Rue Beutreillis No. 17

German:
Hi. Ich bin Gerry. Geboren am 27. Juni 1950 im Osten Deutschlands. Seit 1968 bin ich ein Fan der DOORS, die nicht nur für mich maßgeblich am Sound der 60er Jahre mitgewirkt haben.
Me May 1972
Meine Sammlung beträgt inzwischen an die 450 CDs der DOORS, ca. 50 DVDs und an die 50 Bücher. Dazu kommen noch einige Sammlerstücke.
Meine Liebe zu der Band ist ungebrochen und sie wird ein Teil meines Lebns bleiben.
UNTIL THE END.
Mein Motto:
Before I sink into the big sleep
I want to hear
I want to hear
The scream of the butterfly.
PEACE AND LOVE
TO EVERYBODY
RIGHT HERE
ON OUR FAIR SISTER EARTH.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL,
BROTHER AND SISTERS.
Gerry
MEINE FOTO SEITEN / MY PHOTO PAGES:
gerrys-photos.de
buehnenbilder.com
HOT STUFF Fotos
Meine Fotocumminity
RANDY HANSENS photo page
Leben und Tod von Mr. Mojo Rising:
James Douglas Morrison (* 8. Dezember 1943 in Melbourne, Florida; † 3. Juli 1971 in Paris)wurde als erstes Kind von George Stephen Morrison und Clara Clark Morrison geboren. Er hatte zwei Geschwister, Anne Robin (* 1947 in Albuquerque (New Mexico) und Andrew Lee (* 1948 in Los Altos (Kalifornien)).Mit vier Jahren beobachtete er einen Autounfall aus dem Wagen seiner Eltern. Ein Lastwagen war verunglückt und auf der Straße lagen verletzte und tote Pueblo-Indianer. Die Eltern hielten an und Jims Vater stieg aus, um nachzusehen, ob er helfen könne. Er wies einen anderen Anwesenden an, zu einem Telefon zu fahren, um einen Krankenwagen zu rufen. Anschließend setzte die Familie die Fahrt fort. Jim protestierte lautstark und wurde immer hysterischer, worauf der Vater ihm schließlich einzureden versuchte, Jim hätte diesen schrecklichen Vorfall bloß geträumt. Diese Szenen blieben Jim für immer im Gedächtnis und er versuchte, das Geschehene sein Leben lang zu bewältigen. In vielen Interviews erklärte Morrison später, dass in diesem Moment der Schamane in ihm geboren worden sei. Er behauptete, dass die Seelen der toten Indianer in seinen Körper gewandert seien.[1] Wegen dieses Vorfalls behauptete Morrison in der Öffentlichkeit später ebenso, dass seine Eltern bereits gestorben seien und verleugnete sie.
In dem Lied Peace Frog, veröffentlicht auf der fünften Doors-LP Morrison Hotel, arbeitete Morrison diese Vorfälle auf.
“Indians scattered on dawn’s highway, bleeding Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile, eggshell mind”
„Indianer lagen verstreut auf dem morgendlichen Highway, blutend Geister drängten sich in den zerbrechlichen Eierschalenverstand des kleinen Kindes“
– The Doors, Peace Frog, 1970
In seinem Werk An American Prayer beschrieb Morrison die Szene so:
„Me and my – ah – mother and father – and a grandmother and a grandfather – were driving through the desert, at dawn, and a truck load of Indian workers had either hit another car, or just – I don’t know what happened – but there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. So the car pulls up and stops. That was the first time I tasted fear. I musta’ been about four – like a child is like a flower, his head is just floating in the breeze, man. The reaction I get now thinking about it, looking back – is that the souls of the ghosts of those dead Indians… maybe one or two of ’em… were just running around freaking out, and just leaped into my soul. And they’re still there.“
„Ich und meine – äh – Mutter und Vater – und eine Großmutter und ein Großvater – wir fuhren im Morgengrauen durch die Wüste und ein mit indianischen Arbeitern vollgeladener Laster ist mit einem anderen Wagen zusammengestoßen – ich wusste nicht genau, was da passiert war – jedenfalls lagen die verblutenden Indianer auf der ganzen Straße verteilt. Das Auto bremste ab und stoppte. Das war das erste Mal, dass ich Angst verspürte. Ich muss so um die vier Jahre alt gewesen sein – Mann, wie ein Kind, das wie eine Blume ist und seinen Kopf in einer Brise wiegt. Die Folge davon ist, dass ich heute zurückblicke und überlege – das sind die Seelen der Geister dieser toten Indianer… vielleicht einer oder zwei von ihnen… die damals ausgeflippt herumrannten und in meine Seele sprangen. Und dort sind sie noch immer.“
– Jim Morrison, An American Prayer, 1970
Oliver Stone hat den Unfall in seinem Kinofilm The Doors filmisch umgesetzt.
Jim Morrison durchlebte eine äußerst strenge Erziehung, die ebenfalls Spuren hinterließ. Sein Vater war Offizier in der United States Navy, der später bis zum Admiral befördert wurde, und kommandierte auch gern seine Familie, wenn er mal anwesend war. Er durfte auch zu Hause nur mit „Sir“ angeredet werden und verlangte absolute Disziplin und Gehorsam. Die Familie reiste dem Vater oft hinterher, um ihn überhaupt zu Gesicht zu bekommen. Jims Vater schenkte Jim meistens Bücher, um seine Sprache zu schulen.
Irgendwann begriff Morrison die Sprache als mächtiges Werkzeug, um sich zum Beispiel gegen die verhasste Autorität aufzulehnen. Auch die Liebe zur Poesie wurde geweckt. So schrieb er im Alter von zwölf Jahren seine ersten Gedichte, die meistens bissig, aggressiv oder satirisch waren. Morrison nannte sie „Radio Essays“, weil es so was im Radio nie gab[2]. Morrison war offenbar sehr intelligent (IQ 149)[3]. Er las schon früh Bücher der sogenannten Beatniks. Dazu gehörten Autoren wie Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg und Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Er studierte auch die Werke von Honoré de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Jean Cocteau, James Joyce oder Arthur Rimbaud. Der letztgenannte war für Jim Morrison „einer, der den Göttern das Feuer stahl und dafür bestraft werden würde“. Plutarchs Alexander der Große beeindruckte ihn so sehr, dass er dessen Frisur und Kopfhaltung auf einem Portrait von Joel Brodski übernahm und zu Werbezwecken für das erste Album The Doors nutzte. Neben Friedrich Nietzsches Geburt der Tragödie gehörte auch Aldous Huxleys The doors of perception zu Morrisons literarischen Lieblingen. Von diesem Buch, dessen deutscher Titel Pforten der Wahrnehmung lautet, stammt auch der Bandname der zugleich eine Parabel zu einem Zitat des Malers und Dichters William Blake darstellt.
„Würden die Pforten der Wahrnehmung gereinigt, so erschiene dem Menschen alles, wie es ist: unendlich. Denn der Mensch hat sich selbst eingesperrt, so dass er alle Dinge nur durch die engen Ritzen seiner Höhle sieht.“
– William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-1793)
Jugendzeit und Gründung der Doors
Zwischen 1961 und 1964 wollte Jim Morrison zum Film und studierte deshalb Film- und Theaterwissenschaft. Von 1962 bis 1963 war an der Florida State University in Tallahassee eingeschrieben. 1964 wechselte er an die UCLA in Los Angeles. In dieser Zeit drehte Morrison zwei Filme, der erste hatte den Titel First Love.
Morrison schloss sein Studium nicht ab, sondern wendete sich lieber der Musik zu, mit der er seine ganzen Gefühle und Gedanken ausdrücken konnte. Er war ein absoluter Rebell, so lautet ein Zitat von ihm über sich selbst:
„Ich mag die Ideen, die von der Zerstörung der herrschenden Gesetze berichten. Ich bin an allem interessiert, was sich um Aufruhr, Unruhe, Chaos und spezielle, scheinbar unsinnige Aktivitäten dreht. Für mich scheint das ein Weg zur Freiheit zu sein; eine äußere Revolte ist ein Weg zu innerem Frieden.“
– Jim Morrison
Mit 22 Jahren lernte Jim Morrison seine Verbündete und geliebte Gefährtin Pamela Courson kennen. Sie lebten zusammen in Venice Beach und fingen an mit allen erdenklichen Drogen zu experimentieren. Meistens nahmen die beiden LSD, Amphetamine und Meskalin. Morrison meinte darauf besonders „klar” zu sehen und schrieb viele poetische Werke. Im Zuge der Friedensbewegung dachte er auch oft über den damals aktuellen Vietnamkrieg nach. Ein Beispiel ist der Song The End; Morrison kokettierte mit dem Tod und sprach oft davon, das Leben dann am meisten zu spüren. Durch seine Drogenexzesse nahm er 16 Kilogramm ab. Morrison sagte für ihn waren Drogen „wie eine Wette, der Einsatz ist dein Verstand“.
Zu dieser Zeit gründeten sich die Doors zunächst als Garagenband. Morrison war anfangs so in sich gekehrt und scheu, dass er bei den ersten Auftritten dem Publikum den Rücken zugewandt hatte. Trotz seines Lebenswandels war die Brillanz seiner Texte unabstreitbar. 1967 schrieb die Zeitschrift Vogue „Jim Morrison schreibt, als wäre Edgar Allan Poe in Gestalt eines Hippies zurückgekehrt“. Bevor er Sänger der Doors wurde, hatte er schon Texte für zwei fast komplette Alben geschrieben. Die Realität hatte Morrison jetzt weit hinter sich gelassen und traf damit genau ins Herz, bei vielen Menschen, die auch größtenteils Konsumenten der so genannten bewusstseinerweiternden Drogen waren. Die Leute hatten die Nase voll von diesem Krieg und dem Versagen des Pentagons. Sie wollten genau wie Morrison alles hinter sich lassen. Mit 24 Jahren war der „Schamane“ (wie Morrison sich selbst als Indianer sah, seit dem oben genannten Unfall) in aller Munde und das neue Sexsymbol Amerikas. Sex, Drogen und der Rock ’n’ Roll beherrschten sein komplettes Leben und er projizierte dies auf seine wachsende Fangemeinde. Jeder wollte ein bisschen Jim Morrison haben, was ihm zunehmend Angst machte. Er trank Unmengen Alkohol (er hatte wie Janis Joplin meistens mehrere Whiskeyflaschen auf der Bühne) und konsumierte immer mehr Drogen. Ständig kam es zu Tumulten vor, während und nach Konzerten. Oft waren Polizisten und Fans darin verwickelt, häufig zettelte Jim Morrisson selbst Streitereien an. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt war er von seiner Drogensucht und den dazugehörigen Exzessen körperlich so beeinträchtigt, dass er regelmäßig zusammenbrach. Bei ein paar Konzerten blieb er von Anfang an gleich auf dem Boden liegen, die anderen Bandmitglieder waren darin machtlos gegen ihn.
Ab 1969 nahm Morrison deutlich zu, war aufgeschwemmt und fühlte sich von allen unverstanden. Lieder der Doors wurden kommerzialisiert und für Werbespots verkauft. Die Band entschied so etwas mittlerweile einfach über Morrisons Kopf hinweg. Geld stand nun im Vordergrund. Die Presse nannte Morrison nun einen Popstar, was Jim Morrison auf keinen Fall sein wollte. Die Botschaft der Stücke, die er schrieb, ging einfach unter, was aber auch daran gelegen haben könnte, dass sie mittlerweile teils zusammenhangslos und wirr waren. Morrison beleidigte seine Fans immer öfter und schlimmer. Letztlich war Morrison leer und ausgebrannt.
Das Ende der Doors und Morrisons Tod
Nachdem er bei einem Konzert am 1. März 1969 in Miami auf der Bühne Masturbation angedeutet haben soll, bildeten sich Initiativen gegen die Doors, die sowohl aus Eltern als auch ehemaligen Fans bestanden. Die Band wurde nicht zum Woodstock-Festival eingeladen und mehrere Konzerte wurden abgesagt. Das letzte Konzert spielte die Gruppe am 12. Dezember 1970 in New Orleans.
Jim Morrison zog 1971 nach Marais (Paris), in eine Wohnung in der Rue Beautreillis 17, zu seiner Langzeitfreundin Pamela Courson, um – wie er es nannte – ein „Freisemester” zu nehmen.
Im selben Jahr, am 3. Juli 1971, verstarb Jim Morrison in der Badewanne dieser Wohnung, wo seine Lebensgefährtin den Leichnam fand. Die Todesursache ist umstritten, offiziell war es Herzversagen. In einem 2007 veröffentlichten Buch behauptet Sam Bernett, Morrison sei in Bernetts Nachtklub auf der Toilette an einer Überdosis Heroin verstorben und die Leiche sei von seinen Begleitern in seine Wohnung gebracht worden.[5] Hieran beteiligt sei auch die Sängerin und Schauspielerin Marianne Faithfull gewesen, die zu dieser Zeit zum engsten Freundeskreis von Morrison und Courson gehörte.
Morrison wurde in Paris beerdigt, auf dem Friedhof Cimetière du Père Lachaise in der 6. Division, zweite Reihe. Manchmal legen Fans aus Tradition nicht nur Blumen, sondern auch Joints und Whiskeyflaschen auf das Grab des Sängers; durch Graffiti wurden umliegende Grabmäler beschmiert. Die Besuchermassen haben mittlerweile etwas nachgelassen. Trotz allem gehört das Grab zu den meistbesuchten Gräbern auf dem Friedhof, auf dem auch weitere bekannte Persönlichkeiten ruhen. Auch gibt es kaum noch Graffiti: Morrisons Grab und die umliegenden Gräber wurden größtenteils gereinigt, sind abgesperrt und werden teilweise bewacht. Auf dem Grab war zeitweise eine Büste von Morrison zu sehen, sie wurde aber wiederholt gestohlen. Seit 1991 ziert ein massiver Stein das Grab. Er trägt die griechische Inschrift: KATA TON DAIMONA EAYTOY (Deutsch: „Gemäß seinem eigenen Geist“ od. „Seinem eigenen Dämon entsprechend“). Laut Pressetexten wird über eine Umbettung des Grabs diskutiert, um dem Vandalismus Einhalt zu gebieten.
Jim Morrison war nach seinen eigenen Worten Sänger der Doors, ein Poet, ein tanzender Schamane, ein Amerikaner mit der Liebe zum Blues, ein Reisender in die endlose Nacht und König der Eidechsen. Er bezeichnete sich selbst u.a. oft als „Lizard King.“
1977 unterlegten die restlichen Bandmitglieder der Doors Morrisons Gedichtaufnahmen mit Musik und veröffentlichten sie 1978 auf dem Album An American Prayer.
Jim Morrison wird wie andere einflussreiche Musiker dem Klub 27 zugerechnet. Ebenso wie Janis Joplin und Jimi Hendrix wird ihm zugeschrieben, nach der Devise „Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young“ gelebt zu haben.
English:
Hi, I'm Gerry, born june, 27 1950 in the eastern part of Germany. Since 1968 I am a fan of the DOORS, one of the bandsbeing responsible for the great sound of the sixties in my and other peoples opinion.
Meanwhile I am the proud possessor ofnearly 45o cds. 5o dvds an narly 5o books about this band, as well as some collection' items.
The love for the Doors is part of mylife, for ever and ever.
UNTIL THE END.
My motto:
Before I sink into the big sleep
I want to hear
I want to hear
The scream of the butterfly.
PEACE AND LOVE
TO EVERYBODY
RIGHT HERE
ON OUR FAIR SISTER EARTH.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL,
BROTHER AND SISTERS.
Gerry
Life and Death of Mr. Mojo Rising:
James Douglas Morrison (* December 8, 1943; † 3. Juli 1971 in Paris)was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Scottish and Irish ethnic heritage. He purportedly had an IQ of 149.
In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, purportedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song "Dawn's Highway" from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs "Peace Frog" and "Ghost Song."
Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind
Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison's family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison's account of the incident was than the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, "We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him [Morrison]. He always thought about that crying Indian." This is contrasted sharply with Morrison's tale of "Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death." In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true."
With his father in the Navy, Morrison's family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia, in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.
Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida, where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he appeared in a school recruitment film. While attending FSU, Morrison got arrested for a prank following a home football game.
In January 1964, Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California. He completed his undergraduate degree in UCLA's film school, the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.
The Doors
In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison. Known as "The Young Lion" photo session, the pictures included the shot that was later featured on the Best of the Doors LP cover.
Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore's recommendation, and was then added to the lineup.
While it is widely believed that the Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception (a reference to the 'unlocking' of 'doors' to perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley's own title was a quote from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
In June 1966, at the famed Whisky-A-Go-Go, The Doors were the opening act for the Northern Irish group Them, whose leader was Van Morrison. According to Manzarek, in his book, Light My Fire, "Jim was transfixed by Van. He studied his every move. He put the eye on him and he absorbed....The last night... saw us all in a monster jam session...Jim Morrison and Van Morrison onstage at the same time! And singing 'Gloria.'"
Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire," "Love Me Two Times," "Love Her Madly" and "Touch Me."
Decades before music videos became commonplace, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for "Break On Through", which was to be their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synced the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including "The Unknown Soldier", "Moonlight Drive", and "People Are Strange".
The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967.[10] The single "Light My Fire" eventually reached number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.[11] Later, The Doors appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, a popular Sunday night variety series that had introduced The Beatles and a young, wriggling Elvis Presley to the nation. Ed Sullivan requested two songs from The Doors for the show, "People are Strange", and "Light My Fire". The censors insisted that they change the lyrics of "Light My Fire" from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much better." This was reportedly due to what could be perceived as a reference to drugs in the original lyric. Giving assurances of compliance to Sullivan, Morrison then proceeded to sing the song with the original lyrics anyway. He later said that he had simply forgotten to make the change. This infuriated Sullivan so much that he refused to shake their hands after their performance. They were never invited back.
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of "Alabama Song", from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs "The End", "When The Music's Over", and "Celebration of the Lizard".
In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner-sleeve for the songs they had written.
After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song "Five To One"). He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.
By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually - abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for regular slacks, jeans and T-shirts.
During a 1969 concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors' scheduled concerts were canceled.[13] In the years following the incident, Morrison has been exonerated. In 2007 Florida Governor Charlie Crist suggested the possibility of a posthumous pardon for Morrison.
Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break, the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild -- who had overseen all their previous recordings -- left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Solo: poetry and film
Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film and cinematography.
He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison's thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison's lifetime.
Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure, who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman's biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects, including a film version of McClure's infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy The Kid.
After his death, two volumes of Morrison's poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison's friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson's parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.
Morrison recorded his own poetry in a mausoleum in a professional sound studio, on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison's personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors' An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.
Morrison's best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.
Personal life
Morrison's family:
Morrison's early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families.[19] Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother Andy explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children, and instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as "dressing down." This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.
Morrison began drinking in adolescence, starting a lifelong pattern of alcoholism and substance abuse. Morrison lived a Libertine lifestyle, completely devoid of restraint. This was likely a result of his taking on the philosophy of Arthur Rimbaud; that “the Poet makes himself a visionary through a long, prodigious, and rational disordering of all the senses" and Friedrich Nietzsche's assessment that “whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger."
Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison's music ascended the top of the charts in 1967, he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors' self-titled debut album.
In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison's father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications, the result of an argument over his assessment of his son's musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact, and that he was proud of him nonetheless.
Women in his life:
Morrison met his long-term companion,[21] Pamela Courson, well before he gained any fame or fortune,[22] and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname "Morrison," with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson's death in 1974, the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under "Estate Controversy").
Courson and Morrison's relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments, and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship. However, in No One Here Gets Out Alive (by Sugerman and Jerry Hopkins), a different reason is proposed for the couple's relationships problems: that they were keeping secrets from each other and this caused the conflicts and separations.
In 1970, Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister,[23] the couple signed a document declaring themselves wedded;[24] however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kennealy discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison, and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.
Morrison also regularly slept with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities in their own right, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on again off again relationship with 16 Magazine's editor in chief, Gloria Stavers, and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death, there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison's son was shown to be a fraud.
Death
Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, taking up residence in an apartment. Once in Paris, Morrison grew a beard.[26] By all accounts Morrison became depressed while in Paris, and was planning to return to the US; however, he admired the city's architecture and would go for long walks through the city.Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, taking up residence in an apartment. Once in Paris, Morrison grew a beard.[26] By all accounts Morrison became depressed while in Paris, and was planning to return to the US; however, he admired the city's architecture and would go for long walks through the city.Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, taking up residence in an apartment. Once in Paris, Morrison grew a beard.[26] By all accounts Morrison became depressed while in Paris, and was planning to return to the US; however, he admired the city's architecture and would go for long walks through the city.
It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording, with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish." Regardless, the session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite," which can be heard on the bootleg Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison died on July 3, 1971, at age 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.
In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman's account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, inhaling the substance because he thought it was cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, at times saying that she had killed her common-law husband, or that his death was her fault. Courson's story of Morrison's unintentional ingestion of cocaine, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson's heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.
Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison's death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Varda say Courson lied to police who responded to the death scene and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.
In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins' says that 20 years after Morrison's death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison's death and Courson said that, prior to it, she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Then, Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and had thrown up blood. Then, Courson said he appeared to recover, she went to sleep; when she awoke, he was unresponsive and she called for medical assistance.
Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.
However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death; this theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.
In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugarman and Hopkins gave some credence to the theory that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”. This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison's loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them. In 1995, a new epilog was added to Sugarman and Hopkins' book, giving new facts about Morrison's death and discounting the fake death theory, saying “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela [Courson's] friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim's demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”
In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison's, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumour and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson, then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy, in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club, and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Morrison, and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson (cited above).
It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording, with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish." Regardless, the session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite," which can be heard on the bootleg Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison died on July 3, 1971, at age 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.
In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman's account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, inhaling the substance because he thought it was cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, at times saying that she had killed her common-law husband, or that his death was her fault. Courson's story of Morrison's unintentional ingestion of cocaine, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson's heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.
Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison's death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Varda say Courson lied to police who responded to the death scene and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.
In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins' says that 20 years after Morrison's death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison's death and Courson said that, prior to it, she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Then, Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and had thrown up blood. Then, Courson said he appeared to recover, she went to sleep; when she awoke, he was unresponsive and she called for medical assistance.
Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.
However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death; this theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.
In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugarman and Hopkins gave some credence to the theory that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”. [31] This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison's loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them.[32][33]In 1995, a new epilog was added to Sugarman and Hopkins' book, giving new facts about Morrison's death and discounting the fake death theory, saying “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela [Courson's] friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim's demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”
In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison's, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumour and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson, then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy, in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club, and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Morrison, and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson (cited above).
It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording, with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as "drunken gibberish." Regardless, the session included a version of a song-in-progress, "Orange County Suite," which can be heard on the bootleg Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison died on July 3, 1971, at age 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.
In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman's account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, inhaling the substance because he thought it was cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, at times saying that she had killed her common-law husband, or that his death was her fault. Courson's story of Morrison's unintentional ingestion of cocaine, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson's heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.
Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison's death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Varda say Courson lied to police who responded to the death scene and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.
In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins' says that 20 years after Morrison's death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison's death and Courson said that, prior to it, she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Then, Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and had thrown up blood. Then, Courson said he appeared to recover, she went to sleep; when she awoke, he was unresponsive and she called for medical assistance.
Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.
However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death; this theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.
In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugarman and Hopkins gave some credence to the theory that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”. This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison's loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them. In 1995, a new epilog was added to Sugarman and Hopkins' book, giving new facts about Morrison's death and discounting the fake death theory, saying “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela [Courson's] friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim's demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”
In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison's, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumour and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson, then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy, in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club,[35] and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Morrison, and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson (cited above).
Grave site
Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison's name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; the bust was defaced through the years by the cemetery vandals and later stolen in 1988.[40] In the 1990s a flat stone was placed on the grave, possibly by his birth family, with the Greek inscription: ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ. Mikulin later made two more Morrison's portraits in bronze, but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.
Estate controversy
In his will, made in Los Angeles County on February 12, 1969, Morrison (who described himself as "an unmarried person") left his entire estate to Courson, also naming her co-executor with his attorney, Max Fink. She thus inherited everything upon Morrison’s death in 1971.
When Courson died in 1974, a battle ensued between Morrison’s and Courson’s parents over who had legal claim to what had been Morrison’s estate. Since Morrison left a will, the question was effectively moot. On his death, his property became Courson’s; and on her death, her property passed to her next heirs at law, her parents. Morrison's parents contested the will under which Courson and now her parents had inherited their son’s property.
To bolster their positions, Courson’s parents presented a document they claimed she had acquired in Colorado, apparently an application for a declaration that she and Morrison had contracted a common-law marriage under the laws of that state. The ability to contract a common-law marriage was abolished in California in 1896, but the state's conflict of laws rules provided for recognition of common-law marriages lawfully contracted in foreign jurisdictions — and Colorado was one of the 11 U.S. jurisdictions that still recognized common-law marriage. As long as a common-law marriage was lawfully contracted under Colorado law, it was recognized as a marriage under California law.
Artistic roots
As a naval family, the Morrisons relocated frequently. Consequently, Morrison's early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school. Nonetheless, he proved to be an intelligent and capable student drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy, and psychology, among other fields.
Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced Morrison's thinking and, perhaps, behavior. While still in his teens, Morrison discovered the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac also had a strong influence on Morrison's outlook and manner of expression; Morrison was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac's On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the works of the French writer Céline. Céline's book, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake's Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison's early songs, "End of the Night." Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well known beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison's lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft.
Morrison's vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Julian Beck's Living Theater.
Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest, particularly Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer's The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song "Not to Touch the Earth."
Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures. While he was still in school, his family moved to New Mexico where he got to see some of the places and artifacts important to the Southwest Indigenous cultures. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places, such as lizards, snakes, deserts and "ancient lakes" that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretation of the practices of a Native American "shaman" were worked into some of Morrison's stage routine, notably in his interpretation of the Ghost Dance, and a song on his later poetry album, The Ghost Song. The songs "My Wild Love" and "Wild Child" were also inspired by his ideas of Native American rhythm and ritual. He also consumed 8 buttons of peyote and tripped for a week and wrote about seeing the "God of Peyote."
Influence Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers/writers in rock history, as The Doors' catalog has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day, he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing both onstage and off have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.
Seminal punk rock band Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One of Pop's most popular songs, "The Passenger", is said to be based on one of Morrison's poems. After Morrison's death, Pop was considered as a replacement lead singer for The Doors; the surviving Doors gave him some of Morrison's belongings, and hired him as a vocalist for a series of shows.
Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled "The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir." In this book, Fowlie recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Arthur Rimbaud's verse into English. "I don't read French easily", he wrote, "...your book travels around with me." Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud.
Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, as well as Scott Stapp of Creed, claim Morrison to be their biggest influence and inspiration. Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver have both covered "Roadhouse Blues" by the Doors. Weiland also filled in for Morrison to perform "Break On Through" with the rest of the Doors. Stapp filled in for Morrison for "Light my fire", "Riders on the Storm" and "Roadhouse Blues" on VH1 Storytellers. Creed performed their version of "Riders on the Storm" with Robbie Krieger for the 1999 Woodstock Festival.
The book The Doors by the remaining Doors quotes Morrison's close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison's that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos “to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or worse a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was restating Rimbaud and the Surreal poets.”
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The DOORS - The Ghost Song
JIM MORRISON gets arrested in Miami 1969
Beginning of the end?
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