Althouse: Isn't it time, after all these years, to get over...

November 8, 2010

Isn't it time, after all these years, to get over...

... Jim Morrison's ...

... snake is long, seven miles... he's old, and his skin is cold....

33 comments:

Big Mike said...: We should ask Morrison whether or not he cares. If he doesn't respond "yes" then let's just all forget about it.; 11/8/10, 12:16 PM
Joe said...: (The Crypto Jew)
I think it's good, it allows Jim to go back to Florida now, without the risk of arrest on an old conviction and the truth that his "death" was all faked!

I luv that song...it's really about the only Doors song I like a lot...it's probably related to my love of the opening of Apocalypse Now. I’m a little too young to have lived, fully thru the Doors, Psychedelia, and the Days of Rage.; 11/8/10, 12:22 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Last time I was in Paris they were still hangin at Morrison's grave. Then again, I went to gawk at them hangin at Morrison's grave.

Didn't they move him?; 11/8/10, 12:24 PM
Joe said...: (The Crypto Jew)

Fred4Pres, so were they young, new Hippies or were they old, droopy saggy hippies?; 11/8/10, 12:27 PM
Known Unknown said...: One of the most overrated acts in the history of music.; 11/8/10, 12:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Death was Morrison's best career move.; 11/8/10, 12:37 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Mostly new. A few girls in their twenties crying (and they were actually kind of cute). The rest were college backpackers mostly just going to go.; 11/8/10, 12:38 PM
Anonymous said...: One of the most overrated acts in the history of music.

Maybe so, but the Doors' songs continue to be outrageously popular, both in airplay and live performance.

I play two Doors songs in my current old farts band:

1. Riders on the Storm
2. 20th Century Fox

I think that LA Woman is a hell of a song, too. People are Strange still works for me, too.

Doors tribute bands are a good way choice for musicians who want to work consistently.

The kids like them as much as the old farts.; 11/8/10, 12:52 PM
Wince said...: Evidence of Crist's Puzzling Leftward Drift. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo breaks it down: "First he was a Republican. Then he was an independent. Then he was all but a Democrat. Now Charlie Crist is considering a posthumous pardon of The Doors' Jim Morrison ... Six months I'm thinking, leading advocate of industrial hemp/pot legalization or building new power base at an ashram in Oregon."

If the allegations of HBO documentary Outrage are to be believed, Crist is hiding behind the closet doors.; 11/8/10, 12:54 PM
traditionalguy said...: It is past time to close the Doors on this nonsense.; 11/8/10, 12:55 PM
Joe said...: (The Crypto Jew)

Don't forget Alabama Song (Whisky Bar); 11/8/10, 12:58 PM
Tank said...: Doors overrated?

Hmmmm. No.

You can still go back, put on their music and listen now. Many of their songs hold up well. They may have run their course, but what they left is better/more than all but a few bands.

We were out on Saturday at a bar and the band played several Doors songs. The crowd was very into it.

First concert - The Doors at the Garden. Yikes, what a scene. Stage in the middle of arena. Forty, fifty, sixty year old people there (in suit and tie) with their kids and grandkids [what in God's name were they thinking]. I was about 16. My friend's dad worked for the NY Times and got us about tenth row seats. Ah, old fart memories.; 11/8/10, 1:30 PM
chickelit said...: Morrison's own views on nudity in art and theater: Link; 11/8/10, 1:35 PM
Bob_R said...: So E.M Davis - What are your feelings about the organ? (Please don't confuse that question with the topic of the thread. It's a musical question.) A lot of Door's haters can't stand organ music.

My first band in the '70's had a great organ player and I'm a sucker for any song with a good organ part. The first song I learned on bass was Light My Fire.; 11/8/10, 1:41 PM
Anonymous said...: A lot of Door's haters can't stand organ music.

Now, you've got to be kidding.

The Doors are famous for their keyboard player, Ray Manzarek.

He played a Farfisa organ. Cheap, sleazy, and wheezy. "20th Century Fox" is a great example. And sometimes a Hammond B3.; 11/8/10, 1:45 PM
chickelit said...: Had he lived, Jim Morrison would have become a conservative; 11/8/10, 1:49 PM
Unknown said...: Excepting those who thought Morrison and the Doors were just the greatest band in the coolest, grooviest, most far out time in history, man, does anybody care?

Even a little?; 11/8/10, 1:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Excepting those who thought Morrison and the Doors were just the greatest band in the coolest, grooviest, most far out time in history, man, does anybody care?

Even a little?

I have a little cabin in Woodstock, NY.

At times, I feel the urge to tell the locals that the hippie thing was just a teenage fashion music and clothing.

But, they're determined to make it into an all encompassing "lifestyle" philosophy.

Wouldn't do a bit of good to tell them otherwise. They'd just get pissed.; 11/8/10, 1:55 PM
tree hugging sister said...: We watched the PBS special narrated by Johnny Depp just to see if we'd missed anything and were underwhelmed yet again.

When the music's over and you've turned out the lights, Morrison was really just a revolting individual.; 11/8/10, 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: When the music's over and you've turned out the lights, Morrison was really just a revolting individual.

Probably true, but he was a great performer, had a great blues voice and wrote some good tunes.

Great performers are often revolting individuals.

Goes with the game.

So, now I'll tell my Sinatra joke, as told by Dean Martin.

Guy walks up to Dean and says: "I guess you know Sinatra pretty good, huh?"

Dean replies: "Yeah. We're like two peas in a pod. Been friends for years."

Guy says: "Yeah? What's he like?"

Dean says: "Sinatra? Salt of the earth. Success hasn't changed him a bit."

Guy answers: "Really. When was the last time you talked with him."

Dean: "Just saw him backstage."

Guy: "And what'd he say?"

Dean: "Well... He said 'Get out of my way and shut the fuck up!'"; 11/8/10, 2:07 PM
Tank said...: Excepting those who thought Morrison and the Doors were just the greatest band in the coolest, grooviest, most far out time in history, man, does anybody care?

Even a little?

As a great and happy part of the memories of my youth, I do care.

But do I care in a way that I think this is important? Um, ...well not as important as the the way my generation and the one before it f****d up this country by spending all our money, all our kids' money and all our grandkids' money. I mean, I don't care about it that much.

Don't you have some memories you love to think and talk about? If not, I pity you.; 11/8/10, 2:25 PM
Phil 314 said...: Never much cared for the Doors.

PS someone should telly Charlie Crist the election's over

AND HE LOST!; 11/8/10, 2:27 PM
John Stodder said...: I was shopping at a local supermarket the other night, and "Strange Days" was playing from the PA system.

Knowing how every aspect of consumer culture is tested, I wonder how come a songlist including "Strange Days" is supposed to help boost supermarket sales. Apocalyptic thinking = buying more canned soup just in case?; 11/8/10, 2:35 PM
TMink said...: I got the Doors dvd audio box set a few years back. Some of the music is still killer while some of it has not aged well at all!

Trey; 11/8/10, 3:04 PM
Kev said...: (the other kev)

ST, I think it was Shecky Greene who had a good Sinatra story, too.

"Y'know, Frank Sinatra saved my life the other night. I was in a back alley getting the crap beat out of me by three guys, and Frank comes up and says, 'Okay, that should be enough.'"; 11/8/10, 3:12 PM
TMink said...: Kev, I heard that one! Shecky had been making fun of Sinatra marrying Mia Farrow.

Trey; 11/8/10, 5:02 PM
William said...: The shock of the new. His music can never again sound the way it did at that time and at that place.....Just from residuals alone he could have gone on to lead a long life of luxury, comfort, and fame. That kind of life is a high in itself. How does a heroin high with its stupified nodding and occasional incontinence compare with the life that he wished to escape from. His death was not a tragedy. It was the stupid blunder of a man too greedy for sensation.....Let the conviction stand, and let another generation pretend that he was an outlaw who died tragically and poetically.; 11/8/10, 5:14 PM
Known Unknown said...: I didn't say they were bad, I just said they were overrated.

L.A. Woman and Peace Frog are highlights.

As for the organ, it has it's place in music — I neither love it nor loathe it.

My main criticism is of the value people placed in Morrison's vapid observations about humanity.; 11/8/10, 6:11 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Morrison's persona aside, imo the Door's total body of work, taken as a whole, holds up remarkably well considering that--due to Morrison's death--the band didn't have a chance to prove they could evolve over time and still remain "hip" in the way the Stones did. You'd be hard-pressed to name another band, whose body of work is frozen in time, who projects into the present day and holds up as well. Shouting Thomas is right about the continued popularity of the Door's music.

("Hello, I love you--won't you tell me your name--Hello I love you--let me jump in your game." and "I woke up this morning and got myself a beah." are two of the most killer lyrics/lines ever written.); 11/8/10, 6:40 PM
Known Unknown said...: ("Hello, I love you--won't you tell me your name--Hello I love you--let me jump in your game." and "I woke up this morning and got myself a beah." are two of the most killer lyrics/lines ever written.)

I rest my case. Morrison was no Baudelaire.; 11/8/10, 7:11 PM
chickelit said...: Morrison was no Baudelaire.

Yet they both got similar burials. How ironic.; 11/8/10, 7:32 PM
mccullough said...: Peace Frog is still a great tune, and they have a handful of other classics. (Light My Fire, like Stairway to Heaven, is impossible to listen to nowadays).

Crist is a lame-duck governor who is finished in politics. So this should be the cherry on the sundae of his political career. I, for one, would like to see him clear Jim's name.

Also, Morrison attended Florida State for a semester or two, so he's a bit of a home-state boy; 11/8/10, 9:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Jim Morrison was a great talent, and the Doors were remarkable. Their excesses were predictable and pathetic, but at their best, they were as good as any of the iconic 60's bands. Witness their debut album--with Break on Through, Light My Fire, and the End.

Mister Mojo Risin had his own problems, but he also had a gift for lyrics--lost in a Roman wilderness of pain, and all the children are insane, waiting for the summre rain. In context of the End, that's good stuff.

His arrest in Miami is patheitc. He was stoned to bejeezus or drunk or all of the above. He tried to play his shaman schtick--pun intended--and the man wouldn't have it, foolish excess, but eminently forgiveable.

The west is the best. Just get here, and we'll do the rest.; 11/8/10, 10:13 PM