"



- Light My Fire = Jim Morrison indicated in his notebooks that he disliked this song and hated performing it. He also seemed to resent that the popularity of the band derived from this song, which he had just a small part writing. Reference

- There was also a radio edit that was shortened to just under five minutes with about half the instrumental portion in place, released only to radio stations. Reference

- "Light My Fire" was performed by The Doors on a famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show September 17, 1967. In an oft-told legend, The Doors were asked to change the lyrics of the song (specifically, the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher"). The producers told Morrison to write a new lyric for the line, but he refused. The band promised to do so, but according to Jim Morrison he forgot to change the lyrics at the last minute and performed the unedited version live on-air, which he attributed to having been nervous. Years later, Ray Manzarek wrote that even after being told to change the lyrics, the band never even considered changing them. Despite applause from the crowd, Ed Sullivan was so upset that he refused to shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. Backstage, the band was told that, despite being on the verge of signing a seven-episode deal to continue appearing on the program, they would never be on the Sullivan show again. Reportedly, Morrison's cavalier response was: "Hey, man, so what, we just did the Sullivan show!"

- John Densmore recalls that when Buick wanted to buy the piece for use in a 1968 TV commercial ("Come on, Buick, light my fire") and Morrison, who had been out of town, learned that other group members agreed, Morrison called Buick and threatened to have a Buick smashed with a sledgehammer on a TV show should the (presumably ready) commercial be aired.

- Jim Morrison indicated in his notebooks that he disliked this song and hated performing it. He also seemed to resent that the popularity of the band derived from this song, which he had just a small part writing. Reference

Author's Note: If the above statement is in fact true that Jim Morrison had just a small part in the lyrics, then I am to believe that Jim wrote the following stanza, and only this part of the song:

The time hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre

This stanza is merely a confirmation of his style of writing and his tone that is subjective in all of his songs.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

I once had a girl, or should I say, "She once had me"?
She showed me her room. Isn't it good Norwegian wood!
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere.
So, I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.

I sat on her rug, biding my time, drinking her wine.
We talked until two, and then she said "It's time for bed."
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath.

And when I awoke I was alone: This bird had flown.
So, I lit a fire. Isn't it good Norwegian wood!




- Released December 3, 1965

- "Norwegian Wood" refers to the cheap pinewood that often finished the interiors of working class British flats. Reference

- John Lennon: "I was trying to write about an affair without letting my wife know I was having one. I was sort of writing from my experiences - girl's flats, things like that. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household. I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair, but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell. But I can't remember any specific woman it had to do with." Reference

- "So, I lit a fire. Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood!"

McCartney himself states the final line of the song indicates that the singer burned the home of the girl. As he explained:

Peter Asher [brother of McCartney's then-girlfriend Jane Asher] had just done his room out in wood, and a lot of people were decorating their places in wood. Norwegian wood. It was pine, really, just cheap pine. But it's not as good a title, is it, "Cheap Pine"? It was a little parody, really, on those kind of girls who, when you'd get back to their flat, there would be a lot of Norwegian wood. It was completely imaginary from my point of view, but not from John's. It was based on an affair he had. She made him sleep in the bath and then, finally, in the last verse, I had this idea to set the Norwegian wood on fire as a revenge. She led him on and said, "You'd better sleep in the bath." And in our world, that meant the guy having some sort of revenge, so it meant burning the place down... Reference

- "I once had a girl, or shall I say, "She once had me."?

When asked what the lyrics were about, (George) Martin answered:

My wife is going to give me a hard time for saying this. It was one of John's indiscretions. I remember we were sitting at the veranda outside our hotel rooms in St. Moritz and John was playing at his guitar and working out the text: "I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me." He felt that Cynthia had tricked him to marry her. Reference

Author's Note: This is a song that showed the direction of The Beatles moving away from the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" pop to the darker elements of relationships. From my research, I noticed a lot of people question whether or not the protagonist of the song burned the place down before leaving and I say that all one needs to do is to look at the exclamation point at the end of the song. The exclamation point indicates anger. The protagonist is not questioning whether or not it's good, the protagonist is instead exclaiming their disgust at the betrayal.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

No one I think is in my tree
I mean it must be high or low
That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right
That is I think it's not too bad
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Always, no sometimes, think it's me
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think a "no" I mean a "Yes" but it's all wrong
that is I think I disagree
Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
Strawberry Fields forever
Strawberry Fields forever

[Cranberry sauce...]

- Released February 17, 1967

Strawberry Field was the name of a Salvation Army Children's Home just around the corner from Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. Lennon and his childhood friends Pete Shotton, Nigel Whalley, and Ivan Vaughan used to play in the wooded garden behind the home. One of Lennon's childhood treats was the garden party held each summer in Calderstones Park (located next to the Salvation Army Home) every year, where a Salvation Army band played. Lennon's aunt Mimi Smith recalled: "As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army band starting, John would jump up and down shouting, 'Mimi, come on. We're going to be late.'" Reference

- "Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about" = John's aunt Mimi did not like John going to Strawberry Fields, as it was basically an orphanage and she thought they would lead John astray. John liked going there because having lost his father and later his mother he felt a kinship to the lads. When John and his aunt would argue about his going he would often reply, "What are they going to do, hang me?" Thus the line "Nothing to get hung about." Reference

- Strawberry Fields was a Salvation Army Children’s Home in Woolton in the South of Liverpool. It was announced in January 2005 that the home would close its doors in May 2007 following a change in approach to child care. It was preferred that children in care be looked after within foster homes rather than within large institutions. In fact the Home did not make it that long and closed later that same year.

The building was a favourite childhood haunt of the young John Lennon and had previously been saved from closure when Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono made a cash donation to save the building in 1984.

The site was saved from complete abandonment at the eleventh hour by the opening of a 24-7 Prayer Room, operated in association with the Salvation Army. This was good news for the City of Liverpool since the site is still a Mecca for fans of The Beatles from all over the globe.

The site hit the headlines in 2000 when the famous wrought iron gates were stolen by thieves and later sold on to a scrap metal site owner. The said owner was said to have become suspicious upon hearing of the theft on the local news. Thankfully he called the police to return the gates, having purchased them in good faith, and they were restored to their former location.

The site has been immortalized by Lennon’s song and has since lent its name to many businesses and sporting events. There is also a memorial called Strawberry Fields inside Central Park in New York. This particular site is a personal tribute to Lennon following his untimely death at the hands of a disturbed fan in 1980. Reference

- Lennon often considered "Strawberry Fields Forever" his greatest accomplishment with the Beatles. The song, a surreal kaleidoscope of sound, was the first track recorded for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (although it was subsequently released as a single instead). The lyrics are a nostalgic look at Lennon's Liverpool childhood and an expression of his own pride. Said Lennon, "The second line goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, what I was trying to say in that line is, 'Nobody seems to be as hip as me, therefore I must be crazy or a genius.' " Reference


Calderstones Park

Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you

Dear Prudence won't you come out and play
Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything

Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?
Look around round
Look around round round Look around
Dear Prudence let me see you smile
Dear Prudence like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile?



- Released November 22, 1968

Prudence = Prudence AnneVillars Farrow, who is the younger sister of Hollywood actress Mia Farrow.
- Prudence Farrow wanted to "Teach God quicker than anyone else," according to John Lennon. She would lock herself in her room trying to meditate for hours and hours. From A Hard Day's Write, by Steve Turner: "At the end of the demo version of Dear Prudence John continues playing guitar and says: 'No one was to know that sooner or later she was to go completely berserk, under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around were very worried about the girl because she was going insane. So, we sang to her.'" Prudence Farrow explained years later that she was just trying to take Transcendental Meditation seriously. She said in Mojo magazine, September 2008: "They were trying to be cheerful, but I wished they'd go away. I don't think they realized what the training was all about."

- The Beatles in India (Photoshow)

- The Beatles in India (Video 1)

- The Beatles in India (Video 2)

Author's Note: It is not difficult to see how the song is so profoundly influenced by a single, lucid event. In this case, Prudence Farrow retreated to her room to meditate for long periods of time and refused to come out. There is a remarkable period reflection as well with the daisy chain. The beauty of art is how an unpretentious event like this can compel others to write a powerfully moving song.