Jim Morrison (The Doors) - where does he stand lyrically?

There is a story that some " advisor " was wanting him to go solo . He pretended to go along with the idea , but then told Ray et al

 

Oh ! Two of my favourite songs


Moonlight Drive being another

 

He was goodlooking and sexy. That forgives a lot in rock frontmen.

I could never forgive him for "Til the stars fall from the sky for you and I".

Really? "Sky" and "I" is a rhyme any child can handle, and it isn't even good grammar. "For you and me" would have been correct and very easy rhyme since it is also a long kindergarten vowel.

There's nothing about that line that shouldn't be changed if good poetry is the objective.

My verdict: JM was functionally illiterate.

Bad grammar is sometimes a swagger in rock. Mick Jagger does that sometimes, for instance. But Mick can also summon a rhyme with "Rubicon". Mick actually knows the word "Rubicon", probably in both senses. Whereas I'll bet JM didn't.

JM is just a sloppy and dumb lyricist.

He's lucky he had good genes, for looks anyway.

 

The lyrics you quote were written by Robby Krieger, not Morrison

 

Well that's something of a relief. Though why would anyone intelligent who claimed to be a poet agree to sing those insipid lyrics (over and over and over)?

 

I'm more dismayed he sang Krieger's awful Tell All the People... the most wretched lyrics ever scrawled.... Morrison obviously feels sheepish mouthing them, the most lacklustre studio performance he ever gave...

 

There is no question that Morrison was an intelligent, well-read, and well-educated man. He asked for the complete works of Nietzsche for Christmas in high school. I have no doubt he knew what the Rubicon was, and its historical significance. I don't think being such a physical specimen did him any favors that he was actually looking for. Your post is a little troll-y.

 

The sad fact is that at that point in his career, he didn't have anything better to contribute, considering that Do It and Easy Ride made that album, and Who Scared You, another Krieger track, didn't.

 

I just found a Rolling Stone September 19, 2019 article about the process behind Touch Me.

Apparently the guitarist lyricist Robby Krieger originally called it "Hit Me". So it could have been worse!! I doubt Hit Me could have become a hit. (Title also suggests Krieger's insensitivity to language.)

It was Jim who refused to sing it with the Hit Me title. He was worried people might want to hit him. (Perhaps for other good reason?)

Actually glad to know the lyric I despise was not Jim's.

 

Oh, I get it... those major 60s artists were contracted to deliver recorded product and play live shows that mere mortals buckled under... Morrison's well had run dry by that point... alcoholism exacerbated it... and fed the feedback loop...

 

"You and I" sounds better than "you and me", which would add more corn. Damn your rules!!!

As Dr John might say - "Your edumacation ain't no hipper than what you understand."

 

Used to be a big Doors fan. When you're in high school, it's easy to believe that Jim Morrison was some kind of enlightened being with a deep message for humanity. My stance now is that he was a depressed raging alcoholic with a big vocabulary spewing mostly nonsense. All of that poet shaman stuff is BS.

 

Jim Morrison didn't write the lyrics to 'Light My Fire'. So let's not quote that one.

 

He wrote the second verse only. "No time to wallow in the mire" is pretty quotable and, er, good. Robby's lyrics were fine on that track, and many others too.

 

I remember years ago when I worked in a bookstore, I flipped through a music book about killing your music idols and the writer absolutely bashed Morrison’s lyrics. The funny thing was he was actually quoting Krieger, and this was published and in a major bookstore!

 

Yes, Jim Morrison was a poet because by definition a poet is one who writes poetry, and that is something Jim did, and not just when there was a new album coming up. He wrote constantly, he was a man of words. He was also apparently astonishingly well-read. As a lyricist, I don't think there's anyone else quite like him, except obvious imitators like Ian Astbury. IMHO, he seems to have attempted to pattern his style as a modern equivalent to the Romantic poets such as Blake and Shelly, and his moments of obvious dependence on that conceit may be what turns many off to his lyrics. It's like if a twenty-two year old decided to write novels in the style of Herman Mellville - it's unfashionable, unnecessarily complicated, and rather pretentious. But that's not all Morrison was - his tighter lyrics such as "Hello, I Love You" or "Moonlight Drive" or "My Eyes Have Seen You" seem to me to be very well-crafted and evocative. Like many artists, he's most successful when he's not trying to Make A Big Statement, but rather just relaxes and reveals his vision.

 

'Hello, I Love You' has good lyrics??

Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you, let me jump in your game
Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you, let me jump in your game
She's walking down the street
Blind to every eye she meets
Do you think you'll be the guy
To make the queen of the angels sigh?
Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you, let me jump in your game
Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?
Hello, I love you, let me jump in your game
She holds her head so high, like a statue in the sky
Her arms are wicked, and her legs are long
When she moves my brain screams out this song
Sidewalk crouches at her feet
Like a dog that begs for something sweet
Do you hope to make her see, you fool?
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?
Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello
I want you, hello, I need my baby
Hello, hello, hello, hello

 

great rock poet of the 60s, he often shone brilliantly, and often didn't

 

Sure does! I can see criticizing the music for lifting a bit from the Kinks, but the lyrics are terrific pop writing, and gain a little something extra if you know about the incident that inspired them.

 

Yes, the song has good lyrics, in particular:

Sidewalk crouches at her feet
Like a dog that begs for something sweet
Do you hope to make her see, you fool?
Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?

Sorry you don't agree.

 

Brilliant

 

Everyone know it’s made out of cheese.

 

Who Scared You is a Krieger/Morrison collab, right? Morrison was singing some of the lyrics as early as the Matrix shows in 1967.

 

$

 

You keep bringing this up. I'm not sure you realize that he wasn't serious when he wrote that.