Jim Morrison... what happened, man?

I have been a Doors fan all my life. I had every cassette, and read Sugarman's delightfully sensation book 'No one here gets out alive' before I had a driver's license. I had forgotten about the band, for the most part, over the years. Unlike the Dead, their music didn't grow on me with time. Then, last month, I picked up drummer John Densmore's book 'Riders on the Storm'. It was a decent read, and solidified what most of us think about regarding singer Jim Morrison: great and talented singer, also a colossal asshole of a human being.

Whatever. His fate wasn't to be a great human being. His fate was to be a great rock star... and that he was. Like many asshole rock stars after him (think Axl Rose, for example), he was meant for brighter lights and darker times. So, my question is this. What the hell happened to him? Densmore's book implies alcohol got to him. Probably, but he was just a kid. 27, man! I haven't read keyboardist Manzareck's book, because he has always seemed like an opportunistic douche bag to me. Still does.

So, Jim went from being this beatific arty film student doing blues numbers with some friends in the valley. This is that Jim… 

 

1967 - Young Lion | 1967, New York City --- Jim Morrison ---… | Flickr

Ok, it is 1967 here. That makes Jim about 23. He even looks like a film student. Jesus, man, have a sammich.   He is a child.  It appears a very, very stoned child... but a child nonetheless. Something happens to Jim very quickly. In the course of just writing and researching this post, I made a profound observation. What happened to Jim happened to America. What happened to Jim can be perfectly explained by Hunter Thompson's passage from 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas':


Yeah, Thompson nailed it... and Jim lived it.  The difference in the picture above and below is approximately 2 years.

oops.  Editors note. He was only 25 here.  Looks about 54 to me. 

  Above is Jim at 25.  25?  what the hell, man? 

Wanna see Jim 2 years after that?

It is no surprise there is no photo of Jim 2 years after this. Jim was dead within a year of this photo (him bring dragged into trial in Miami in 1970). Dude was aging faster than Jerry Garcia.  Garcia died at 53… and looked to be in his 70’s.   Looking at that photo, one could say "you can see the light is gone from Jim's eyes.  He is a dead man walking!"   While that is true, it is also disingenuous.  This photo is Jim getting dragged into court in Miami over allegedly showing his dick to the crowd.  If he is found guilty, it is pretty much the end of the Doors at the very least.  Spoiler alert, he was found guilty.   So... he bolted the country.  Why not? 

Where is Jim Morrison four years after that cherubic photo above?  To absolutely no one’s surprise – dead! The band is broken up and he has moved to Paris for some inexplicable reason. The 60's did that to Morrison, they did it to America, and they most certainly did the same damage to Thompson. Here is the telling piece of the whole story. They say a picture tells a thousand words. So, dig this. What has happened to this poor guy? He looks like a 55 year old miner. This is Jim approx 1970... just three years from that album shot and two years after that candid airplane shot at the top.



How could this be the same guy from the top? In two years that happened? Man, apparently being an incredibly sexy, talented, and charismatic rock star is just terrible for you. If that is what happened to Jim, what happened to America in this time? In short, the same damn thing.  You know how they talk about how presidents age super hard in the White House?  Man, that is nothing compared to being Jim Morrison for a living.  No wonder dude is dead.  He looks 10, 20, 30 years older in this photo, and I bet he felt it, too..

Comments

Anonymous said…
well, maybe the same thing that happened when you thought of jim being transformed. its perception man it changes even when the view and viewer are same. and he didn't die young, he just got born early. this could have the best time, and again after sometime. and 4 years of music means 40 years of 'mystery', of anything other than his music.
William Cook said…
Check this link out: http://jimmorrisonspoetry.blogspot.com/

gets into Jim's poetry etc, his words seem a good place to start if you wnat to understand this guy. Cheers
Anonymous said…
Jim showed signs of deep seated psychological, problems from an early age. Any one, who has read biographies, of him, will see that already, in high school he was a provocative, risk taking, individual. This inherent instability in his character may have been partly genetic, and partly upbringing. Anyway, fame would just magnify this inherent instability, in his character, and make it worse. But Jim would have been an inherently unstable personality even if he had not been famous. Fame just exacerbated the problem. Personally I think he suffered from, borderline, personality, disorder, or something similar.
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Anonymous said…
I think that the two songs that get to the heart of what happened to him as you described right on the nail is Waiting For the Sun. He was having a bad acid trip and him and robbie walked to the outlook and saw the sunset. The line This is the strangest Life I've ever Known. And than Strange Days. He lived it and by the time he left for Paris he was spiritually and physically burned out. Very sad and tragic.
Anonymous said…
When I was 13 in 1970 the first three albums I bought in my life not including Meet the Beatles when I was 6 were Let it Bleed, The Who Live at Leeds, and the first compilation before Weird Scenes in the Goldmine came out, Doors 13.Great intro to the Doors even better than a studio album. When I looked at the photo of the group on the back of the cover I could not recognize that person. I was scratching my head. In no way was their a resemblance to the beautiful Apollo idol on the front of the cover. His face was all bloated. Two songs come to mind when you say he "nailed" it. Waiting for the Sun. Jim was on a bad acid trip and Robbie took him to an outlook where which served as an inspiration for the song. Per the lyric, This is the strangest Life I've ever Known. Than there was Strange Days.

Strange days have found us
Strange days have tracked us down
They're going to destroy
Our casual joys
We shall go on playing or find a new town
Yeah!

Strange eyes fill strange rooms
Voices will signal their tired end
The hostess is grinning
Her guests sleep from sinning
Hear me talk of sin
And you know this is it
Yeah!

Strange days have found us
And through their strange hours
We linger alone
Bodies confused
Memories misused
As we run from the day
To a strange night of stone

Nuff said. By the time Jim left for Paris he was spiritually and physically burned out.To make it even worse Jim had a precience that this was going to happen to him. Liken it to knowing the exact date your going to die. Of course besides the prophetic songs there was his infamous quote about being a shooting star. I find it tragic and sad.
Anonymous said…
why are my comments not being posted?
vince said…
why are my comments not being posted?
vince said…
test
Lono of Denver said…
Vince - I am sorry. You weren't being censored or ignored. Because of so much spam, I have the comments set to have to be approved by me. I can't your original post, though. please do comment. I never censor or edit feedback, even if its critical of me. in fact, I especially appreciate critical and thoughtful feedback that furthers any discussion. Obviously, everything here is just educated opinion.

Its possible that if the entirety of your comments were 'you suck' over and over again, I may have deleted them. It doesn't add to the discussion. I am sorry I missed your queries. Please do come back. In fact, if you have troubles or feedback... you may also hit up me directly.. My email is iamcorrect at gmail.

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