The Hard times of Jim Morrison

[Music] in 1967 The Doors Light My Fire had climbed to number one the lyrics to the song have been inspired by The Rolling Stones 1965 single play with fire Jim Morrison by this point had completely disowned his family they had no idea he had a number one song or even that he was in a band Jim's 18-year-old Brother Andy was sitting at home when one of his friends visited holding a copy of the door's first album he stated isn't this Jim Andy had been listening to Light My Fire for weeks yet never recognized it was his own brother singing that night Andy played it for his parents and they heard Jim singing on record for the first time Jim's mother Clara sat silently shocked but his father didn't even put down his newspaper in his early years his parents had run the house with a military likee discipline one of the last times Jim had seen his father was 3 years previously in 1964 before leaving for LA he'd had his haircut to appease him but it was still too long for George Morrison so he was taken for a second trim not until later in his life would George even speak of his son's music over the next few days Jim's mother tried to contact him she started by phoning the record company the doors was signed to Electra records Clara stated she was Jim Morrison's mother and after giving convincing evidence they gave her the number of a hotel Jim was staying in when she finally spoke to him over the phone she told him how she wanted to hire a private detective to locate him but George had refused she begged him to come home for Thanksgiving to which Jim who'd been grunting through the conversation replied uh I think I'll be pretty busy then Jim then CED with an offer for his family to come along to a door's concert at the Washington Hilton Hotel claraa responded Jim you know how your father is will you get your haircut before you come home and that was the end of the conversation Jim said goodbye put the phone down and stated I don't want to talk to her ever again on the day of the concert Clara arrived early in the afternoon with Jim's younger brother Andy Jim's father had refused the invitation though he had wrote him a letter telling him give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I can considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction at the front desk Clara overheard the do's agent Todd schiffman talking about the group she introduced herself as Jim's mother and asked if she could see him a messenger was sent to contact Jim and returned to Todd with Jim's response Jim says no way Todd figured he could stall them until Jim changed his mind so he took Clara and Andy to dinner and told them Jim would see them later that night that night the two stood by the side of the stage and watched the doors perform they were assured Jim would see them after the show The Doors went through their set as normal and at one point Jim looked over at his mother with a vacant stare before turning away after the concert Clara and Andy were taken to a hotel room where again they were reassured Jim would see them the eventually all the stalling was through and Todd admitted Jim had left for the Ed Sullivan Show on September 17th 1967 the door sat in the dressing room waiting to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show there were approached by the show's director who was also Ed Sullivan's son-in-law he nervously told them it's about your song Light My Fire you cannot say the word higher we'll have to change the song the group sat there in silence looking puzzled before Jim said sure I think we can come up with another line ecstatic the director called in Ed Sullivan and gave the good news Jim noticed the host's son-in-law addressed him as Mr Sullivan as they spoke Ed then said to the group you boys look great when you smile don't be so serious and with that the band took the stage as expected they ignored the request and sang the original lyrics When the director heard the unchanged lyrics he screamed you're dead on this show you'll never do this show again Ed Sullivan was enraged and refused to shake hands with the band after the performance their next six performances booked with the show were cancelled the doors never played The Ed Sullivan Show again at a party not long after the Sullivan Show the artist Andy Warhol gave Jim an ivory and gold French telephone as the two sat in a limousine with another friend Jim threw the phone out of the window by this point in his life Morrison had become a furious drunk and cared very little about hiding it hey what are these people I hate people alcohol was always his drug of choice he didn't need to find a dealer and arranged times to meet to exchange goods which he hated he could walk into any bar or liquor store and it was available it was uncomplicated and easily accessible this suited Jim Morrison he was known to often get paralytic drunk and throw bottles or chairs he lived his life by the William Blake quote the road of excess leads to the Palace of wisdom Jim romanticized alcohol he saw himself like all the other drinking writers like Hemingway the difference was alcohol never helped his work only hindered it the band worked around him and wouldn't dare criticize him to his face they knew anyway there was no stopping Jim later they would try to speak to him about his drinking but it was futile Jim had hated the front cover to the door's first self-titled album for their second album he refused to feature on it the band had obtained an advanced copy of Sergeant Pepper and flipped over it it inspired them to experiment with new techniques the album didn't sell as well as the previous effort it was a great disappointment today is looked back on as one of the band's Greatest Albums the songs follow the door's theme of lost alienated people the music was more dark Than the Beatles and more disturbing than the Rolling Stones all the time brutally honest but then Jim was more violent than John lenon and more shocking than Keith Richards Jim had written many of the lyrics to his songs two years previous Jim would write the lyrics and the vocal Melody and the band would fit the instruments around them around this time Jim would meet Janice J another Wild Child of excess destined to die at 27 according to American record producer poor Rothchild they met sober and were getting along great until they began drinking when Jim drank he became obnoxious and violence Joplin refused his advances and Jim grabbed her by the hair at that point she hit him over the head with a bottle of Southern Comfort and Jim was out cold the next day friend spoke to Jim about the incident in a recording studio he proclaimed what a great woman Jim had always loved violence in December 1968 one day after Jim's 24th birthday he was back stage with a girl when a cop ordered them off the premises Jim and the cop began arguing as the girl ran away it ended with Jim being sprayed with mace before staggering away shouting a group quickly gathered around as he complained about being maced the cop became nervous and rushed over helping the band's Roadie watched Jim's face in a sink he apologized before Jim walked away towards the stage during the instrumental break of Backdoor Man Jim began talking about the incident he stated I want to tell you about something that happened a few minutes ago he went over the incident telling the audience he and the girl was standing back stage stating we weren't doing anything just talking and then this little man came in there this little man in a little blue suit and a little blue cap Jim went on with the story quoting the cop saying what you doing here to which he replied nothing the police who was standing in front of the stage started to become very nervous Jim went on to say but he didn't go away he stood there and reached from behind him and brought out this little black can of something and then he sprayed it in my eyes and enraged policeman then arrested Jim live on stage he was later booked with indecent and immoral exhibition and resisting arrest a few months later Jim was charged with indecent exposure while performing live on stage the problem was the audience loved it and the more crazy gim Act Ed the more fans he gained they would show up to Do's gigs just to see the Crazy Jim Morrison at these gigs he would often encourage the crowd to Riot for their third album waiting for the sun there was no previous compositions the problem was Jim's alcoholism had steadily increased and with that his song writing had stopped had been able to fall back on early writings enough to get through two albums now they struggle to come up with the material many of the songs were created while in the recording studio and they were forced to use older unused songs it received mixed to negative reviews and did terrible commercially the album did especially bad in the UK failing to even chart Jim at this point had abandoned his previous look he grew a beard and gained weight he wanted to distance himself from the Lizard King Persona yet his alcoholism was as bad as it ever had been the band had been shocked by the critical response to their previous album Morrison Hotel hoped to vindicate them Jim's Progressive drinking was documented in songs like Roadhouse Blues the lyrics read I woke up this morning and got myself a beer the album was seen by many as a comeback and did very well commercially Jim's life was a NeverEnding roller coaster he jumped out of moving cars just for the experience he hung out of fre story windows by his hands he obsessed over a memory he had as a child seeing Native American Indians bleeding to death in the road this incident featured in many of his songs and poetry Jim spent nearly the entirety of his adult life with a woman named Pamela Corson she encouraged him to write and attended his concerts in support on September 20th 1970 Jim was convicted of indecent exposure and found guilty after a 16-day trial he was sentenced to 6 months in prison and had to pay a $500 fine he never served the time paying a 50,000 Bale Bond after the trial work began on the door's final album LA Woman by this point Jim had completely succumbed to alcoholism it was understood by everyone in the group that after the album was complete Jim was moving to Paris he even left before all the songs had been mixed stating you guys can finish up LA Woman was a massive success the band's popularity soared rolling stone called it the door's greatest album while the band reached their Pinnacle of success Jim was now thousands of miles away from La in an apartment in Paris in an attempt to control his drinking he switched from whiskey to white wine he went on a diet and began to lose weight due to all the drinking and French food he couldn't get back down to his ideal figure he also shaved his beard in an attempt to look like the Jim Morrison of the mid 60s around this time Jim made an effort to quit drinking cold turkey he soon found he couldn't after that he began to fall back into his old ways he found new drinking buddies and found that his old life in La had followed him to Paris in the following weeks Jim began having coughing fits and fever-like symptoms when a friend met him he was drinking heavily and despite the hot temperature was freezing cold on July 3rd 1971 Jim Morrison was found by Pam dead in the bathtub of their apartment at approximately 6:00 a.m. straight away she called the emergency services at first they thought he was still alive because his body was warm I soon realized this was only the heat from the bath water and he was pronounced dead dead Morrison's death is surrounded in mystery as there was no autopsy performed due to French law at the time also Pam never requested one many believe Jim died of a herin overdose the official cause was listed as heart failure Jim's death came 9 months after Joplin's he'd been saddened by the news of her passing the pair apparently made amends two weeks before her death there have been numerous conspiracy theories over the years some speculate his death was due to an injury he suffered just before moving to Paris he'd Fallen two stories at the chatow moont hotel in Hollywood the only thing that had saved his life was the roof of a shed which helped break his Fall Jim left his entire estate to Pam Corson unfortunately she died 3 years later from a in overdose after her death Jim Morrison's parents fought for and received half of Jim's estate

Channel: Film Retrospective

Views: 9,003

Keywords: light my fire, jim morrison, jim morrison documentary, the doors, the doors the end, break on through to the other side, 1960s

Id: 1ayqOHSmzjI

Length: 16min 12sec (972 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 17 2024