« Poetry | Home | Poetic inspiration »
An ode to an unacknowledged poetic genius
By | December 3, 2007
I’m sure there are more than a million Doors’ fans in the world. You, you’re probably one yourself. But have you ever thought of Jim Morrison as a poet? I know ‘Light my fire’ probably isn’t Wordsworth, but it still has a quality which makes you identify with him, something the likes of Wordsworth and Milton couldn’t. Morrison is one of those guys who, when I read his lyrics and poems get the feeling that he was high. The way he goes about ‘An American Prayer’ just confirms that feeling. It’s like he’s just sitting in his studio, on one of those high stools, before a microphone and a bottle in his hand and mumbling the words. It just seems to me that the rest of the band just sat down later and put the music together. Every time I listen to the song I can see Morrison doing just that. The studio gloomy and unlighted and Morrison in alcohol induced oblivion. Like I see him right now.
Morrison became addicted to alcohol in his teens and continued to suffer from substance abuse until he death at the age of 27, due to alcohol poisoning. He had become quite a disturbed person and was known to be a disruptive influence at school. That showed in his works, his behavior and his relationships. Morrison’s lyrics shocked quite a few people in the 60s and despite requests to change the lyrics he did not and performed ‘The End’ on the Ed Sullivan. Many of his writings were controversial but it was the controversy that made him and The Doors popular.
The End has particularly intrigued me. It’s not the perceived reference to the Oedipus complex, it more about a killer and it also talks about the end of a relationship. The killer puts an end to someone’s life, and the person in the song puts an end to a relationship. I can’t really help but draw parallels to Morrison’s life.
The reference to a killer is also made in ‘Riders on the Storm’. The lyrics of ‘An American Prayer’ are pure genius in my opinion. Never have I seen a person expressing his opinion about war quite so eloquently.
Comparisons have very often been drawn between Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, with Cobain in particular. Though I am a huge fan of Cobain, he is nowhere the genius that Morrison was. Morrison was a disturbed personality and it was perhaps this trait that made him a genius.
Topics: Famous Poets |