tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42392333577113793092024-03-25T13:58:46.680+00:00The Nietzschean Jim MorrisonEssaysBill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-19307638296251464002023-07-22T23:10:00.002+01:002023-07-22T23:10:53.807+01:00Was Pursued the Last Film seen by Jim Morrison?He escaped into a movie house. <div>[Morrison, The Lords] (1) <div><br /></div><div>The claim that Robert Mitchum's 'Pursued' was the last film Jim Morrison saw derives from the statement made on the day of his death to the French police by his girlfriend Pamela Courson. This statement was made to the Criminal Investigations Department, meaning the police must have regarded Morrison's death as suspicious. (2) </div><div> The statement was recorded verbatim by the police minutes. Courson describes the deceased as her "friend": </div><div><br /></div><div> "Last night I had dinner with my friend ... I am not explaining myself properly ... I didn't have dinner last night, my friend went out to a restaurant on his own, probably in the area.
When my friend came back from the restaurant, we both went to the cinema to see the film <i>La Vallee de la Peur</i>." (ib.) </div><div><br /></div><div>These two sentences are interesting, to say the least. She first states that she and the deceased had dinner together, and then changes that to say instead that they dined separately, or rather that Morrison ate out alone, and she "didn't have dinner". We assume Pamela meant she stayed at home while her "friend" dined in a restaurant without her. This sudden change of an alibi would have sounded suspicious to the police; - did she suddenly change it because she wasn't able to say what restaurant it was, or was she concerned that if the police checked the restaurant it would turn out that she didn't dine with Morrison after all? Being a distinctive redhead someone is likely to have remembered her being there or not. </div><div>But in the next sentence she does give a concrete alibi. In the evening, she and Morrison went to see a movie together. Of course, in a darkened cinema no one is going to recall seeing her and Jim Morrison together. But why does Pam - who spoke no French - give the alternate French title for the film, and not the American title 'Pursued', which word ['pursued'] means the same in French anyway. She would have said "Pursued" and it would have remained 'Pursued' in the transcript. Only a French speaker would have said 'La Vallee de la Peur', as recorded in her statement. The film was not dubbed, but only subtitled. She would have watched it and listened to it in English. The title on the screen was clearly 'Pursued'. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZAdKaRUk1sqfq9PKDEacE2y5-LhllzivThVECK1g_SDU9PPbbo2CRKiKFb5KeqwAvuPgZgw5bt1Ybyu7HXc9_Cxgy5mpwGqIrWapE-nAQS0NYmWgxxPnnpHe5c96cfydVg8oR1xuOQG1FyO_-GcSVAItiSK2WWmRcpE5sMD_onwmlHD2LVYbIqn5TUt7_/s1440/pursued%201947%202%20-%20Copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="1440" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZAdKaRUk1sqfq9PKDEacE2y5-LhllzivThVECK1g_SDU9PPbbo2CRKiKFb5KeqwAvuPgZgw5bt1Ybyu7HXc9_Cxgy5mpwGqIrWapE-nAQS0NYmWgxxPnnpHe5c96cfydVg8oR1xuOQG1FyO_-GcSVAItiSK2WWmRcpE5sMD_onwmlHD2LVYbIqn5TUt7_/w400-h143/pursued%201947%202%20-%20Copy.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>'Le Vallee de la Peur' is an alternative title, and means 'The Valley of Fear'. Presumably there was another French film called 'Pursued', and so it was released in France by this alternate title. However, the fact remains that Pamela would have gone to see the film as 'Pursued', and at a cinema which specialised in showing American movies. This suggests that some French words were put into her mouth - at the very least - by a French Speaker. It seems the French police were suspicious too, and they checked out the alibi. Contrary to what is usually said, the police did make a proper investigation of Morrison's death. </div><div>However, this use of the alternate French title by a non-French speaker is puzzling. Morrison had hired a French-Canadian girl named Robin Wertle in early June to be his secretary at the apartment. Her duties were to see to the running of the flat, hiring cleaners, etc., to answer and respond to any mail, seek out opportunities for Morrison's films to be shown and to type up Morrison's hand written poetry and catalogue it. This means that she would quickly have become used to Morrison's handwriting. While she has been completely elusive since Morrison's death, she was one of the five mourners at his funeral at Pere Lachaise. She also bore an uncanny resemblance to Pamela Courson. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv1yjiP_HoN93CzCRKygTrPSxCeirum-PzqQUn_KtlA2P8tcku-0nk6feFVroUtPwA0y7m282YtEcTW-Pxbiwww55KBrDAjq_ZzzU0-u9-K8blRngn_Z-aRX_tJ8R4WfkR3FNS33EC-D4gfA5OuVXyJTHyz9bjThNH-CFTnvM_WEnuKQIYL1flJo-x-Bt/s1317/1972%20-%20Pam%20and%20Robyn%20Wertle%20pictured%20in%20Sausalito,%20CA%20while%20bathing%20Sage..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1317" data-original-width="1053" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfv1yjiP_HoN93CzCRKygTrPSxCeirum-PzqQUn_KtlA2P8tcku-0nk6feFVroUtPwA0y7m282YtEcTW-Pxbiwww55KBrDAjq_ZzzU0-u9-K8blRngn_Z-aRX_tJ8R4WfkR3FNS33EC-D4gfA5OuVXyJTHyz9bjThNH-CFTnvM_WEnuKQIYL1flJo-x-Bt/w320-h400/1972%20-%20Pam%20and%20Robyn%20Wertle%20pictured%20in%20Sausalito,%20CA%20while%20bathing%20Sage..jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>[Robin Wertle, top, with Pamela Courson, bottom right, bathing Pam's dog Sage in 1972] </div><div><br /></div><div> Being French-Canadian, Wertle spoke fluent French, but her English speech would have sounded American to French ears. Indeed, the French police regarded her as an American when they described the people at the apartment on the morning of Jim's death. Could she have 'forgotten' how to speak French that day and - for whatever reason - given the statement to the police as Pamela Courson? Essentially impersonating the girlfriend of her employer? </div><div>If this were so, it would explain two things: why 'Pam' said <i>La Vallee de la Peur</i>, and not <i>Pursued</i>, and why the signature on that police statement is not Pamela Courson's, but Jim Morrison's version of Pam's signature. To explain, Morrison often signed checks with both his and Courson's names himself. The signature on 'Pam's' police statement is identical to Morrison's version of it as seen on those cheques. As Morrison's secretary, would Wertle have learnt Morrison's signature and signed for Pam in her absence, copying Morrison's version of it? This is the signature she inscribed on the police statement as 'P Courson'. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqpsMiDNaEpLkjEuSYuQqQ7GIxojnWkvx_G1n3Prq7IeeJK3IfK0MtVv-eMraHN_i57ZEDiQmTuRARADG3xBmldWVzXbJuYvde1jf_7UjlTRYT6BN2OpuN_ZHSbWq4oA21iY305X0qACCpeTvPD2O4OQfe5ViE6dzcm2wDoH9CqKkRbBVfJeScymzxnjo/s3305/332952186_1100589454553046_5206849707822915498_n%20-%20Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="3305" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqpsMiDNaEpLkjEuSYuQqQ7GIxojnWkvx_G1n3Prq7IeeJK3IfK0MtVv-eMraHN_i57ZEDiQmTuRARADG3xBmldWVzXbJuYvde1jf_7UjlTRYT6BN2OpuN_ZHSbWq4oA21iY305X0qACCpeTvPD2O4OQfe5ViE6dzcm2wDoH9CqKkRbBVfJeScymzxnjo/w400-h171/332952186_1100589454553046_5206849707822915498_n%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[Comparison of signatures shows conclusively that Pamela Courson didn't sign her police statement following Jim Morrison's death] (3) </div><div><br /></div><div>Back to Courson's statement, where she goes on to describe where she and Jim had seen the film: </div><div><br /></div><div>"The cinema is beside the Metro Station Le Pelletier, I think it is called Action Lafayette." </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUoL2H7NUQBP1gGm8ZyPLHfEJT44kGl4FFxksgsrcuxATYO_u23jaJmy51LFitxVyubGVRC8xTkn6YJHk0qmC1qWnq8Aht1smGXkYU8lhMuw-IzWtg-3mTtcqMykfF_Xdf3EWQH144kYLwzdu6sDNwkj7chqSdCESpqdsEFVPPFKm7uPtaSMf22i-aKFp/s2588/action%20lafayette%20-.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="2588" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUoL2H7NUQBP1gGm8ZyPLHfEJT44kGl4FFxksgsrcuxATYO_u23jaJmy51LFitxVyubGVRC8xTkn6YJHk0qmC1qWnq8Aht1smGXkYU8lhMuw-IzWtg-3mTtcqMykfF_Xdf3EWQH144kYLwzdu6sDNwkj7chqSdCESpqdsEFVPPFKm7uPtaSMf22i-aKFp/w400-h325/action%20lafayette%20-.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> [Above the Action Lafayette pictured close to the time that Morrison went there] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgpUmHhbkQaQx75gxQkR6FD4KBaWBFcqqmMCdzmQgQwLAZHTuPspk5DerVagnvZdseUv4LuTjsIdhBhQ0VpeArmlqpz1HQM1JfgP7mltVaCL5ahLnJwFRniqGvdNT82nn9-dCb-HJCLjblbMbARa8MEpOnohzFoyW2WUumEOci8ZFSzitSZ8Srm7dv0dR/s1443/action%20lafayette%20-%20Copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1167" data-original-width="1443" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgpUmHhbkQaQx75gxQkR6FD4KBaWBFcqqmMCdzmQgQwLAZHTuPspk5DerVagnvZdseUv4LuTjsIdhBhQ0VpeArmlqpz1HQM1JfgP7mltVaCL5ahLnJwFRniqGvdNT82nn9-dCb-HJCLjblbMbARa8MEpOnohzFoyW2WUumEOci8ZFSzitSZ8Srm7dv0dR/w400-h324/action%20lafayette%20-%20Copy.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[Map shows proximity of the Action Lafayette cinema and 17 rue Beautreillis, the apartment
shred by Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson, and where Jim Morrison died on July 3rd 1971] </div><div><br /></div><div>In her statement Pamela said that she and Morrison "came back from the cinema around 1:00am". (2)</div><div><br /></div><div>There are two discrepancies here. When the police checked the ticket stub it did correspond to a viewing of <i>Pursued</i> at the cinema, but it was a ticket for one, and it was for an afternoon show.
The Action Lafayette was opened in 1966 by two young film buffs, Jean-Max Causse and Jean-Marie Rodon, who were fresh out of business school. Their concept was to show American movies in a theatre setting for other film-buffs to enjoy. They were still owners of the cinema in 1971, and recalled the police contacting them about Pam's alibi. </div><div> Film fan and Doors enthusiast Lisa Nesslson spoke to the couple in July 1996: </div><div><br /></div><div>"We didn't find out about it until a few days later. The police found a ticket stub in Morrison's pocket and traced it to our cinema," said Jean-Max Causse, adding, "But the cashier that day didn't recognise our illustrious customer. Morrison went to the movies incognito. We didn't realise who had come through our door until the police asked us to match up the numbers on the stub - that's how established that he'd been to an afternoon show and that's how we know exactly which film he saw." (4) </div><div><br /></div><div>The implication here is that not only did Morrison go to lunch on his own as Pamela said [after correcting herself], he also - contrary to her statement - went to see the film on his own, and in the afternoon, not in the late evening as Pam stated. </div><div> She said that they both came back from the cinema and got home at 1:00am By car the journey from the cinema to the apartment on the rue Beautreillis is around 15 minutes, by train maybe slightly more. She doesn't say what means of transport they used, and may have mentioned the metro only as a landmark. Perhaps she meant they stopped off on the way home, but even so, the film must have been something like a 10:30pm showing. </div><div>These two discrepancies do throw some further doubt on her side of the story. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i> Ni paranoia ni insouciance ignorant la mort, </i></div><div><i>mais une connaissance delicate et senssuelle de la violence dans un present eternal. </i></div><div>Not paranoia or beyond grave carelessness, </div><div>but a fine sensuous knowledge of violence in an eternal present. </div><div>[Morrison, from Eye] (5) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> Why the film 'Pursued'?
Jim Morrison had by all accounts, felt 'pursued', particularly since the Miami trial which dominated most of 1970 for him, and left him appealing his conviction when he went to Paris, facing jail time on his return, given that he'd effectively skipped bail by going to Paris, and had something like ten brushes with the law before, and even after Miami. These were all listed on his FBI file, and it is said that his lawyer Max Fink was fully aware of the FBI's sinister 'interest' in his client. </div><div>Morrison was deemed by the American State to be an anti-authority figure, hell bent on causing trouble, stirring up riots and behaving in an obscene manner in public. The 'little game' Morrison had played with the authorities in the hippie sixties had now turned seventies serious after Altamont, with the mysterious deaths of certain counter-culture figures and the Manson murders, all painting the rainbow black. Like Robert Mitchum's character, Jeb, in Pursued, Jim was a marked man. (6) </div><div><br /></div><div>Pursued is set in New Mexico, an area that permeates Morrison's poetry. It is the turn of the 20th Century, the era known as the Old West, or the Wild West, which was then drawing to a close.
Mitchum's Jeb is actually an orphan, and his family was slaughtered in a feud. We are here reminded of Morrison's childhood memory of coming across a family of slaughtered Indians on the road - also in New Mexico. And while Morrison wasn't adopted, he always carried around an outsiders identity, telling the media at the start of his music career that his family were all dead. </div><div>Morrison had noted the similarities between the American Western movie and the Tragedies of ancient Greek drama, where Fate moves inexorably. In Pursued, Jeb is adopted by a relative of the family who had slaughtered his own family, although at first he has no knowledge of this horror. An elder of that feuding family is hunting Jeb down to kill him, and as they get nearer he begins to realise he is being actively pursued. </div><div> In typically messy fashion Jeb falls in love with his adoptive sister, played by Teresa Wright. Theirs is a difficult relationship, to say the least, and fraught with obstacles, not least their own love/hate attitudes to each other. No doubt Morrison identified with this in terms of his own on/off partnership with Pamela Courson. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxPmIihTT6hWoMUbxvER26aKO4fky3V_F2ax571-UW99F7XJ1bwjzzIJDIuSExYZbn4IumZauuYvcv-SevnciK1VOvKE8gKVagl1DTj4HCtebCZQEoPjwcpXWtCPOdx4zfqr9EEdpT_FHtW0MAkW72seyK9VxTfpqoxrbiqTjhX2rYH19pA4oQEhBdp47/s1563/rob%20and%20teresa%20jim%20and%20pam.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1563" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxPmIihTT6hWoMUbxvER26aKO4fky3V_F2ax571-UW99F7XJ1bwjzzIJDIuSExYZbn4IumZauuYvcv-SevnciK1VOvKE8gKVagl1DTj4HCtebCZQEoPjwcpXWtCPOdx4zfqr9EEdpT_FHtW0MAkW72seyK9VxTfpqoxrbiqTjhX2rYH19pA4oQEhBdp47/w400-h186/rob%20and%20teresa%20jim%20and%20pam.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[Teresa Wright & Robert Mitchum 1947 - Pam Courson & Jim Morrison 1967] </div><div><br /></div><div> There is a startling moment in the movie when Jeb comes across some unmarked graves - those of his family, if he only knew. These graves bear a close similarity to the unmarked grave of Jim Morrison in a photo taken just after the funeral, by Pam Courson. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Cny4aIXfBa8muS4MIs3YuazcEidK_XjzDNLeCcA7GUk8rEtdnhVNSt3-iIq6dl4ZJieIbMcIaAWSoF9dy8zjyRuDQebe5sTb0g-LO9e01rRDEF2RCCMJ03FcAZM1fyePO6DEVP5o6p7RrbH-6wSW-BdpZt_TZxdaflhk2pDb3y5g_jjzR3iBUH1jDZNU/s1574/pursued%201947%207%20-%20I%20came%20upon%20some%20unmarked%20graves%20-%20Copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1574" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Cny4aIXfBa8muS4MIs3YuazcEidK_XjzDNLeCcA7GUk8rEtdnhVNSt3-iIq6dl4ZJieIbMcIaAWSoF9dy8zjyRuDQebe5sTb0g-LO9e01rRDEF2RCCMJ03FcAZM1fyePO6DEVP5o6p7RrbH-6wSW-BdpZt_TZxdaflhk2pDb3y5g_jjzR3iBUH1jDZNU/w400-h169/pursued%201947%207%20-%20I%20came%20upon%20some%20unmarked%20graves%20-%20Copy.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Jeb kills his adoptive brother in self defence, and , earns the hatred of his lover, Teresa Wright's character. Despite this falling out, Jeb still pursues her. He is put on trial for the killing, like Morrison in Miami, but is acquitted ... for now. Pursuing Teresa, he talks her into marrying him, although she plans to kill him once they are married. There are echoes here of rumours that Pam Courson killed Morrison i Paris, to stop him leaving her. </div><div> In a scene very similar to that in Oliver Stone's film, The Doors, where Pam threatens to kill Jim Morrison - but can't go through with it, so too here. Jeb and Teresa fall back into each other's arms, and back in love. </div><div>But Fate will not be thwarted. The posse of the feuding family come to kill Jeb, and after a shoot out [where the posse's call to "come out we know you are in there" is also found in Morrison's so-called Hitler poem], he is put on mock trial [perhaps this is closer to Morrison's Miami trial!]. Found guilty, he is hogtied and about to be hung on a tree. The scene here is very similar to the short promotional film the Doors did for their song Unknown Soldier in 1968, which has Morrison hogtied to a tree in a similar fashion. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu98LzLM3Y4Kzvffp7Og3bbKAYFauZarG7s5VR86p4y651rlWJ9ffctD2mohb3T_wY4HYA818PpnwG7c2NGi-5P-IMkbPxYCDpA7Yjx1LldVgCDY08r9y6mnINPCAKhsf6EYLR5sgQR9_zEJ_gzrYOMvUsTN64DtAwGNK9PcYBBZAwBbFcHNvOtT-YHH0i/s1048/hogtied%20jim%20and%20rob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="1048" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu98LzLM3Y4Kzvffp7Og3bbKAYFauZarG7s5VR86p4y651rlWJ9ffctD2mohb3T_wY4HYA818PpnwG7c2NGi-5P-IMkbPxYCDpA7Yjx1LldVgCDY08r9y6mnINPCAKhsf6EYLR5sgQR9_zEJ_gzrYOMvUsTN64DtAwGNK9PcYBBZAwBbFcHNvOtT-YHH0i/w400-h154/hogtied%20jim%20and%20rob.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[Mitchum, left, in Pursued: Morrison, right, in the Unknown Soldier] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>These could be just amazing coincidences, or else Morrison had seen the movie <i>Pursued</i> before, and might have seen it as something of an omen that it was playing on July 2nd 1971. Did Morrison know that on that very same day his father - now a Rear Admiral in the US Navy - was giving the keynote speech at the decommissioning of his ship, the Bon Homme Richard, in Washington DC - a ship Jim had visited in 1964? </div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>NOTES</b></div><div>1. Morrison 1971 p. 19</div><div>2. Pamela Susan Courson statement to Police Officer Jacques Manchez of the Criminal Investigations Department. .July 3rd, 1971. Statement given between 3:40pm and 6:40pm at Arsenal Police Station. in Seymore p 55-7, also plates 4-5.</div><div>3. Source for signatures and documents is mildequator.com. This issue was explored in a previous blog post: http://thenietzscheanjimmorrison.blogspot.com/2023/02/in-plain-sight-signature-that-denies.html</div><div>4. http://www.filmscouts.com/scripts/room.cfm?name=multimed/jim-mo08</div><div>5. Muller 1978 p. 218-9</div><div>6. Cf., Milton 2012 passim</div><div><br /></div><div><b>BIBLIOGRAHY</b></div><div><i>The Lords and The New Creatures</i>, Jim Morrison, Touchstone 1971</div><div><i>Une Priere Americaine et Autres Ecrits</i>, Jim Morrison, Bilingual Edition, Herve Muller, Christian Bourgois 1978</div><div><i>The End: The Death of Jim Morrison</i>, Bob Seymore, Onibus 1990</div><div><i>We Want The World: Jim Morrison</i>, The Living Theatre and The FBI, Daveth Milton, Bennion Kearny 2012</div><div><br /></div><div><b>FILMOGRAPHY</b></div><div><i>Pursued</i>, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Robert Mitchum & Teresa Wright. 1947</div><div><i>The Unknown Soldier</i>, directed by Mark Abramson & Edward Dephoure, starring the Doors, Elektra 1968</div><div><i>The Doors</i>, directed by Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer & Meg Ryan, 1991</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to Lilith McGregor for ideas and discussions on this subject.</div><div><br /></div>Bill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-36185357426936808882023-06-14T23:47:00.002+01:002023-06-21T22:58:01.704+01:00Just Like Oscar: Jim Morrison in Paris<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">In Reading gaol by Reading town </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>There is a pit of shame. </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>And in it lies a wretched man </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>Eaten by teeth of flame, </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>In a burning winding-sheet he lies. </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>And his grave has got no name. </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>[<i>The Ballad of Reading Gaol</i>, Oscar Wilde] (1) </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>Did you know freedom exists </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>in a school book </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>Did you know madmen are </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>running our prison </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>w/in a jail, w/in a gaol, </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>w/in a white free protestant </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>Maelstrom? </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>[<i>An American Prayer,</i> Jim Morrison] (2)</div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-CqPnTsRHZGpRY9O1zGeMTzkV3t9C54zZe2nb-2lAgcZ4DpV7P2ii6o9zVYt3ZycthMaT8F-FS77mUAptjGuVOAUgL98gWdv2co0ZEYw3I4T7Bmz3JDglMf1SZpYzQSZ0ZkQ9Hvw3q5TPS65vXThM07bgDNiIhRn7w6wn1QiqvXd7nc1ej4p9PyqdQ/s1505/oscar%20wilde%20Jim%20M%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1090" data-original-width="1505" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-CqPnTsRHZGpRY9O1zGeMTzkV3t9C54zZe2nb-2lAgcZ4DpV7P2ii6o9zVYt3ZycthMaT8F-FS77mUAptjGuVOAUgL98gWdv2co0ZEYw3I4T7Bmz3JDglMf1SZpYzQSZ0ZkQ9Hvw3q5TPS65vXThM07bgDNiIhRn7w6wn1QiqvXd7nc1ej4p9PyqdQ/w400-h290/oscar%20wilde%20Jim%20M%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">[composite image of Oscar Wilde, aged 28, and Jim Morrison, aged 25] (3)</div></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b> I </b></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">In his poem 'An American Prayer', Jim Morrison juxtaposes two versions of the word <i>jail</i>; - "gaol" and "jail". The former
being the archaic spelling, and associated of course with Oscar Wilde's heart wrenching poem, 'The Ballad of Reading
Gaol', referred to above. 'Gaol' is thought to derive from Norman French, and was originally pronounced as 'gahwl', although it had become
assimilated to the same pronunciation as 'jail' by Wilde's time. </div><div style="text-align: left;">And yet, when he reads his poem, Morrison pronounces "gaol" as 'gahwl', differentiating 'jail' and 'gaol' as the words
follow in his poem. (4)
This therefore is a clear and emphatic allusion to Wilde's ballad by Morrison, who certainly had 'gaol' on his mind in 1970
as he too was facing jailtime. Whereas Oscar Wilde served his sentence - and was broken by it, Morrison sought to evade
his, moving to Paris whilst on appeal and dying there. Indeed, both men would die in Paris as exiles from their respective native lands. </div><div style="text-align: left;">In my view it is clear that Morrison's allusions to Oscar Wilde went beyond influence or identification, and were actually
statements of intent in and of themselves.</div><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b>II </b></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Steel doors lock in prisoner’s screams </div><div style="text-align: left;">& muzak, AM, rocks their dreams </div><div style="text-align: left;">No black men’s pride to hoist the beams </div><div style="text-align: left;">while mocking angels sift what seems </div><div style="text-align: left;">To be a collage of magazine dust </div><div style="text-align: left;">Scratched on foreheads of walls of trust </div><div style="text-align: left;">This is just jail for those who must </div><div style="text-align: left;">[from <i>An American Prayer</i>]
(5) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Each narrow cell in which we dwell </div><div style="text-align: left;">Is a foul and dark latrine, </div><div style="text-align: left;">And the fetid breath of living Death </div><div style="text-align: left;">Chokes up each grated screen, </div><div style="text-align: left;">And all, but Lust, is turned to dust </div><div style="text-align: left;">In Humanity's machine. </div><div style="text-align: left;">[from <i>The Ballad of Reading Gaol</i>]
(6) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The parallels between the two men are striking, as they are at times apposite, and at other times, opposite. Just as Wilde
was the product of the upper echelons of the old world, so was Morrison of the new world. And while Wilde didn't
publish his first collection of poems until he was 27 years old, Morrison had died by that age, publishing his songs from
the age of 22 with the rock group, the Doors.
Wilde would live on for another 19 years, producing plays and essays, before experiencing the incarceration and
subsequent humiliation that Morrison avoided. And yet Wilde would live another three years in that Parisian exile,
Morrison would perish in only four months. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Both were leading figures of exciting cultural and artistic movements which were simultaneously popular and yet
condemned widely by the establishment of their times. They were similarly hounded to their graves because they dared
to offend and to innovate, while laughing to scorn at the 'straight' world.
Their graves were both in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, as they accordingly found that city a refuge from the "white
free protestant maelstrom" of the Anglo-Saxon world, whether it be Victorian England or Nixonian America. And - as
Wilde was his forerunner - we can expect that Morrison's following in Wilde's footsteps was therefore both deliberate
and emphatic.
Indeed, given that Morrison acquired the grave plot in Pere Lachaise before he died, and that - most telling of all - he
stayed in the same hotels that Oscar Wilde was arrested in and died in, we can only assume that when he went to Paris
in March 1971 he intended to die in Paris that coming summer, 'just like Oscar'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b>III </b></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Jail </div><div style="text-align: left;">The walls screamed poetry disease & sex </div><div style="text-align: left;">an inner whine like a mad machine – </div><div style="text-align: left;">dropped in a cave </div><div style="text-align: left;"> of roaches </div><div style="text-align: left;"> or rodents </div><div style="text-align: left;">[from <i>Wilderness</i>, by Jim Morrison] (7) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">At six o'clock we cleaned our cells, </div><div style="text-align: left;">At seven all was still, </div><div style="text-align: left;">But the sough and swing of a mighty wing </div><div style="text-align: left;">The prison seemed to fill. </div><div style="text-align: left;">For the Lord of Death with icy breath </div><div style="text-align: left;">Had entered in to kill. </div><div style="text-align: left;">[from <i>The Ballad of Reading Gaol</i>] (8) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wilde's ill-advised private prosecution of 1895 against the Marquis of Queensbury [the father of his 'Muse', Bosie, the nicknmae Lord Alfred Douglas] which
he lost, incurred huge costs, and led swiftly to him being charged with gross indecency, resulting from the evidence that
had emerged in his own libel action. He had been repeatedly advised to leave London, and seek refuge in Paris, but he hesitated, and was arrested, somewhat
hoist by his own petard, however unfairly he was treated. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Likewise, Morrison - who had given a drunken, chaotic, profane and sexually suggestive performance at Miami in 1969,
had unwittingly played into the hands of the political 'Campaign for Decency', applauded by President Nixon. He found
himself arrested and charged with those very things he had done on the stage as an artistic performance. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> Morrison echoed Wilde's defence when he said it was really a "lifestyle that was on trial." But that was to be no defence
in the eyes of a puritanical establishment which regarded the lifestyles of Wilde and Morrison as criminal in themselves.
Like Wilde, Morrison was found guilty, and also sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEited4vAfRttLQXFMShtFtybflDk2HPcQ2Hasv_mRqhaMx1jmzfMgQvXRqIlLNaGo2yxuIKTmCB3o4Eh8NqAQvqBSsmA6u0MBXRneLy6ui4EMeVOTNbjI94b95SSPAxdugxbtZJaxOTRPFdB6zfsbbmVEFHM-Mrp77oaf-5BxVttegdqLa7FCU_6y4tTA/s2024/Oscarwildetrial%20JDM%20trial.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="937" data-original-width="2024" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEited4vAfRttLQXFMShtFtybflDk2HPcQ2Hasv_mRqhaMx1jmzfMgQvXRqIlLNaGo2yxuIKTmCB3o4Eh8NqAQvqBSsmA6u0MBXRneLy6ui4EMeVOTNbjI94b95SSPAxdugxbtZJaxOTRPFdB6zfsbbmVEFHM-Mrp77oaf-5BxVttegdqLa7FCU_6y4tTA/w400-h185/Oscarwildetrial%20JDM%20trial.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">[contemporary coverage of the Wilde and Morrison trials] (3)</div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b> IV </b></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The barns are stormed </div><div style="text-align: left;">The windows kept </div><div style="text-align: left;">& only one of all the rest </div><div style="text-align: left;">To dance & save us </div><div style="text-align: left;">With the divine mockery of words </div><div style="text-align: left;">[from An American Prayer] (9) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Like two doomed ships that pass in storm </div><div style="text-align: left;">We had crossed each other's way: </div><div style="text-align: left;">But we made no sign, we said no word. </div><div style="text-align: left;">We had no word to say </div><div style="text-align: left;">[from The Ballad of Reading Gaol] (10) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Despite having a house nearby, Wilde liked to take rooms at the Cadogan Hotel in London, just as Morrison liked to room
at a motel near to where he lived in Los Angeles. Wilde was staying at the Cadogan Hotel when he was arrested. At that
point he had secured bail of £5, 000, and had a window of opportunity to flee the country for France. Despite the urging
of his friends, he decided to stay put, and take on the establishment. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A thump, and a murmur of voices — </div><div style="text-align: left;">(”Oh why must they make such a din?”) </div><div style="text-align: left;">As the door of the bedroom swung open </div><div style="text-align: left;">And TWO PLAIN CLOTHES POLICEMEN came in: </div><div style="text-align: left;">“Mr. Woilde, we ‘ave come for tew take yew </div><div style="text-align: left;">Where felons and criminals dwell: </div><div style="text-align: left;">We must ask yew tew leave with us quoietly </div><div style="text-align: left;">For this is the Cadogan Hotel.” </div><div style="text-align: left;">[<i>The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel</i>, Sir John Betjeman] (11) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Morrison was not to make this mistake. On a bond of $50, 000 and appealing his sentence, in March 1971 he slipped
quietly over to Paris before the FBI could confiscate his passport. His girlfriend and Muse, Pamela Courson, had gone on ahead a month
before to arrange accommodation for them. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Can it be a coincidence that a few months later, Morrison's close French-American friend, Alain Claude Ronay, had
reserved a room at the Cadogan Hotel, where Wilde was arrested, in London for them, after Morrison had fled to France? The reason for this stay in London
is not known, and Morrison would return to Paris shortly afterwards. </div><div style="text-align: left;">If it was only a short break, it was certainly symbolic
and further underlines the parity Morrison felt with the life of Wilde.
In a later brief article of 1991, the usually reticent Ronay tries to play down the connection between Morrison's
movements in Europe, and Wilde's, and yet he mentions Wilde repeatedly. (12) Some have speculated that Morrison had tried to conceal a gay relationship between himself and Ronay. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Ensconced in Paris, Morrison, would never go back to the USA to serve the jail stretch waiting there for him. But Wilde
had left it too late, and only relocated to Paris after serving his backbreaking two year sentence in Reading Gaol - but
neither of them would avoid the final tragedy.</div><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>V </b></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"I can write, but have lost the joy of writing" </div><div style="text-align: left;">[Letter to his publisher, Wilde, Paris, 1897] (13) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The joy of performing has ended. </div><div style="text-align: left;">[As I Look Back, JDM, Paris, 1971] (14) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Through her contacts in Paris, Pamela Courson was able to rent for the summer an up-market flat on the Right Bank in
Paris, and would move in there March 1971. Using this as their base, they would make tourist trips around the
Mediterranean. At one time though, in early May, the apartment was not ready for them on their return to Paris, and they chose to
stay at another hotel, this time on the Left Bank. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Morrison's biographer takes up the tale: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"Their flat was unavailable for a few nights so they moved into L'Hotel, an exclusive Left Bank hostelry
whose twenty-five extravagantly appointed rooms were becoming much in demand among visiting rock stars, who were
attracted to the one-time residence of Oscar Wilde. Soon after, there were stories of another of Jim's binges and the
accompanying fall from one of L'Hotel's second storey windows. He apparently landed on top of a car, bounced once, and
dusted himself off as if nothing had happened, walked up the street for a drink."
(15) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCub8yPGd9H14Wo3GKdp9paIitdP1LzJtMEJXU8FAQyDJyALJFqnuFob8f1APpyJXEvlzTqkpBRftQWd-m43dR8Hamz_IRlltXx6B1RzwfwD3Euk_KEHFHmrHQ7Ba6daQnI2mG7GkMlJ2QKvrLwcBP3rzJoj41zqaTYULe-c_Qv_K5qxknUPX-dpNcQ/s2440/hotel%20beaux%20art.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1444" data-original-width="2440" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCub8yPGd9H14Wo3GKdp9paIitdP1LzJtMEJXU8FAQyDJyALJFqnuFob8f1APpyJXEvlzTqkpBRftQWd-m43dR8Hamz_IRlltXx6B1RzwfwD3Euk_KEHFHmrHQ7Ba6daQnI2mG7GkMlJ2QKvrLwcBP3rzJoj41zqaTYULe-c_Qv_K5qxknUPX-dpNcQ/w400-h236/hotel%20beaux%20art.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">[graphic showing the outside of L'Hotel, 13 rue Beaux-Arts - Morrison's stay included his falling out a window!] </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wilde stayed on the second floor too - in room 14. It is said that Morrison himself stayed in that very same room. Like
Wilde, Morrison too toured the flesh pots of that locale: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"Living on the Left Bank, in St Germain, in a way put Jim back on Santa Monica Boulevards, for here were all the famous
bars...." [...] "To the au courant French crowd, the hippest 'underground' clubs were the newly opened Le Bulle, and Jim's
favourite, a series of basement caves called the Rock 'n' Roll Circus." [ib.] </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While Wilde died on his death bed in room 14 of L'Hotel, surrounded by friends and a priest, Morrison's death was
mysterious and lonely. The death certificate said he died of 'natural causes'. But many reject this view: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"The Parisians hold out for heroin as the cause of death. Jim had been a regular at the Rock 'n' Roll Circus, the French
night spot then known as a haven for the local heroin underground..." (16) </div><div style="text-align: left;">"Some say he went to the Rock 'n' Roll Circus, so steeped in depression that he bought some heroin and O.D.'d in the club
lavatory, only to be carried out the back door and dumped at his flat, in the bathtub." (17)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>VI </b></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But Morrison didn't die like Oscar, at L'Hotel. By the time of his death, Morrison had returned to his Right Bank
Apartment at 17 rue Beautreillis - and to a very different neighbourhood. Here he had peace to write and live a life away from
the temptations of booze and 'rock n roll'. </div><div style="text-align: left;">Living at rue Beautreillis throughout June with Alain Ronay who vouched for Morrison's
reserved and sober life-style there, it was on Saturday July 3 1971 that Morrison died in the bathtub of this apartment.
Therefore I don't think he could have died of a drug overdose in the Left Bank's Rock 'n' Roll Circus as I believe he only
frequented that place when he lived nearby, on the rue Beaux-Arts. While he could've been "carried" home from the
Circus to the rue Beaux Arts quite easily, it would be impossible for the same to be done from the Circus to rue
Beautreillis which was on the other side of the Seine and much further away, as the map below shows. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-bFbOKMxwOkoDqjSxJ9Ik2C4aHEgPCFv1eCfvS90G1jUXfJOQ-dLuuKlw66HxDTZTkexbTUT_pmugBAEOQrXTmc5WVK-wmQdanUtQ_N7NG36Sm03MWRPMq8u_yWlakryNmRIFgPi5xkuMOkj54FGu4Ke4UkxXdObIi4Qp1TB_u3cSX4xPLOW_Ye0gA/s758/beaux%20arts%20circus%2017.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="758" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-bFbOKMxwOkoDqjSxJ9Ik2C4aHEgPCFv1eCfvS90G1jUXfJOQ-dLuuKlw66HxDTZTkexbTUT_pmugBAEOQrXTmc5WVK-wmQdanUtQ_N7NG36Sm03MWRPMq8u_yWlakryNmRIFgPi5xkuMOkj54FGu4Ke4UkxXdObIi4Qp1TB_u3cSX4xPLOW_Ye0gA/w400-h323/beaux%20arts%20circus%2017.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">[Map showing the proximity of L'Hotel on rue Beax Arts [B] to the Rock n Roll Circus [C].
While at the same time showing the distance from both of 17 rue Beautreillis] (3)</div><div><br /></div><div>Not only that, while a hotel would be easy to get someone back into and up to their room, the flat at 17 rue Beautreillis
presented other obstacles, not just distance. Once into the apartment block there is a large and wide hallway. At the
opposite end of this are the stairs to the upper floors. These stairs are by the open courtyard and overlooked by the other
flats. Anyone entering carrying a body would be seen, and after going up three flights of stairs, there are other
apartments on the same landing as number 17. Once entering that apartment, there is another lobby and another
corridor. See pictures below of 17 rue Beautreillis. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kaKBFaPrItdb8JHgnIntuHs5yCRrCuDaRkAjewZq0Bat8_UZ7Biq1jqFRd6JgXr0BZa8kvIlxCM-HahiPg2ykNRplI7M7MxDXz2v3j-6uiBfyW78YZ5bAMZ3Oq-aRfrZJrUbkPg28cbnglPzie_gdKHXDTDPeD-4aIYXir9MYn-WTYanPP7IgBnqTw/s1708/%2317%20-%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="1708" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kaKBFaPrItdb8JHgnIntuHs5yCRrCuDaRkAjewZq0Bat8_UZ7Biq1jqFRd6JgXr0BZa8kvIlxCM-HahiPg2ykNRplI7M7MxDXz2v3j-6uiBfyW78YZ5bAMZ3Oq-aRfrZJrUbkPg28cbnglPzie_gdKHXDTDPeD-4aIYXir9MYn-WTYanPP7IgBnqTw/w400-h176/%2317%20-%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div>[Features of 17 rue Beautreillis showing the building provides scant cover and lacks ease of access] (3)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqyYCRyc6Q7epPVDAJDFNZ2KETgukXxI8Gzm3cN9VBKrojG-e5edmZCbXXihf-1XMDc42yq-Tx4RhwiAWxyNJU8jHrZcjXUdcCvFbQB8hynDUD6VDNtOP-dZ-EbIaCmxS7_0eUwKm6J6_WfjfhGvHfT38yQkCXgHRaKBP18C0YlyUOaW929LXjV_-8g/s3008/firemen%20take%20body%20to%20bedroom.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2044" data-original-width="3008" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqyYCRyc6Q7epPVDAJDFNZ2KETgukXxI8Gzm3cN9VBKrojG-e5edmZCbXXihf-1XMDc42yq-Tx4RhwiAWxyNJU8jHrZcjXUdcCvFbQB8hynDUD6VDNtOP-dZ-EbIaCmxS7_0eUwKm6J6_WfjfhGvHfT38yQkCXgHRaKBP18C0YlyUOaW929LXjV_-8g/w400-h271/firemen%20take%20body%20to%20bedroom.png" width="400" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">[floor plan of a similar apartment to that of 17 rue Beautreillis] </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div> As can be seen from the above floor plan, the bathroom is at the opposite end of the floor from the entrance. All in all,
secretly carrying a body back from the Left Bank Circus and into the genteel Right Bank neighbourhood of rue Beautreillis,
and then negotiating the taxing route to the apartment's bathroom, would seem fairly difficult and fraught with the
danger of being observed and discovered.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>VII </b></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>He who lives more lives than one </div><div>More deaths than one must die. </div><div>[<i>The Ballad of Reading Gaol</i>, Wilde] (18) </div><div><br /></div><div>Which of my cellves will be remember’d </div><div>Good-bye America I loved you </div><div>[<i>As I Look Back</i>, Morrison] (19) </div><div><br /></div><div>It was on the third day of July, that Jim Morrison died in the bathtub of 17 rue Beautreillis.
His body was not seen by his family. Of his close friends, only his girlfriend Pamela saw him die. The medics and
policemen who responded to the calls of an ailing man did not recognise him as being the 'rock star' Jim Morrison. </div><div>Just as
Wilde became Sebastien Melmouth when he came to Paris, so was Morrison renamed as James Douglas, an unknown
poet with a private fortune. The authorities in Paris did not realise they were to pronounce dead and have buried an
unknown "cellve" of the rock star. </div><div>Morrison was buried quickly and quietly while his family, colleagues and public were unaware. Unlike Oscar, he didn't
even have a grave stone, but was buried in an unmarked grave. </div><div>Wilde's first resting place was described as a pauper's
grave, but in a few short years his friends and colleagues collected the funds for him to be buried in Pere Lachaise
beneath a splendid and mighty monument by the sculptor Jacob Epstein. </div><div>No such dignity was allowed Morrison, whose unmarked grave and environs started to be sullied with junk and graffiti by
fans of the singer. A bust of Morrison, again provided by a fan ten years after his death, was similarly defaced and
eventually stolen. Only 20 years after his passing, did his parents provide a fitting headstone and then visit the grave. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUitjIEomi0Ewxv1pNVniWzTzzd_Qqkb58rKkCRRtyzkRnhYM4yeXMlqM2rBNCeFblg2-KgaAw_2qmMxBiHrB-vDh9EpZQINANPQ4WoTcSK3VcuWFhfKHAkuUGM8_3r3ri8HwjRqKse3QmPXEc2wj-uzvTVnPh8Z-kS4CGCYXYTwp8I053Bj0ZPa63g/s2125/wilde's%20Morrison's%20graves.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2125" data-original-width="1933" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUitjIEomi0Ewxv1pNVniWzTzzd_Qqkb58rKkCRRtyzkRnhYM4yeXMlqM2rBNCeFblg2-KgaAw_2qmMxBiHrB-vDh9EpZQINANPQ4WoTcSK3VcuWFhfKHAkuUGM8_3r3ri8HwjRqKse3QmPXEc2wj-uzvTVnPh8Z-kS4CGCYXYTwp8I053Bj0ZPa63g/w364-h400/wilde's%20Morrison's%20graves.png" width="364" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">[The graves of Morrison and Wilde] (3) </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>A final comparison between Wilde and Morrison in death shows that Wilde's friends did all they could to get him the
respect he deserved, while Morrison's were tardy and grudging. His tiny gravesite hardly merits the attention of the
hordes of rock music fans who descend upon it; while Wilde's is an impressive monument to the great man of letters.
And Wilde's tomb gets most visits, but with Morrison's grave not far behind. </div><div>This is in itself is fitting though, as Morrison still follows in the footsteps of Oscar.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>NOTES </b></div><div>1) Wilde, 1910 p 37. Originally, in the first edition of 1898, the author was only named as C33. C33 was Wilde's cell
number when he was imprisoned in Reading Gaol. By 1900, the author's name was also printed on the title page. The
poem narrates the execution of a fellow prisoner. </div><div>2) Morrison, Penguin 1990 p. 7. An American Prayer was first published in summer 1970 as a private pocket book, by
Western Lithographers, Los Angeles, and numbered approximately 250 copies. A full mainstream publication of An
American Prayer can be found in 2021's release of The Collected Works Of Jim Morrison. </div><div>3) montages by Bill Boethius Osborn </div><div>4) Morrison, Elektra Records, 1978 - track 5 </div><div>5) Morrison, Pengun, 1990 p 8 </div><div>6) Wilde, 1910 p 33 </div><div>7) Morrison, Viking, 1988 p 83 </div><div>8) Wilde 1910 p 23 </div><div> 9) Morrison, 1990 p 5 </div><div>10) Wilde 1910 p 15 </div><div>11) first published in 1937, in Murray, 1970, p 18 </div><div>12) see Ronay's refs to Wilde in his article 'Jim and I', [and cf. Bosie's memoir similarly titled 'Oscar Wilde and Myself']. Another coindence is that Bosie's surname 'Douglas', was also Jim Morrison's middle name. The substance of Ronay's article can be found in Albert Goldman,' Interviews withAlain Ronay and Agnes Varda', in
Rocco, Schirmer Books 1997 </div><div>13) Ellmann, 1988, p 52 </div><div>14) Harpers 2021 p 558 </div><div>15) Plexus 1980 p 356 </div><div>16) ib. </div><div>17) ib., p 395 </div><div>18) Wilde 1910 p 25 </div><div>19) Harpers p 563 </div><div><br /></div><div><b>BIBLIOGRAPHY</b> </div><div><i>The Ballad of Reading Gaol,</i> Oscar Wilde, Duffield & Co. 1910 </div><div><i>John Betjeman's Collected Poems</i>, John Murray, 1970 </div><div><i>No One Here Gets Out Alive</i>, Hopkins/Sugerman, Plexus 1980 </div><div><i>Oscar Wilde</i>, Richard Ellmann, Knopf 1988 </div><div><i>Wilderness,</i> Jim Morrison, Viking, 1988 </div><div><i>The American Night</i>, Jim Morrison, Penguin 1990 </div><div><i>The Doors Companion</i>, ed. John Rocco, Schirmer Books 1997 </div><div><i>The Collected Works of Jim Morrison,</i> Harpers 2021</div><div><br /></div>Bill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-84348569109160518232023-05-09T10:53:00.002+01:002023-05-09T17:15:27.069+01:00How did Jim Morrison Get a Grave in Pere-Lachaise?<p><br /></p>"[Bill] Siddons [Doors manager] arrived in Paris on Tuesday, July 6th [1971]. He was met at the flat by Pamela
[Courson, Jim Morrison's girlfriend], a sealed coffin, and a signed death certificate. Funeral arrangements were quickly
and secretly confirmed. On July 7 Pamela filed the death certificate with the U.S. Embassy, identifying Jim as James
Douglas Morrison, a poet. She said there were no living relatives. The official cause of death was listed as a heart
attack. <div>"Siddons was efficient, and on Wednesday [July 7th] afternoon the coffin was lowered into the ground at Pere La
Chaise, a cemetery Jim [Morrison] had recently visited as a sightseer, seeking the graves of Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde,
Balzac, Bizet, and Chopin. Five mourners were present: Pamela, Siddons, Alan Ronay [Morrison's French-American
friend since film school, in 1963], Agnes Varda [celebrated French film director], and Robin Wertle [Robyn was
Morrison's secretary - he had employed her since early June 1971 to put some order to his affairs and papers]. They
threw flowers on the grave and said their goodbyes." </div><div>[<i>No One Here Gets Out Alive</i>, Hopkins & Sugerman, 1980] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKylfYVgouembu59hDeQXqyild6FymgaE8gC2VXmYdNMQPn34ULAiy_lL1AqdtU9zezy95KcRj0fnR_bkJYq0brR_J_mvuJMg1F5rSdr-xfq0cNMb55cuoX55fOhJGE7fUdNVUqX_pI37bDfdEJMyZ_075RuEEgv3w3gWYirdy5Kkf_haB0EMrNfxbog/s1622/the%20five%20mourners%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1622" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKylfYVgouembu59hDeQXqyild6FymgaE8gC2VXmYdNMQPn34ULAiy_lL1AqdtU9zezy95KcRj0fnR_bkJYq0brR_J_mvuJMg1F5rSdr-xfq0cNMb55cuoX55fOhJGE7fUdNVUqX_pI37bDfdEJMyZ_075RuEEgv3w3gWYirdy5Kkf_haB0EMrNfxbog/w400-h155/the%20five%20mourners%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>[My graphic of the five mourners. The pictures of Robyn Wertle and Bill Siddons, are from 1972: the pictures of Ronay
and Courson are from June 1971. Only the picture of Varda is a little later, but reflects how she appeared in the early
1970s. The image of Wertle is of poor quality, but there are few pictures of her to be found. But even from this shot
we can see that she bore a striking resemblance to Courson] </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbZ5To_r8VPZnsxSwEc3-O87_ObHPX3iseeaeWsI8oqF8Hdpmov8Yri9k6Qt2FZ4LuH6aHQy6DtahNI0w-_fyQO5JGCRUrXDSVNANVGnmEbfB4oWlbr7pO1OBeRLEIyeF7AYxfE55r0kRIbO_sblSFrR9Cx0EXukzOnM-DzEsW0hB3llqlABHZSIw-A/s2473/the%20five%20mourners%20-%20with%20grave.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2473" data-original-width="1781" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbZ5To_r8VPZnsxSwEc3-O87_ObHPX3iseeaeWsI8oqF8Hdpmov8Yri9k6Qt2FZ4LuH6aHQy6DtahNI0w-_fyQO5JGCRUrXDSVNANVGnmEbfB4oWlbr7pO1OBeRLEIyeF7AYxfE55r0kRIbO_sblSFrR9Cx0EXukzOnM-DzEsW0hB3llqlABHZSIw-A/w288-h400/the%20five%20mourners%20-%20with%20grave.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /><div>[Here I have added Courson's photo of the grave seen just after Morrison was buried]</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Cemetery Cold & Quiet </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Nine years after Jim Morrison's death, this was the most detailed description of Jim Morrison's funeral available then.
The main author, Jerry Hopkins [a contributor to 'Rolling Stone' magazine, and the author of a biography of Elvis
Presley] had interviewed Morrison a few times before the latter's passing, and had travelled with the Doors as an
embedded journalist. He gathered the materials for the book between 1971 and 1975, although it was only published
in 1980 thanks to the involvement of Doors staffer Danny Sugerman. The book's 'Acknowledgements' states: </div><div><br /></div><div>"The year following Jim Morrison's alleged death Jerry Hopkins was sent to Europe as Rolling Stone's roving
correspondent. This made it a simple matter for him to research the details of Jim and the other Door's only European
tour and of Jim's final months in Paris...." </div><div> [ib. p 381] </div><div><br /></div><div>The 'Acknowledgements' also claim that Hopkins had interviewed Pamela Courson, Bill Siddons, and Robin Wertle, as
well as a host of others. However, absent from the two page list of contributors are Alan Ronay and Agnes Varda - two
of the only five people at Morrison's funeral, and two people who were at Morrison's apartment on the day of his
death. It is hardly surprising then, that the information in this "long awaited biography" is so sketchy when it comes to
this pivotal moment: Morrison's death and interment. </div><div> We are told above that "Funeral arrangements were quickly and secretly confirmed" - what does that really mean? - it
sounds like waffle. And, "the coffin was lowered into the ground at Pere La Chaise..." - Just like that - so quickly and secretly, so 'efficiently' and 'confirmedly'. The authors even refer to Morrison's "alleged" death: not only do they tell us
little, but what they do tell us seems slightly dubious. </div><div> While the Morrison and Courson families had been locked in legal combat along with the Doors management over the
control and inheritance of Jim Morrison's estate in a long saga, arching over the 1970s and 1980s, a British based
American investigative writer, called Bob Seymore, who was not linked to the families or the Doors, sought to do
independent research in Paris in order to find out what really happened there in July 1971. </div><div>He had received no
response from Bill Siddons, while Agnes Varda, Alan Ronay and Robyn Wertle had all been incommunicado on the
subject of Jim Morrison's death throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and of course, Pamela Courson had died in 1974,
without making any kind of verifiable statement beyond what she had told the police on the day of Morrison's death,
notwithstanding the largely unfruitful contributions she and Wertle are supposed to have made to Hopkins' book. </div><div><br /></div><div>In his T<i>he End: The Death of Jim Morrison</i>, [1990] the aforementioned Bob Seymore describes a visit he made to the
offices of Pere Lachaise cemetery when he was seeking information on Morrison's burial there.
He had previously phoned the cemetery, who said they could only answer questions if they were in written form. To
that end he faxed over a series of questions to the office, asking when exactly the Morrison grave plot was bought, and
who bought it, and other such questions, but no answers had been forthcoming. After a month of waiting, and being given
the run-around [the faxed reply had been sent - hadn't been sent, etc., etc.,], he was then told his questions couldn't be
answered as the matter was "confidential". </div><div>Making further phone calls, Pere La Chaise relented and told him the grave was purchased on July 2nd [the day <i>before</i>
Morrison's death]; they then changed their minds and said it was actually bought on July 7th [<i>the day of the funeral</i>].
They corrected this once more to give their final version: the grave was purchased on July 6th [the day <i>before</i> the
funeral, and three days after Morrison's death] and they would fax him a photocopy of the register entry. </div><div> Not satisfied with this, in his persistence, Seymore went to Pere Lachaise to ask them the rest of his questions in
person. While at the cemetery office, the clerk acknowledged the original list of questions Seymore had faxed to them,
and set out to answer the questions there and then - faxing the replies, so that Seymore would have them on record.
As this was going on, Seymore's French speaking companion, Nadine, noticed that one of the notes the clerk was
working from stated that Pamela Susan Courson was Morrison's "cousin". This of course, wasn't true, and contradicts
what Pam Courson's report to the police and the American Embassy had always stated: that she was only Jim
Morrison 'girl-friend'. </div><div>Seymore indicates the contents of the note, which stated next that Ms Courson's lawyers had requested that 'cousin'
be changed to 'wife' in 1977. This was three years after Courson's death, and was also not true, even though Pam was
buried as Pamela Courson-Morrison. She never legally married Jim Morrison and at most, could only be viewed as his
common-law wife, when he died. The next note following this on the sheet referred to the sculptured bust which was
placed on the grave in 1981, to which Seymore also alludes. </div><div>Finding this description of Pamela as 'cousin' - and therefore as a Morrison blood relative, startling, Seymore asked the
clerk to stamp the sheet, photo-copy and then fax it with the replies to his questions. Unfortunately, for what ever
reason, Seymore did not include a facsimile of this sheet in his book, just as he didn't reproduce all the documents he
gathered in Paris. No doubt this was due to limits placed upon him by the authorities and his own publisher.
However, a copy of this sheet of notes - along with other documents that Seymore didn't reproduce has turned up,
and it is quite revealing. For it suggests strongly that in order to purchase a grave plot for Jim Morrison, Pam Courson
[not being married to him] had to pretend that she was a member of the Morrison family, calling herself his 'cousin'.
She must have had help in order to convince Pere-Lachaise that this was the case, since she spoke no French.</div><div><br /></div><div>"They [Pere Lachaise] discovered that the grave was purchased on July 6 and the burial took place the following day." </div><div>[Seymore 1980] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Unanswered Question </b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>But how was it that Jim Morrison [who was being touted only as 'a dead unknown American writer' by Courson] was
able to get a double grave plot at such short notice in Pere-Lachaise - and why has this never drawn much suspicion?
That Pamela Courson bought the plot from Pere Lachaise on July 6th 1971 became the accepted wisdom and has been
reported uncritically ever since, despite the puzzlement as to how this was possible, for even in 1971, the applications
to get buried in Pere-Lachaise were exceeding the spaces available. How was the cousin of an unknown American able
to get a plot so quickly? Consider that since the 1950s, Pere Lachaise has been fully booked. </div><div> To be sure of getting a plot at Pere-Lachaise, one needed to 'plan ahead', and make an application in advance, as plots
could become available when already acquired graves fell into disuse, and stopped being maintained - or stopped
being paid for. Leases ran out on some plots, and if not renewed, any bones could be removed and put into the
ossuary, and a new body and grave put into its place. </div><div>How was Pam Courson - a non-French speaker as I've said, able
to get a plot a day before the funeral?
The answer to this question - which has never before been properly asked - is there in the Pere-Lachaise notes mentioned by
Seymore. So interested was he in the false use of the 'cousin' relationship by Pam Courson, he failed to notice the date
when Courson 'acquired' the grave. It was not the 6th of <i>July</i> 1971, the day before the funeral, but the 6th of <i>January
</i>1971 - six months before the funeral, and therefore also a good six months before Morrison died. </div><div> Looking at the date '6.1.1971' on the notes, and after being told that the grave was purchased on the 6th of July,
Seymore failed to notice that what he thought was a seven, was in fact a one: it is clearly the 6th of January. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNgOxxRPQTXBMod77hnD_JTOzNaQQKEEKpZIZJmIGFZuEhfwdEE29coYc_zPs7h50CKcRf1QHXr9kr7dkFZQ1sSSFFeWzR_rDFbaJ0eqet77XkiAeI-T6puen3cGC5fHQqFAoRDj07zBODVaPes48C50C0xhTsz6SKVBAHi9yhYUN9TAnJItJv9boGA/s4094/Pere-Lachaise%20Note%20(5)%20clear.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3009" data-original-width="4094" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNgOxxRPQTXBMod77hnD_JTOzNaQQKEEKpZIZJmIGFZuEhfwdEE29coYc_zPs7h50CKcRf1QHXr9kr7dkFZQ1sSSFFeWzR_rDFbaJ0eqet77XkiAeI-T6puen3cGC5fHQqFAoRDj07zBODVaPes48C50C0xhTsz6SKVBAHi9yhYUN9TAnJItJv9boGA/w400-h294/Pere-Lachaise%20Note%20(5)%20clear.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[The Pere-Lachaise note: The first two lines refer to the date and place of Morrison's death and to the date of his
burial. The third line describes the grave plot and its position in the cemetery, while the fourth line refers to
acquisition of the grave by his 'cousin'[<i>cousine]</i>, Pamela Susan Courson on 6.1.1971. The next two lines indicate that
the Courson family's legal team in 1977 request that 'cousin' be changed to 'wife' [<i>epouse</i>]. The remainder of the note,
starting with a reference to Rebillon marble, details the bust of Jim Morrison sculpted by Mikulin Mladan and its
placing on the grave in 1981] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYRnDyZJhNfhinAGjjws55BGCA7YVvbl2g1cXa4NQ7JcFrDd31UOglNuxZ7R2rDpneZVwcddl1GAHMbjcBsoRMYobNEVo8URCjBMMD4K7gbrO-ms5UkXx0qoZlX5Q9Gqklc1X_M3gk1czxAzheLX9MlvkxeIwPlIXnF1CexDvfmp1O2AGi5H_u95FJtw/s3547/Pere-Lachaise%20Note%20(4)%20first%20section%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="3547" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYRnDyZJhNfhinAGjjws55BGCA7YVvbl2g1cXa4NQ7JcFrDd31UOglNuxZ7R2rDpneZVwcddl1GAHMbjcBsoRMYobNEVo8URCjBMMD4K7gbrO-ms5UkXx0qoZlX5Q9Gqklc1X_M3gk1czxAzheLX9MlvkxeIwPlIXnF1CexDvfmp1O2AGi5H_u95FJtw/w400-h131/Pere-Lachaise%20Note%20(4)%20first%20section%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[The first section of the note - the word cousin (cousine) I've underlined, and the date, 6.1.1971, encircled in red] </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdlKqDWaeaBpd4SGXp27toDrBQThSvWhXWsCGwSvfKyN4CkJOGqaqJ4vQFi3eQuEyHzdsh2guLujCua_cpwo8TIOGdrDnEJX26aqc2UjuG6j_zXlQOe9zHzOWLL_0UvxQe1PfKJnWhXocZSNTVBhdkosV2JC73qEWVBjka9_VevC2t1MkpVT64VlQzQ/s1051/Pere-Lachaise%20Note%20(4)%20first%20section%20-%20date%20alone.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="945" data-original-width="1051" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdlKqDWaeaBpd4SGXp27toDrBQThSvWhXWsCGwSvfKyN4CkJOGqaqJ4vQFi3eQuEyHzdsh2guLujCua_cpwo8TIOGdrDnEJX26aqc2UjuG6j_zXlQOe9zHzOWLL_0UvxQe1PfKJnWhXocZSNTVBhdkosV2JC73qEWVBjka9_VevC2t1MkpVT64VlQzQ/w400-h360/Pere-Lachaise%20Note%20(4)%20first%20section%20-%20date%20alone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>[The date 6.1.1971 is blown up and compared with other uses of 7s and 1s on the same sheet to show that the 1 is a 1,
and that the writer will cross a seven (French 7) to avoid any ambiguity in certain cases] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This immediately makes more sense and would allow 'cousin' Courson to acquire the plot in advance by putting herself
on the waiting list, so to speak. A grave plot could become available any time within that six months. Courson was
constantly flying to Europe during 1970-1, as she had a relationship with the wealthy Parisian aristocrat, Jean de
Breteuil, know as the 'Count'. She also had the excuse to go on frequent buying missions, to obtain clothing and
materials for her boutique 'Themis', which Morrison had bought for her to run in Los Angeles, and which specialised in
expensively exotic clothes, and was patronised by the rich and famous.
There was also the Parisian couple Agnes Varda, and Jacques Demy - well known new wave film makers, both friends
of Courson and Morrison, while Morrison's friend since his college days - the French-American Alain Ronay - was a
useful go-between as he was a photographer and film technician who, while living near Courson and Morrison in Los
Angeles, often visited Europe and even stayed at times with Varda in Paris. </div><div> Anecdotal evidence says that Courson was in Paris from October 1970, returning to the US in December for Christmas,
and then jetting back to Paris for the new year. She had been repeatedly telling Morrison that he must move to Paris
and live there with her permanently, as the Doors recording contract was up, the Miami obscenity conviction loomed,
and Morrison needed to strike out as a poet, and stop "wasting his time", as she saw it, with music. She had reportedly
made the ultimatum that she would relocate to Paris herself even if he didn't join her. Returning again to the US briefly,
she then left for Paris on the 14th of February 1971 to find an apartment: Morrison had finally agreed to go and live in
Paris with her - he would follow her out there in a few weeks. </div><div> Using her network of the wealthy and influential, Courson got the luxury apartment at 17 Rue Beautreillis - near to
Pere-Lachaise - for the time being, as its owner, a model friend, was going to be away for the summer. Jim would rent
it for 3,000 francs a month. Eventually they planned to convert a derelict church in the south of France into a home. </div><div>So we can establish that on the 6th of January 1971, Courson, calling herself a 'cousin' of Morrison, and a Paris
resident, was able to apply for a grave plot in Pere-Lachaise.
Interestingly, back in Los Angeles, and the day before this - on the 5th of January - Max Fink, the lawyer of the Doors,
and the man who had kept Jim Morrison out of jail despite the best efforts of the Miami courts and the FBI
[subsequently FBI files have been released showing that there was a near 100 page dossier on Morrison], formalised the
<i>Doors Partnership Agreement</i>. Previously this was a word of mouth understanding between the four members of the
group. Now it was set down and legally binding. Ultimately the agreement would make it possible for the Doors to
continue as the Doors should one of the group die. This clause would be finalised and authorised by the group the day
Morrison left for Paris, on the 11th March 1971. Fink had also warned Morrison that, as he was now appealing his
Miami conviction for obscenity, and out on a substantial bond of $50, 000, he needed to move quickly as the
authorities were ready to confiscate his passport: Fink was always one step ahead of Jim Morrison's persecutors. </div><div><br /></div><div>So we are left with this: Pamela Courson, claiming to be a Morrison cousin, had bought a plot for the Morrison family
in the celebrated cemetery Pere-Lachaise, Paris. She had also acquired an apartment near Pere Lachaise, and Morrison himself would visit Pere
Lachaise only a week before his death, telling his friend Alain Ronay that he would like to be buried there. While we
might speculate as to why this plot was bought in advance, we cannot get away from the evidence that it was, and that
Courson lied about her relationship to the Morrison clan in order to buy it. We know that the grave plot belonged to
the Morrison family as they had to be asked permission for the marble bust to be placed on it in 1981. We also know
that the grave plot was originally bought on a 30 year lease. In 2001, when the lease expired, the Morrison family
bought the plot in perpetuity. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Notes:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>1) first edition page 367 - my editorial explanatory additions to the quote are in square brackets. Contrary to what is
said here, Rear Admiral George S. Morrison is listed as being Jim Morrison's father on the US Embassy Death of an American
Citizen certificate. Also, the funeral did not take place in the afternoon, but in the morning, starting at 8:30am. Documents have come to light since 1980 to show this. However, it still isn't certain on what day the American Embassy in Paris was notified of Jim's death - the first certificate [called a 'preliminary'] from the Embassy is dated 17th July 1971. My point here is that in 1980, Hopkin's book was the 'gospel' in regards to Jim Morrison. It wasn't until Seymore's book of 1990 that many assumptions were challenged.] </div><div>2) page 20</div><div>3) thanks to Lilith McGregor for finding this. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Bibliography:</b></div><div><br /></div><div><i>No One Here Gets Out Alive</i>, Jerry Hopkins & Danny Sugerman, Plexus Books, 1980 </div><div><br /></div><div><i>The End: The Death of Jim Morrison</i>, Bob Seymore, Omnibus Press, 1980</div>Bill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-39899267632070433762023-04-20T11:02:00.004+01:002023-05-08T17:17:00.743+01:00Documenting the Death of the Doors/Jim Morrison<i> Jim Morrison’s life and art entailed a continuous dialogue with death, hence, the absurdity of treating his death, as some writers have done, as an unimportant or uninteresting event. The fact is that not knowing how Jim Morrison died is exactly like having a tragedy whose final act consists of nothing but rough sketches for a half dozen possible endings. </i><div> [Albert Goldman, The End, 1991] (1) </div><div><br /></div><div><i> How to get death </i></div><div><i> On the morning
show </i></div><div><i> T.V. death </i></div><div> [James Douglas Morrison] (2) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u> Partnership Agreements </u></div><div><br /></div><div> Like the American nation, the Doors rock group was founded on a kind of constitution they called the Partnership Agreement. Essentially the four members of the group agreed that everything should be divided equally between them. That all decisions taken by the group should be agreed unanimously, and each member had a veto. Even more fundamentally, the agreement was that the Doors could only consist of those four members together. Should any one of the four leave the group, the Doors would no longer exist. Not only that, but should any member leave the group, he couldn't use the name of the Doors. It was this <i>esprit de corps </i>that held the group together through its rise to fame and success between 1967 and 1971. </div><div> On the 5th January 1971, the Doors attorney Max Fink, formalised the Doors Partnership Agreement on paper, dating it retroactively to 1st Jan 1966. It was now legally binding. But it was thought that there was a flaw in the agreement: should a member of the group die, then the group would be no more - the Doors would die too. Surely this was not the same as a member wilfully leaving the group? Shouldn't an exception be made here? If a member died, the group should be allowed to go on.
To that end, on the day that Doors singer Jim Morrison left to go and take an open ended vacation in Paris, the Doors thought to make an amendment to the Agreement, which would allow the group to continue if a member of the group should become deceased. </div><div>Uncannily, Jim Morrison himself would die on July 3rd 1971 in Paris, some four months after this amendment was signed by the group. This then is our first document. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZii9GnP44srBu50_dMcdC0B2EpTBRBxVKsyvo6eAP31WSR94gJWiWVn17R65EgkwQfRQ_H5mIvMpGXm8L7bZZkXVbhZD-44lt8r1P_tLsx_siRyMVCP2umXNfr29oQWVivx1S48GsrS6Sfb3da4SCDIL0RXKSdq3Xy7w6cneDyOaWHg7PI8VlVuhtYQ/s1624/1%20The%20Amendment%20of%20March%2011th%201971%20to%20the%20Doors%20Partnership%20Agreement%5D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="1224" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZii9GnP44srBu50_dMcdC0B2EpTBRBxVKsyvo6eAP31WSR94gJWiWVn17R65EgkwQfRQ_H5mIvMpGXm8L7bZZkXVbhZD-44lt8r1P_tLsx_siRyMVCP2umXNfr29oQWVivx1S48GsrS6Sfb3da4SCDIL0RXKSdq3Xy7w6cneDyOaWHg7PI8VlVuhtYQ/w301-h400/1%20The%20Amendment%20of%20March%2011th%201971%20to%20the%20Doors%20Partnership%20Agreement%5D.png" width="301" /></a></div><br /> [The Amendment of March 11th 1971 to the Doors Partnership Agreement] (3) </div><div><br /></div><div><u> Paris </u></div><div><br /></div><div>The Jury is still out on what happened to Jim Morrison on the morning of July 3rd, 1971. Whether he actually suddenly died or disappeared, remains disputed. However, it must be said that on that date he was declared legally dead, and the documents which help maintain the factual grip of a legal death have long been in the public domain. But have these documents been really examined closely? In this article I wish to subject these documents to a careful study.
In so doing, I wish to dispense with all speculation and opinion. I do not want to entertain any hindsight versions, recollections, theories or stories about Jim Morrison's end. I want only to look closely at the contemporaneous facts that have been presented to us as documentation. </div><div>Documentation is vital in the search for truth and for the upholding of fact. Documents tend to be dated as a matter of course. The document is dated and timed itself, and to the events referred to in it, a date and time is usually imputed. That is the value of documentation: arguments end where documents begin. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Where? </b></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Map of Paris regions showing the various locations in relation to Jim Morrison's apartment</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nw8kI_1Cq4233jBIXpSgwxfvqf-fu9wMsF1bzgKThE1zq4h80DwXodWqI8XbN_ZRFjdrC-upxnrxYSoy_xxhjKIZuC2-uk9aPfTzI0gOFb4_-QsuzI05khtq8mPNinpXe_blIaCoNbtiK27UXedn4xqytqcOAJqZzMVmS-IiNbkNsW2LEs2ZyGVxTg/s1274/2%20Map%20of%20Paris%20regions%20showing%20the%20various%20locations%20in%20relation%20to%20Jim%20Morrison's%20apartment..png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1274" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nw8kI_1Cq4233jBIXpSgwxfvqf-fu9wMsF1bzgKThE1zq4h80DwXodWqI8XbN_ZRFjdrC-upxnrxYSoy_xxhjKIZuC2-uk9aPfTzI0gOFb4_-QsuzI05khtq8mPNinpXe_blIaCoNbtiK27UXedn4xqytqcOAJqZzMVmS-IiNbkNsW2LEs2ZyGVxTg/w400-h215/2%20Map%20of%20Paris%20regions%20showing%20the%20various%20locations%20in%20relation%20to%20Jim%20Morrison's%20apartment..png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I made the above map from Google Earth to help me organise my response to the various Paris documents relating to the death of Jim Morrison, and to give an idea of the proximity of the various locations connected to them in relation to his apartment at #17 rue Beautreillis in the 4th ARR, [or district.]
To briefly explain the significance of each location - and thereby take care of the question 'where?': </div><div><br /></div><div>1) <b>Agnes Varda's House</b> was where Alain Ronay stayed when he wasn't staying at Jim Morrison's apartment. Varda and Ronay [both friends of Morrison] are said to have travelled from her house to the apartment on the morning of Morrison's death </div><div>2) <b>8 rue du Cloitre </b>is the funeral home of the famous Hospital Dieu, Notre Dame. This is where Michel Gagnepain worked, the man who signed the death certificate, filled out the burial permit and the funeral bill. </div><div>3) <b>The Town Hall</b> in the 4th ARR is from where the death certificate and the burial permit were issued.</div><div>4) <b>The Fire Station</b>, very close to the apartment, provided the first emergency workers to reach the scene of the death </div><div>5) <b>Pere Lachaise </b>Cemetery is of course where 'James Douglas Morrison' was buried </div><div>6) The City, or <b>Municipal Funeral Home</b>, at 104 rue d'Aubervilliers, organised Morrison's funeral </div><div>7) <b>The Police Station,</b> the Arsenal, provided the investigating officers, and was where Pamela Courson and Alain Ronay made their witness statements </div><div>8) <b>The American Embassy </b>was where Jim Morrison's death was reported after his funeral </div><div>9) <b>Dr Vassille's</b> address as given on his medical report </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>The Vital Documents </u></div><div><br /></div><div> As regards the death of Jim Morrison, the vital documents are the certificates of death, permits of burial, bills of funeral and reports and findings of officials - such as policemen and doctors - and last, but not least, minuted reports made by witnesses. Keeping only to these things, how could we possibly go wrong? Indeed! These documents seemingly include no opinions and contain only the facts of the matter, or so we might think. </div><div>The documents then, supply a framework of facts which pertain to Jim Morrison's last day in Paris. Stated briefly they tell us this: </div><div><br /></div><div> <u>3rd July 1971 [Saturday] </u></div><div> - 0500hrs - Jim Morrison dies in Paris [according to his death certificate and the burial permit] </div><div> - 0925hrs - emergency services are called to the apartment - report of a dying man </div><div> - 0930hrs - fire brigade arrive at apartment to find deceased. Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson is present </div><div> - 0940hrs - police arrive at the apartment. Morrison's friend Alain Ronay is now also at the apartment. </div><div> - 1430hrs - fire brigade file report </div><div> - 1430hrs - death certificate produced </div><div> - 1430hrs - burial permit produced </div><div> - 1540hrs to 1840hrs, Pamela Courson, only witness to Morrison's death, gives statement to police </div><div> - 1800hrs - Dr Vassille examines Jim Morrison's body to determine cause of death </div><div> - 1840hrs - police officer Manchez instigates medical report, including Dr Vassille's findings </div><div> - 1850hrs - Alain Ronay gives statement to police </div><div><br /></div><div> These are the recorded events of the day of Morrison's death according to the documents. It will immediately be noticed that they tell us it was more than four hours between Morrison's recorded death and the emergency services being called. Nine and a half hours after his demise, the death certificate and the burial permit are issued. However the body isn't examined by the doctor until 6pm - thirteen hours after the death, and three and a half hours after the death and burial certificates have been produced. And yet, according to French law, a death certificate can only be issued after a medical report is submitted by a doctor. Not only that, a witness statement from Alain Ronay had yet to be given, despite the death and burial permits being already issued. </div><div>Even before we examine the documents themselves, we see that the timeline gives rise to serious concerns. And yet, despite what look like suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a 27 year old in a luxury flat, no autopsy was ordered, the body remaining in the apartment the whole weekend, and into the following week when it was buried on the Wednesday.
Similarly, our documentation tells us this of those following days: </div><div><br /></div><div> <u>4th July 1971 [Sunday] </u></div><div> - police superintendent Berry makes concluding report of Jim Morrison's death to the Public Prosecutor </div><div>- the body of the deceased remains in the apartment on a bed. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>6th July 1971 [Tuesday] </u></div><div> - Pamela Courson makes funeral arrangements
-Courson purchases a double grave plot at Pere Lachaise cemetery for Morrison's burial tomorrow </div><div><br /></div><div><u> 7th July 1971 [Wednesday] </u></div><div> - Funeral of Jim Morrison - burial in Pere Lachaise Paris. </div><div><br /></div><div>We notice here that the case of Morrison's death goes to the Public Prosecutor, but still the body remains in the apartment and no autopsy ordered. Pamela Courson [telling the authorities that the deceased 'Douglas Morrison' is an unknown American writer] is able to buy a double plot at the Pere Lachaise cemetery at very short notice for the funeral the next day. Two days after the funeral, Courson is back in the USA, applying for a disclosure of Morrison's Last Will and Testament, while the American Embassy in Paris is still waiting to be notified of Morrison's death and its cause. Clearly the death was purposely shrouded in secrecy, while the bare events as laid out above, suggest something very untoward. </div><div>Now we need to examine the documents which give us the above string of events in more detail.
The two vital documents - the ones upon which everything else hinges - are the death certificate and the burial permit. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>The Death Certificate </u></div><div><br /></div><div> The French death certificate needs to contain the following basic information: the date and time the deceased met their end. Where they died, and their name, as well as their place of birth, their occupation and their current address. It should also state what their marital status is and who their next of kin are.
In addition, the date and time of the certificate's issue should be stated, along with the name of the person who is declaring the death, and the official registering it, and their position/address, plus their respective signatures. [French death certificates do not give the cause of death, which is to be found in the medical report supplied by the doctor]. These criteria are met by the death certificate of James Douglas Morrison, seen below. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJ1h0NjwDNX1TtuxvMKjxZAOj_04ceSUaIyBwpktjizAAMKUpSPlVKHEm6dWKiwdTXjwf9ELWC2_jTdNl-hoqZMBEGW58ge9w20JXZk_zUbBen0BWGXGROPIk1HAuvEEQDquzJB5eVVE4hnAEchMtlMZ0QUQKWf4MKvpJ0YxuQqDmVPEGlgIwE7GCFA/s1062/3%20Death%20Certificate%20of%20Jim%20Morrison,%20with%20translation%20into%20English.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1062" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJ1h0NjwDNX1TtuxvMKjxZAOj_04ceSUaIyBwpktjizAAMKUpSPlVKHEm6dWKiwdTXjwf9ELWC2_jTdNl-hoqZMBEGW58ge9w20JXZk_zUbBen0BWGXGROPIk1HAuvEEQDquzJB5eVVE4hnAEchMtlMZ0QUQKWf4MKvpJ0YxuQqDmVPEGlgIwE7GCFA/w400-h289/3%20Death%20Certificate%20of%20Jim%20Morrison,%20with%20translation%20into%20English.png" width="400" /></a></div><div>[Death Certificate of Jim Morrison, with translation into English] (4) </div><div><br /></div><div> As aforesaid, this bears the signatures of two people: a Mr Michel Gagnepain, and a Mrs Annie Moreno. The latter is a civil servant at the Town Hall's registry office who registered the death, the certificate of which accordingly bears the address of the Town Hall of the 4th District which covered Morrison's apartment in rue Beautreillis. The former signatory, Mr Gagnepain, is the person who declared the death at the local Town Hall. Gagnepain is stated to be an employee at 8 Rue du Cloitre-Notre-Dame, in the 4th District, which is the funeral home of the Hotel-Dieu de Paris - the oldest hospital in France, if not the world.
This hospital is actually located quite near to Morrison's apartment, estimated to be about a 15 minute walk. It would be quite in order if Jim Morrison was taken to that hospital dead or dying, for him to be pronounced dead there by one of the hospital's doctors, and placed in their funeral home - as in this case - in order to present the medical report and the declaration of death to the Town Hall, and so obtain a death certificate and then a burial permit to that effect. Indeed, on the face of it, this is what the death certificate of Jim Morrison tells us happened. This would allow a quick burial within the time strictures allowed in France: </div><div><br /></div><div> The following tasks should be completed following the death in France of an immediate family member: </div><div><br /></div><div> 1. Within 24 hours </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div> ○ Have a doctor make a medical report of the death</div><div> ○ Contact a funeral service/undertaker to manage the burial </div><div> ○ Make declaration of the death at the local Town Hall </div></blockquote><div> 2. Within six days </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"> ○ Make arrangements for the funeral and burial or cremation </div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">
(5) </div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> When we check the reference works as regards Mr Gagnepain's funeral home as named on the death certificate, we find the following: </div><div><br /></div><div> "At number <i>8 rue du Cloitre</i> was the funeral home of the [hospital] <i>Hotel-Dieu du Paris</i>, where the bodies of people who died in the establishment [i.e., the hospital] or in connection with a medico-judicial investigation are deposited. The body of Jim Morrison, for example, was deposited there after the discovery of his death." (6) </div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><i>A funeral home or burial chamber </i>is a place where the relatives of a deceased person gather before the burial and the funeral. This place makes it possible to participate in the work of mourning by replacing the <i>funeral vigilis</i>. It is also one of the places where conservation care is practiced with the hospital and the deceased's home.
Not to be confused with a mortuary, which is located in a hospital. </div><div><i>In France </i></div><div>In France, the transport of the body to the funeral home as well as the first three days of it are the responsibility of the State if the body was discovered at home or on a public road by the police. </div><div><i>The funeral parlour </i>should not be confused with the morgue or burial chamber located within a hospital, where the stay of the body is free for the first three days. </div><div>Funeral homes are managed by authorised funeral directors, but are a public place. All funeral directors may request the admission of a deceased person to any funeral parlour, without access being refused except for reasons of lack of places. The rate applied is the same for all families.
The deceased rests in a funeral chamber on a refrigerated bed, or in presentation in a coffin.
[ib.] (5) </div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>While the 'official' story is that Jim Morrison died at home, it also says that his body remained in his apartment, from the moment of his death until the morning of his funeral, five days later, when he was buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery. But the death certificate - an official document - tells a different story: Jim Morrison's body was taken to the nearest hospital, being the Dieu de Paris, pronounced dead there, then placed in its funeral home, and a death certificate was issued at the request of that funeral home from the local Town Hall. Indeed, this is the document we have before us now. </div><div>With the very first document we observe a completely different scenario to that stated in all the 'official' accounts of Jim Morrison's death, this without recourse to any tendentious opinions or conspiracy theories. </div><div>This death certificate links us to the next vital document. </div><div><br /></div><div><u> The Burial Permit </u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUXF1PgBX8VL7OQHjihN3tztGiRVSUHtVDI6HbZCtX00UdTOpL9brE9Ign8EMt_ixIX4gXRY6nFRlZfMtIVjjudUrvclFoUKWrMlGA71AZUQE8-lTaMEPOSB1cDHwF5hQsRB9thfWeq890GHv5pm66UTH4Q0fTqheYcOUc1feZQnk3raslr2D6Lu51w/s2412/4%20Burial%20Permit%20-%20copy%20of%20original,%20top,%20with%20translated%20version,%20below.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2412" data-original-width="1780" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUXF1PgBX8VL7OQHjihN3tztGiRVSUHtVDI6HbZCtX00UdTOpL9brE9Ign8EMt_ixIX4gXRY6nFRlZfMtIVjjudUrvclFoUKWrMlGA71AZUQE8-lTaMEPOSB1cDHwF5hQsRB9thfWeq890GHv5pm66UTH4Q0fTqheYcOUc1feZQnk3raslr2D6Lu51w/w295-h400/4%20Burial%20Permit%20-%20copy%20of%20original,%20top,%20with%20translated%20version,%20below.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> [Burial Permit - copy of original, top, with translated version, below] (7) </div><div><br /></div><div> Just as a death certificate cannot be got without a prior medical report, nor can a burial permit be obtained without a valid death certificate. This burial permit - issued from the Town Hall - echoes the information that is on Morrison's death certificate. It gives the all important date and time of death as Saturday the 3rd of July, 1971 at 5am, and the place of death as 17 rue Beautreillis. The permit has the same issue time too, that of 2:30pm of that same day. </div><div>It will be seen that on the original there are two different hands involved in filling the permit out. The first being the original information of the death, as stated at the Town Hall, and the second being that of when the permit is subsequently handed to the undertakers, and accordingly dated at the bottom on the 6th of July when the funeral for the next day was arranged.
However, there seems to be an anomaly in the original issuance of the permit. For instead of the issuer being a 'Mr [name of a] Doctor of Medicine' as the pro-forma insists, rather than a Doctor's name, we have '<i>Mr Public Prosecutor, Doctor of Medicine'</i>. This cannot be correct. Of course, at a glance, that may look like a proper name with its 'de la' format, but on inspection it is no such thing. The 'signature' at the bottom of the permit doesn't help as it is almost a non-signature, with a too concentrated scribble that makes it invalid as a meaningful signature which cannot be aligned to any name, let alone to a name on the permit, as there isn't one. </div><div>The other writing on the left hand column, and the day, date and time above the stamp, is Michel Gagnepain's, of the death certificate and hospital, as he also signed the funeral bill. </div><div><br /></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div><u>The Funeral Bill </u></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TU1NuT8Nq9tK9ur_4Gb9Ib0fPIA8ispTtEHgqU75Ar5_65wTzY0djLeXonfAt97Lv07gE470cd1OYV-3g0fJZc7UuSG_Jphe5FnlQlOevBaN7d53JRIyWymDvO3ytxxgG7VX-5W5sfzpzqsxnt7byvJ9yPtAH5UIEO7CE9YFrLpBh-q5jO2K32cRfw/s1637/5%20The%20Funeral%20Bill,%20left,%20from%20the%20Municipal%20Funeral%20Home.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="979" data-original-width="1637" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TU1NuT8Nq9tK9ur_4Gb9Ib0fPIA8ispTtEHgqU75Ar5_65wTzY0djLeXonfAt97Lv07gE470cd1OYV-3g0fJZc7UuSG_Jphe5FnlQlOevBaN7d53JRIyWymDvO3ytxxgG7VX-5W5sfzpzqsxnt7byvJ9yPtAH5UIEO7CE9YFrLpBh-q5jO2K32cRfw/w400-h239/5%20The%20Funeral%20Bill,%20left,%20from%20the%20Municipal%20Funeral%20Home.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> [The Funeral Bill, left, from the Municipal Funeral Home [104 rue d'Aubervilliers], is signed and filled out by Michel Gagnepain, who also filled out the Burial Permit and of course signed the death permit - see insets on right which make these comparisons]
(Thanks to Lilith McGregor for helping pointing these out) (8) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The Funeral Bill is made out to Pamela Courson in name, but doesn't bear her actual signature - someone else signed her name in her stead. Her biographer Patricia Butler [1998] stated that the signature was not Courson's, but couldn't decide who actually wrote it. My assumption is that Michel Gagnepain 'signed' her name as it is similar to the rest of the writing on the form, which is his.
It looks, therefore, like Michel Gagnepain was more than instrumental in the three vital documents needed to declare Jim Morrison dead and have him buried quickly, as French law allows. </div><div>From another perspective, mention of the 'Public Prosecutor' on the Burial Permit would indicate that the body had been sent to have an autopsy, possibly due to suspicions of the death being due to drug use, for example. That it cleared such an autopsy would have resulted in the issuance of the burial permit. However, all those authorities who have commented on the death of Jim Morrison have been unanimous on one thing: <i>he did not undergo an autopsy</i>. However, it is possible that his body <i>did</i> undergo an autopsy, but this information has been embargoed by the Morrison family - but I promised not to speculate!</div><div>Once again, the documents meant to nail the facts offer us some disquiet: a non-name, a non-signature, a substituting of a signature by an official, a confusion about a possible autopsy, and the monopoly of one man's authorisation over documents which are meant to express independent procedures. And all in all, there is the sense of an undue secrecy and obfuscation hanging over the whole affair. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>The Police Documents </u></div><div><br /></div><div>As the interest in the Jim Morrison case [and in the Doors music] grew during the 1980s, with Hollywood film makers and independent researchers like Bob Seymore and Albert Goldman looking to find out more facts about the mysterious death, a series of documents were published in 1990 which comprised the French Police dossier on the case, including statements from officers, witnesses and the rather late medical report made at 6pm on the 3rd of July for a man who died 13 hours earlier, according to the death certificate. </div><div>The documents were first published and translated in Bob Seymore's book [1990], although he didn't provide facsimiles for all of them. I will take them as set down by Seymore with that caveat. The documents are: </div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>A] 3-7-71 9:40am: Report of J <b>Manchez</b> Police Officer </div><div>B] 3-7-71 2:30pm: Report of A <b>Raisson </b>Fire Officer </div><div>C] 3-7-71 3:40pm - 6:40pm: Witness Statement of Miss Pamela <b>Courson</b> [girlfriend of the deceased] </div><div>D] 3-7-71 6:00pm: Medical Report of <b>Vassille</b>, Doctor of Medicine </div><div>E] 3-7-71 6:40pm: Requests of J Manchez for a medical report and the Public Prosecutor </div><div>F] 3-7-71 6:50pm: Witness Statement of Mr Alain <b>Ronay</b> [friend of the deceased] </div><div>G] 4-7-71 no time: Concluding report by Police Superintendent <b>Berry</b> to the Public Prosecutor </div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Seymore only gives facsimiles of C] and D]. All the others he translates and prints as normal English text in the body of the book. </div><div>When examining these police file documents, rather than look at them one by one, it might be more instructive at first to compare them in relation to our guiding principles: <i>Who, When, Where, What and Why? </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><b>Who? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>It might seem surprising, but the documents vary in identifying the name and age of the deceased. </div><div>The death certificate and the burial permit are uniform in naming the deceased as James DOUGLAS MORRISON. This suggests the surname to be 'Douglas Morrison' [as if it were 'Douglas-Morrison'], rather than just Morrison, whereas Douglas was only a middle name. There has been speculation that this was done initially by Courson to obscure the identity of the famous 'Jim Morrison', and present the deceased as an unknown poet called Douglas. This would also mean that the death would be filed under 'D' and not 'M', and may explain why the Doors office were unable to find out any information about the death before the funeral, whereas the Police file generally reports the name as being simply 'James MORRISON'. </div><div>This is just one indication that there is not the proper chronological relation between the death certificate and the later police file.
Similarly, while the death certificate and burial permit correctly give Morrison's age as 27, police officer Manchez in [A] states that Morrison is 28 years old, as does the medical report of Dr Vassille [G]. The latter is a remarkable mistake as this is the last report, made some 13 hours after the given hour of death, and after the correct date of birth had been recorded in previous reports. Less important, but still concerning, is that Dr Vassille also spells Morrison's surname wrong, as 'Morrisson', in his report heading. As the death certificate is meant to be based on the medical report, it is puzzling that the medical report gives the wrong age and misspells the surname. </div><div>This further emphasises the implication that the death certificate and the burial permit, produced at the Town Hall at 2:30pm, were based on another - earlier - medical report which has been expunged [or hidden] from the record, and that Vassille's medical report, issued after 6:00pm the same day, was not based on the correct identification of the deceased, in terms of his name and age [whereas the death certificate and burial permits were]. Also, Vassille's medical report does not include the time of death, an important entry on any death certificate. </div><div>Not only does Dr Vassille not have the exact facts of Jim Morrison's identity to hand, his examination of the body seems cursory, and his concluding that a heart attack in a young male of 27 is a 'natural cause' is unsatisfactory. His mention that there were no "suspicious" "lesions" on the body might imply that the whole reason for this [second] medical report was only to check whether drug use had been involved. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Medical Report of Max Vassille, Doctor of Medicine </u></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8FvpZolNNW7WGPm7hFNvotNphbbd-InAXQkn7_yZ6LCB8oQTnkRcXQUkl2-TGhxrLIUMD38RM-yrvShx6X2wqP6r3-uTn1rZP1PkSQteJmbUAZbGbSHNZSgGeQRcegpbtvVv3xVB30YACsU19YO7AsAj-6VySQ7VMN6-Y0Dmxn2R28kDjbd-ku4K8hA/s1071/6%20Dr%20Vassille's%20medical%20report%20with%20added%20English%20translation.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="1071" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8FvpZolNNW7WGPm7hFNvotNphbbd-InAXQkn7_yZ6LCB8oQTnkRcXQUkl2-TGhxrLIUMD38RM-yrvShx6X2wqP6r3-uTn1rZP1PkSQteJmbUAZbGbSHNZSgGeQRcegpbtvVv3xVB30YACsU19YO7AsAj-6VySQ7VMN6-Y0Dmxn2R28kDjbd-ku4K8hA/w400-h329/6%20Dr%20Vassille's%20medical%20report%20with%20added%20English%20translation.png" width="400" /></a></div><div>[Dr Vassille's medical report with added English translation] (4) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>When? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>As already asserted: the death certificate and the burial permit state categorically that Jim Morrison died at 5:00am on Saturday the 3rd of July 1971. This is reaffirmed in the American Embassy reports issued after the funeral, <i>Death of an American Citizen</i>: the time of death was 5:00am. And yet this time of death is not mentioned in any of the police file documents, not even in the statement of the only witness to Morrison's death, his girlfriend Pamela Courson. </div><div>Generally, while the police file statements corroborate each other, they do not corroborate the death certificate.
The report of the first on the scene, fireman Alain Raisson, said that when he arrived at 9:30am [4 and a half hours after the death], Morrison was in the bath, the water in the bath was warm, and so was the body. And yet, usually, a body starts to become cold 3 hours after death. Even if there are unusual cases where a body can retain heat longer than that, the bath water would not have been warm after that length of time. </div><div>The firemen pulled the body out of the bath and took it to the bedroom where it was placed on the bed. Police officer Manchez then reports seeing the body at this point, and reporting it to still be "supple". Again, usually after three hours a dead body starts to noticeably stiffen. Manchez then goes into the bathroom and finds that the bath water is still "lukewarm."
These observations, made between 9:30 and 9:40am do not accord with Morrison's life [and the bath] ending at 5:00am. </div><div>Even more, Manchez's statement reports that one of those present in the apartment - Alain Ronay - had been called over to the flat by Pamela Courson between 8:30 to 9:00am, being told that Morrison had "fainted". And that when Ronay arrived at the apartment [after 9:00 but before 9:25am] he saw Morrison "unconscious" in the bath [despite Ronay in [F] saying he "refused to see the body", a peculiar statement in itself]. </div><div>This all implies that Morrison might still have been alive between 8:30 and 9:15am, and may explain why his body [and the bath water] were still warm - and supple - at 9:30hrs.</div><div>Superintendent Berry, in his summing up report made the following day, confirms this course of events: Morrison was discovered unconscious, not dead. He was still thought to be unconscious at 9:30am. It wasn't until he was removed from the bath at that time, that he was then confirmed to be dead, even though the body was still warm and supple.
And yet the death certificate insists he was already dead at 5:00am.
Below is a translation of police Officer Manchez's initial report. I have highlighted areas of particular interest </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAO_Ec5KvJc-jfMf-KDWa2pfHy5gx5fpI7RUzq_7WGAGUzDm-ImggMwEfFhft1bQe40jswRO5TbagyUjYGrhie7e57rIRqNqQK6jM12Irgh0-HmwmTib6NdHajm8O2tc-mpnZXKrWYIcE_4LFRkfkOEcSu7GiuNhqeOMAioqrBLEpaZ4G_q5wSVEXRA/s1379/7%20J%20Manchez%20Police%20Statemnt%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1379" data-original-width="823" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAO_Ec5KvJc-jfMf-KDWa2pfHy5gx5fpI7RUzq_7WGAGUzDm-ImggMwEfFhft1bQe40jswRO5TbagyUjYGrhie7e57rIRqNqQK6jM12Irgh0-HmwmTib6NdHajm8O2tc-mpnZXKrWYIcE_4LFRkfkOEcSu7GiuNhqeOMAioqrBLEpaZ4G_q5wSVEXRA/w239-h400/7%20J%20Manchez%20Police%20Statemnt%201.png" width="239" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> (9) </div><div><br /></div><div> And here is the fireman's report: </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHUngL5HmKsmNsqIaVC2zJZ1z4EU2zD8YAH7xhwkVDbRZmkuCkBxrMKmVAz6FnTYH-RLoslwbeaKFxIXPYGjf7ywaMZ2Yvf_pE3bHUQhLJkgWY6haFruzEmUn50ZE9VNijhxBjzt-3B7c_LqIkJGseJ5EmTLTkucMh3vAIWxbwjpuqaDiwKhwwjqHqg/s767/8%20Fire%20Brigade%20A%20Raisson%20Report.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="767" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHUngL5HmKsmNsqIaVC2zJZ1z4EU2zD8YAH7xhwkVDbRZmkuCkBxrMKmVAz6FnTYH-RLoslwbeaKFxIXPYGjf7ywaMZ2Yvf_pE3bHUQhLJkgWY6haFruzEmUn50ZE9VNijhxBjzt-3B7c_LqIkJGseJ5EmTLTkucMh3vAIWxbwjpuqaDiwKhwwjqHqg/w400-h314/8%20Fire%20Brigade%20A%20Raisson%20Report.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> (9) </div><div><br /></div><div>Based on these reports, the time of death must have been later than 5:00am.
Dr Vassille was called in later that day by Superintendent Berry to examine the body [as we can see from the map at the top of this essay, Vassille was based just over the road from the police station]. In his medical report he did not even offer an estimation of the time of death, as it seems the doctor was mainly concerned with establishing whether or not there were any "suspicious" "lesions" on the body. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>What? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>We note that Manchez's statement, made some nine hours before the Doctor's medical report, said the body didn't show any signs of "lesions" too - a strange pre-echo of a later finding. While Superintendent Berry, the head of the investigation, made certain in his summing up report he presented the next day, that the body bore no traces of "lesions", nor - he added - any "needle marks." </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKSrl-iFdVc-zpHcAf48Cf0xCt3j_fUYuDsNit3zpBlGuRF46RE6PwhePvrjWqH7MpPJ5CL8a18OsLowQe7sjStKETPTlj7Gt2TdaaOleOVYjgc1f9vNS1SEu1RYGktdlARxKrDCkcVPzeC2ilraDZ8jaFtAcDJ53SkI612QsMYRDo0gm8Z0XTeXgyQ/s1088/9%20Police%20Report%20%5BBerry%5D%20to%20the%20Public%20Prosecutor%204-7-71%20-%20Copy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="810" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpKSrl-iFdVc-zpHcAf48Cf0xCt3j_fUYuDsNit3zpBlGuRF46RE6PwhePvrjWqH7MpPJ5CL8a18OsLowQe7sjStKETPTlj7Gt2TdaaOleOVYjgc1f9vNS1SEu1RYGktdlARxKrDCkcVPzeC2ilraDZ8jaFtAcDJ53SkI612QsMYRDo0gm8Z0XTeXgyQ/w298-h400/9%20Police%20Report%20%5BBerry%5D%20to%20the%20Public%20Prosecutor%204-7-71%20-%20Copy.png" width="298" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> [Berry's report translated - my highlights.] (9) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>One can only conclude that the main thrust of the police file and medical report is a negative one: to state what Mr Morrison <b>didn't</b> die of, rather than what he did. Paris was swept at that time by a spate of heroin related deaths: Superintendent Berry was determined that he wasn't going to let a heroin overdose victim go under his radar.
As long as Morrison didn't die of a drugs overdose, the case could be closed.
In the statement given by Alain Ronay at the police station, he is asked by police officer Manchez if Jim Morrison ever took drugs. Clearly, this was the over-riding concern of the police investigation. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1ADXI_YfgJNpnhO8xYEi-J2JuL3aq26pc-FeDbu0kLF2I0mlCkPq-299O6hKIwrMLGAiPRCctrHgxUldJZTZoJqz_fwhDk0qDIGzakwSFppxa-9s-TWrdpshFUX2zRMv4wwvhlXg2x_iujG7ZW8cQoWUg5NOktPZy9FEuZj5Snkf4u6uGog5EArVqg/s863/10%20Alain%20Ronay%20Stmnt.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="790" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1ADXI_YfgJNpnhO8xYEi-J2JuL3aq26pc-FeDbu0kLF2I0mlCkPq-299O6hKIwrMLGAiPRCctrHgxUldJZTZoJqz_fwhDk0qDIGzakwSFppxa-9s-TWrdpshFUX2zRMv4wwvhlXg2x_iujG7ZW8cQoWUg5NOktPZy9FEuZj5Snkf4u6uGog5EArVqg/w366-h400/10%20Alain%20Ronay%20Stmnt.png" width="366" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>[Alain Ronay statement to the police translated - note that he says in a response to a question ["N.B."] that Morrison didn't use drugs, and was opposed to their use.] (9) </div><div><br /></div><div> As we can see, Superintendent Berry concludes his report of the 4th of July with "consequently, I submit your burial certificate." Is this the same burial permit which was issued the previous day? It must be, for it bears the same handwriting as that on the funeral bill. This suggests that the burial permit issued on the 3rd of July at 2:30am was confiscated by the police pending this subsequent investigation and what must have been a second medical examination to determine whether drug use had been involved. Satisfied it hadn't, Berry then "submits" the burial permit to the public prosecutor. This might explain why the burial permit bears not the name of a doctor, but merely <i>'Mr Public Prosecutor, Dr of Medicine'</i>, as we noted earlier. </div><div>Soon after Dr Vassille's examination on the 3rd of July, police officer Manchez had filed a report of the case to the public prosecutor which mentions that the death certificate was "prepared at the Town Hall". This must be the one that was issued earlier and which was held back by the police - like the burial permit - pending the investigation and examination by Dr Vassille, which must have been a 'second opinion'. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkF8srJnc8ppF98vep0XCOK0x96CLhPGJgeqUca3AKz_ZPOeh6iMgTDRAqYicbfPCOg2QlFBCPue1ZFeqc3ltpyEaMY2YwsWLAarhFuO3Oy2kWfD-W7HBhV6ARFB8v2sY5x4MrFJvMEEqOuAjflovaRt8O--XdGpTmQ7YUnbGFuvM9oqFYVxVBRrJJ1A/s780/11%20Manchez%20report%20to%20the%20Public%20Preosecutor.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="755" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkF8srJnc8ppF98vep0XCOK0x96CLhPGJgeqUca3AKz_ZPOeh6iMgTDRAqYicbfPCOg2QlFBCPue1ZFeqc3ltpyEaMY2YwsWLAarhFuO3Oy2kWfD-W7HBhV6ARFB8v2sY5x4MrFJvMEEqOuAjflovaRt8O--XdGpTmQ7YUnbGFuvM9oqFYVxVBRrJJ1A/w388-h400/11%20Manchez%20report%20to%20the%20Public%20Preosecutor.png" width="388" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div> [translation of police officer Manchez's report to the Public Prosecutor] (9) </div><div><br /></div><div>Dr Vassille is therefore content to conclude his own sketchy medical report with the diagnosis that 27 year old Morrison died of a sudden heart failure, brought on by drinking too much alcohol, and a too sudden change in body temperature due to taking a bath. He drew this conclusion from the admissions of the only witness to the death - Pamela Courson - who was making her statement in the police station at the same time as the Doctor was in the apartment with the body. Vassille says "as it was told to us by a friend at the scene." But Dr Vassille was not 'at the scene'. He must therefore be basing his assumptions purely on what Superintendent Berry has told him- and what Berry has told him to look for. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Why? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Back at the police station, Pamela Courson is confusedly telling the investigators that, not long before his death, Jim Morrison had often "complained" of "breathing difficulties", but on the other hand he "never used to complain," and he was in "good health." The morning of his death she said he felt ill and told her he would take a bath, which he did, but then called Ms Courson to the bathroom saying he needed to vomit. He vomited up blood, including "blood clots". She wanted to call a doctor, but he told her not to worry as he now felt better, and remained in the bath.
This was possibly around 4:00am, but Courson wasn't sure of the time. She went back to bed and slept for a few hours - again she isn't sure for how long. Awaking, and finding that Mr Morrison wasn't in bed as she had expected, she went to the bathroom and found him still in the bath, "unconscious." Unable to revive him or move him on her own, she telephoned Morrison's friend and colleague, Alain Ronay, who was then living at Agnes Varda's apartment in the Latin Quarter of Paris, urging them to come over quickly as Jim was "unconscious".
Ronay said he received this call at 8:30am. </div><div>There is some more confusion here, as Ronay says in his own statement that the police were already at the apartment when he got there, whereas Ms Courson implies that Ronay called them when he got to the apartment. This confusion is probably due to Courson actually asking French speakers Ronay and Varda to call the police on her behalf from their own flat due to her lack of French. Hence the police - being nearer to the flat than Varda - arrived before Ronay and Varda got there. Ronay didn't mention this in his own statement, and said he and Varda left immediately when Pamela Courson called them. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGPrNlmqieOZyObqEhpZ3G1L4c3AX41HS_OkrR0Cl7zbnw1d7L849GmLOi27g3UNhYO3TaiJNV-YXRwmpyBpw9xtuXOik_H8c9hzQK4zwc_3Hqe9Dh98vL5M4fH0suiISBwzBvqt845XQe4YK_Wp2p1uLMqx8yQqssKbrE7rEyv72waUTGkwLWBBfp5Q/s2366/12%20Pam's%20statement%20in%20French%20and%20English.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2366" data-original-width="1764" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGPrNlmqieOZyObqEhpZ3G1L4c3AX41HS_OkrR0Cl7zbnw1d7L849GmLOi27g3UNhYO3TaiJNV-YXRwmpyBpw9xtuXOik_H8c9hzQK4zwc_3Hqe9Dh98vL5M4fH0suiISBwzBvqt845XQe4YK_Wp2p1uLMqx8yQqssKbrE7rEyv72waUTGkwLWBBfp5Q/w299-h400/12%20Pam's%20statement%20in%20French%20and%20English.PNG" width="299" /></a></div><br /><div>[facsimile of Pamela Courson's statement to the police with translation]
(note that P Courson's signature on this statement is identical to Jim Morrison's own and his signing of her name on cheques - see http://thenietzscheanjimmorrison.blogspot.com/2023/02/) (4) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Conclusion </b></div><div><br /></div><div>The story the documents tell us is that the initial death certificate and burial permit, which are largely authorised by Michel Gagnepain [and an unknown doctor - unless Gagnepain was a doctor] of the Hospital Dieu funeral home, are meant to expedite the burial of Jim Morrison as quickly and quietly as possible, as seems to be the desire of his friends Pamela Courson and Alain Ronay. </div><div>Police Superintendent Berry, on the other hand, at first appears to be suspicious, and carries out an investigation on Ronay and Courson after the death certificate had been issued, while getting another Doctor [Max Vassille] to examine the body, presumably looking for a possible death by a drugs overdose. Satisfied that this is not the case, Doctor Vassille's report - like the witness statements of Ronay and Courson - suggests that Morrison had what we now call 'underlying conditions', which he had neglected, and he had also ignored the imploring of his friends to get his bad cough, poor breathing and his alcohol consumption seen to. These conditions were therefore 'natural', and Morrison did not touch drugs. </div><div>The death certificate and burial permit are re-submitted by Supt. Berry, and Ronay and Courson are in the clear and able to make the funeral arrangements, presumably with the help of Michel Gagnepain as before. </div><div>It is interesting to note that five days before the death, Morrison, Ronay and Courson had gone on a sight-seeing trip to a village, Saint-Leu, north of Paris. Being a photographer, Ronay took photos of Morrison and Courson, and of himself with them. In some of the photos, red-haired Courson can be seen using her Super 8 camera - she and Morrison - like Ronay, being keen cinematographers. </div><div>Even though Ronay was acknowledged in helping Jerry Hopkins write his biography of Morrison, which he started in 1972 [it wasn't published until 1980], Ronay did not provide these last known photos of Morrison. He only chose to publish them twenty years later in 1991. I think they document a very different impression to the Morrison that comes through the pages of the medical report and witness statements of 1971, including Ronay's own. In the photos, some of which are reproduced below, Morrison looks well, slim and happy, while the behaviour of he, Ronay and Courson seems quite carefree. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgMCAPgvpIQig5UXSaE-cQvpldwkNcmgcQNsPqGe6wHqhh4Wxn66QzMUI-fu4vV9bb-cG875zAhNrMwRVyDuB6P7DV92IZipKioXZ7tgkDu28kRWlB8j_bo9SOe8bcQMVDwarZNU7f-bxTM_jg5aONU3BhtOo62Blzh6WG6DJS-ROBj5spnTrwBkMCw/s4328/13%20Paris%2028%20June%201971%20(1)%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2299" data-original-width="4328" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgMCAPgvpIQig5UXSaE-cQvpldwkNcmgcQNsPqGe6wHqhh4Wxn66QzMUI-fu4vV9bb-cG875zAhNrMwRVyDuB6P7DV92IZipKioXZ7tgkDu28kRWlB8j_bo9SOe8bcQMVDwarZNU7f-bxTM_jg5aONU3BhtOo62Blzh6WG6DJS-ROBj5spnTrwBkMCw/w400-h213/13%20Paris%2028%20June%201971%20(1)%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Lastly, we need to tie up the last few documented loose ends:</div><div><br /></div><div><u>7th July 1971 [Wednesday] </u></div><div>-- Funeral of Jim Morrison </div><div><br /></div><div><u>9th July [Friday] </u></div><div>- Courson arrives in the USA after leaving Paris.</div><div>- In California, Doors manager Bill Siddons gives the official press release of Morrison's death </div><div>-- New York Times reports Jim's death, dating announcement to 8th July, and the death to "last Saturday". </div><div><br /></div><div><u>13th July [Tuesday]</u></div><div> - Doors lawyer Max Fink & Pamela Courson apply for a disclosure of Morrison's Will </div><div><br /></div><div><u>15th July</u></div><div> - preliminary report of the Death of American Citizen, American Embassy Paris, awaiting doctor's report for cause of death </div><div><u><br /></u></div><div><u>11th August</u></div><div> - final report of the Death of an American Citizen after Dr. Vassille's medical report received </div><div><br /></div><div><u>17th August</u></div><div> - Pamela Courson and Max Fink gain probate of Jim's Will </div><div><br /></div><div><u>25th August</u></div><div> - Doors management make creditor claims against the late Jim Morrison's Estate </div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>So What? </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Some accounts say that Morrison's passport was returned to the American Embassy in Paris, on the day of his funeral. But the first report of <i>The Death of an American Citizen</i> is not made until 15th of July, and it is marked as 'preliminary', as the cause of death has not been given, as they await the medical report. Nearly a month later the report of Dr Vassille has been submitted and the Final report of <i>The Death of an American Citizen</i> is issued on August 11th. Perhaps this delay is due to the slow wheels of bureaucracy, as Courson, the Doors manager and Ronay had all returned to the USA only two days after the funeral. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8FIU7EyDy-sV4zQ0XGXHGcOZYAhQYj1yMtjAlg3NRt3QUIIR-AAGvI2qMPT0vG0qVPSVPaOjAZik2jGRtOnivLte3w_RffnNzHTihlfj80bZG2YdVBYUG0D6bJ45EaPQl884mt90KTN0pdrVFP9sNhJXazwXNdSnr7pyNSHudThoLLFFOHcs7GD6KA/s5961/14%20Death%20of%20an%20AmerCitizen%20-%20both%20prelim%20and%20final%20compared%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5961" data-original-width="2879" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8FIU7EyDy-sV4zQ0XGXHGcOZYAhQYj1yMtjAlg3NRt3QUIIR-AAGvI2qMPT0vG0qVPSVPaOjAZik2jGRtOnivLte3w_RffnNzHTihlfj80bZG2YdVBYUG0D6bJ45EaPQl884mt90KTN0pdrVFP9sNhJXazwXNdSnr7pyNSHudThoLLFFOHcs7GD6KA/w194-h400/14%20Death%20of%20an%20AmerCitizen%20-%20both%20prelim%20and%20final%20compared%20-%20Copy%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><br /><div>[The Preliminary and Final versions of Morrison's <i>Death of an American Citizen </i>report compared] (10)</div><div><br /></div><div>Max Fink, the Doors attorney, who had made the amendment to the <i>Partnership Agreement </i>as described at the start of this essay, was also named as an executor [alongside Courson] in Jim Morrison's <i>Last Will and Testament</i>, drawn up on February 12th 1969, which he also witnessed. </div><div>Pamela Courson was to be Morrison's sole beneficiary, according to the Will, upon his death. </div><div>Fink and Courson lost little time in applying for disclosure of the Will and subjecting it to probate. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowJy9LgPJHwBQJrc8wtNAK4kee-HQbShdip0JEK51sq71Roy4ceZZJQ6LpNIPXDuz9ZNwYLExgKOFm2mhb1n5hM8AYsGx1SSpNDOHch3Qd7zrKNvd7bOLjK2uYRKhF_cRYEe9sX8IuKkpp1Q717QRnA3iXNxs80s6b2Tl0-JZSAE7-XjnhZ_Hamymmw/s2932/15%20JDM%20Will%20&%20Probate.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2320" data-original-width="2932" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhowJy9LgPJHwBQJrc8wtNAK4kee-HQbShdip0JEK51sq71Roy4ceZZJQ6LpNIPXDuz9ZNwYLExgKOFm2mhb1n5hM8AYsGx1SSpNDOHch3Qd7zrKNvd7bOLjK2uYRKhF_cRYEe9sX8IuKkpp1Q717QRnA3iXNxs80s6b2Tl0-JZSAE7-XjnhZ_Hamymmw/w400-h316/15%20JDM%20Will%20&%20Probate.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div>(11) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, we see that the Doors themselves sued Jim Morrison's estate on the 25th August 1971. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3jKTOH-yUiw7A0HIhW2_MayITmHTPNgBtD-QzCnB7mmDJFqD-KAXRBntwlvf2ljW6VTyAGKluXxQqaCxJCuiSlet4LjcIMzySrI33gamgpF5VubaHH3SGDsLHj9_0aMar6RSSNE_yg04Fmt1zRe5sJ33uIFJT-KSvMWtFW8dPccTZ4QJlAh6_aS6uQ/s1600/16%20CreditorClaim2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3jKTOH-yUiw7A0HIhW2_MayITmHTPNgBtD-QzCnB7mmDJFqD-KAXRBntwlvf2ljW6VTyAGKluXxQqaCxJCuiSlet4LjcIMzySrI33gamgpF5VubaHH3SGDsLHj9_0aMar6RSSNE_yg04Fmt1zRe5sJ33uIFJT-KSvMWtFW8dPccTZ4QJlAh6_aS6uQ/w329-h400/16%20CreditorClaim2.jpg" width="329" /></a></div><br /><div> (12) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The above claim against Morrison's Estate is for about $120, 000 - which works out to about $895, 000 in today's money. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>These documents may not have got us as close to finding out the truth of what happened on that fateful day of June 3rd, 1971 as we had hoped, but they tell us more than a whole host of unverified personal recollections, made long after the events, ever could. Moreover, it is what these documents tell us<i> in between the lines</i>, that might be most important. For it is from these <i>gaps </i>that we draw our conclusions. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Notes </u></div><div> </div><div>1) Rocco 1997 p 146 </div><div>2) Elektra, 1978 'Lament' </div><div>3) https://www.christies.com/zh/lot/lot-5865113 </div><div>4) Autopsyfiles.org - Jim Morrison Death Certificate and Police Report </div><div>5) https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/france/healthcare/death-dying> </div><div>6) fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_du_Cloître-Notre-Dame </div><div>7) http://www.rockmine.com/Doors/Death.html </div><div>8) http://mildequator.com/documents/legaldocs.html#funeralbill </div><div>9) Adapted from Seymore 1990 </div><div>10) https://newdoorstalk.proboards.com/thread/1659/morrison-death-american-citizen-report </div><div>11) https://newdoorstalk.proboards.com/thread/132/jims </div><div>12) https://newdoorstalk.proboards.com/thread/2203/gets-sued-doors-when-dead </div><div><br /></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div><u>DISCOGRAPHY </u></div><div><br /></div><div><b>An American Prayer</b>, Jim Morrison, music by The Doors, Elektra, 1978 </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>BIBLIOGRAPHY </u></div><div><br /></div><div><b>No One Here Gets Out Alive,</b> J Hopkins/D Sugarman, Plexus, 1980 </div><div><b>The End</b>, B Seymore, Omnibus, 1990 </div><div><b>The Doors Companion</b>, ed. J Rocco, Schirmer, 1997 </div><div><b>Angels Dance and Angels Die</b>, P Butler 1998 </div><div><br /></div><div>[Copyright Bill Boethius Osborn 2023, with acknowledgements to Lilith McGregor]</div>Bill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-68863814749290451722023-03-23T17:39:00.008+00:002023-03-28T09:52:05.036+01:00The Poet in Exile. A Novel. by Ray Manzarek 2001. A review, while thinking on Jim Morrison's 'death', by Bill Boethius Osborn<i>Open still remaineth the earth for great souls. </i><div><i>Empty are still many sites for lone ones and twain ones, around which floateth the odour of tranquil seas. </i></div><div><i>Open still remaineth a free life for great souls. </i></div><div><i>Verily, he who possesseth little is so much the less possessed: blessed be moderate poverty! </i></div><div><i>There, where the State ceaseth - there only commenceth the man who is not superfluous: there commenceth the song of the necessary ones, the single and irreplaceable melody. </i></div><div>[Nietzsche, <i>Thus Spake Zarathustra</i>: from <i>The New Idol</i>] (1)</div><div><br /></div><div><i> By 1970 the Doors were just another , clumsier than average, rock group - and, when Morrison died suddenly in Paris 1971, their last vestige of individuality disappeared. Though attempts by Manzarek to continue the group persist, the appeal of the band has badly dated and is unlikely to be convincingly revived. </i></div><div>[The NME <i>Book of Rock</i>, 1973] (2)</div><div><br /></div><div><i> It's just going to be poetry and music. Nothing more than it was when we first started playing together. </i></div><div>['The Poet', from <i>The Poet in Exile, A Novel,</i> by Ray Manzarek, 2001. p 184] (3)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Novel</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Essentially, this novel by Ray Manzarek is the story of a spiritual journey, of a life-long hippy trail, from the West to the East, one in search of enlightenment and a final return to paradise.
Embedded in this story, though, is the mystery of Jim Morrison, the singer of the Doors, Ray Manzarek's colleague in that band, and his fate after he 'died' in Paris in July 1971. </div><div><br /></div><div>Did the singer, who was "much obsessed by death", actually defy it? </div><div><br /></div><div>Using the device of changing all the names, Manzarek seeks to tell the truth of what happened to Jim Morrison through the medium of fiction. For me, those parts of the book which talk about what actually happened to Jim in Paris on the 3rd of July 1971, and immediately after, ring true. </div><div>The book's subsequent tales of Jim's life of exile in the 'Seychelles' [because Manzarek often changes the names of places as well as persons, we cannot assume that the 'Seychelles' was the actual destination - and given the connections we are to explore, it is possible that it was rather North Africa], then India, and back to the 'Seychelles' again - facing certain death from cancer in his late 50s - are less convincing. </div><div>But I assume that they are the trojan horse used by Ray Manzarek to unburden himself of the truth about the so-called "death" of Jim Morrison, which was no such thing. </div><div>And do not the publicly known facts [or lack of them] regarding those last days in Paris suggest very much that Jim faked his own death, changed his identity and went on to live anonymously in another part of the world - to escape the suffocating stardom, his personal entanglements and the six month jail sentence that awaited him in the USA? </div><div><br /></div><div>Manzarek has Jim tell us how this was done, and the tale fits the facts perfectly, and yes, rings true.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5Dqcz-Q7nO60c-v7pBlxJluQIJ_nSVwmSb72ZTi9cPl5u4AVx105cdPw3IbbeLyQIX8u5-p4_bfD99dozZAytvTjHKURi0fav_lcZ4xozmxxPCzMCvBnu1bC-fSY-kvyeyHRTA6ZGpN9DWlyCMzeo1C26HAPUPVeIHk5abpzYV5kdwPajG5KTkc5iQ/s1476/Jim%20and%20Ray%201970%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="1476" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5Dqcz-Q7nO60c-v7pBlxJluQIJ_nSVwmSb72ZTi9cPl5u4AVx105cdPw3IbbeLyQIX8u5-p4_bfD99dozZAytvTjHKURi0fav_lcZ4xozmxxPCzMCvBnu1bC-fSY-kvyeyHRTA6ZGpN9DWlyCMzeo1C26HAPUPVeIHk5abpzYV5kdwPajG5KTkc5iQ/w400-h319/Jim%20and%20Ray%201970%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> [Jim Morrison (left) with Ray Manzarek (right) in California, 1970] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Morrison's death was faked with the help of two others - the brilliant French director Agnes Varda, and her close-friend , the French-American film technician and photographer Alain Claude Ronay. While those others around Jim, such as the Doors [including keyboardist Ray Manzarek and their manager Bill Siddons], and Jim's girlfriend Pamela Courson, suspected that he might attempt to do such a thing one day, because of things he had said, and hints he had dropped, only Varda and Ronay were in on all the details and execution of the specific plan. </div><div> As Ray writes in The Poet in Exile:
"Only the two French friends knew the truth and they weren't talking. Not to the press, not to me, not to anyone." [p. 2] (page references are to 'The Poet in Exile', unless otherwise stated) </div><div><br /></div><div> Agnes Varda was a world renowned modernist film maker, and was married to the equally renowned director Jacques Demy. The pair were well connected in Parisian society [even 'official' version of Jim's 'death by natural causes' state that Varda was able to delay the news of the 'death' reaching the press until after the funeral and the Doors own press release]. She was the perfect person then, to organise and orchestrate Jim's escape. </div><div> Varda first met Morrison in 1968 when she was working on a film in California. The Doors singer had graduated from UCLA film school only a few years before, forming the Doors with fellow film student Ray Manzarek [they were both at the UCLA at the same time, as was Alain Ronay].
Jim became very friendly with Varda who was pleased and fascinated that Morrison knew all her films. She wanted Morrison to feature in the film she was then making, but he declined, only having a small cameo. The film, called 'Loves Lion', was released in 1969. </div><div>Through Alain Ronay, they remained in touch, meeting again in the summer of 1970 in Paris, just a year before Morrison's "death". </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukVgckBmeXYyiUZodB0cfKtlGGvJmEMqnZZb0SNVAJuP1PhR9u3KCESagjCKs46TOOKvNgXBkLKTJD-pzSeBiipb79KUgW8ltSvatOG02QS3zrDwnTwxsEANZkjS0_grGKVLxqK9PVBPFWTNTeTWGTnCLolWmWTd8YjBE4VVR3LHlRHXMhaszWseHhA/s735/alain%20ronay%20and%20jim%20-%20jim%20and%20agnes%20varda.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="735" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiukVgckBmeXYyiUZodB0cfKtlGGvJmEMqnZZb0SNVAJuP1PhR9u3KCESagjCKs46TOOKvNgXBkLKTJD-pzSeBiipb79KUgW8ltSvatOG02QS3zrDwnTwxsEANZkjS0_grGKVLxqK9PVBPFWTNTeTWGTnCLolWmWTd8YjBE4VVR3LHlRHXMhaszWseHhA/w400-h219/alain%20ronay%20and%20jim%20-%20jim%20and%20agnes%20varda.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> [images of Ronay (holding camera) and Jim (left) and Jim and Varda (right) in Paris 1970] (4)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Alain Claude Ronay was a dear friend of Morrison's too. Ten years older than Jim, he was a mature student who took photos of the then unknown Morrison in 1963 and 1964 of a distinctly homoerotic nature. While Ronay seems to be around Morrison's activities from the early 60s, all through the Doors, and up to the very last days in Paris of 1971, very little is known about him. It is almost as if Morrison and the Doors publicity machine sought to keep their relationship hidden. </div><div>Was there a hint of a gay relationship between them? </div><div>In this book Ray has Jim mention his confused sexuality a few times, calling it one of his "biggest fears".
Ray quotes Morrison telling him: "'Am I gay? Am I queer? I look so damn pretty. Why do I look so pretty? Am I gay?'" [p 57] </div><div>Here we see a mirroring of Jim's poetic hero, the French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. Born in 1854, Rimbaud was a poetic prodigy. Aged 16, he wrote to the established poet Paul Verlaine, who was 10 years his senior. Verlaine was so impressed by Rimbaud's talent, they became close companions, and even gay lovers. Despite the revolutionary impact of his writings, Rimbaud gave up poetry at the age of twenty, and spent the rest of his life travelling throughout Europe and Africa. He settled in Africa, dealing in skins, coffee and guns! He only returned to France in 1891, and died that year from cancer - aged 37.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUCM66iqfSRXoQ0lFFBP-YCdeiZ5qIAe2ai4bA30XxF0URhhXd5T8aassGzSSDRydnKlp4YfPNi04qb2BqLB0kMO90Vg7xlHE2kzS8d8SuiP2DLCeR1FHzXJFaGwNysg9LXTOuFf58mt_heG7vMgsm2TirYnvsr-0qVLu1_xR2qyOAV8IjGVGi18zWGw/s1736/verlaine%20and%20rimbaud%20-%20Alain%20and%20Jim.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="1736" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUCM66iqfSRXoQ0lFFBP-YCdeiZ5qIAe2ai4bA30XxF0URhhXd5T8aassGzSSDRydnKlp4YfPNi04qb2BqLB0kMO90Vg7xlHE2kzS8d8SuiP2DLCeR1FHzXJFaGwNysg9LXTOuFf58mt_heG7vMgsm2TirYnvsr-0qVLu1_xR2qyOAV8IjGVGi18zWGw/w400-h170/verlaine%20and%20rimbaud%20-%20Alain%20and%20Jim.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> [A parallel between Verlaine and Ronay - and between Rimbaud and Morrison?]</div><div><br /></div><div>Alain Ronay, French born, was - like Agnes Varda - a perfect co-conspirator in the staging of Jim's last tango in Paris. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMw95yPlyybjm6GD3ONgf5jjUWtRMDU6SsvFHKs2sK229SAP3dByLmLbOjC5TAMO3NvwnfWFHoleMBYlAMs2IMxdFWdDpp23jEXanWc36bU_CC7-erDI0YBTtR-NTIJMwolrXP6fXq-a-_61OyRtgp2TlBn_C-NiTq4ZCmodKyuNE0lO7g0NtM3TZDA/s883/jim%20UCLA%20by%20Alain%20Ronay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="883" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfMw95yPlyybjm6GD3ONgf5jjUWtRMDU6SsvFHKs2sK229SAP3dByLmLbOjC5TAMO3NvwnfWFHoleMBYlAMs2IMxdFWdDpp23jEXanWc36bU_CC7-erDI0YBTtR-NTIJMwolrXP6fXq-a-_61OyRtgp2TlBn_C-NiTq4ZCmodKyuNE0lO7g0NtM3TZDA/w400-h238/jim%20UCLA%20by%20Alain%20Ronay.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> [two early Ronay images - 1963, and 1964, of Jim Morrison before the Doors] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> All such conspiracies only work if there are as few as possible conspirators involved. They alone know what events are intended to unfold, and others close to the action will often take on the unwitting role of 'fall guy'. This is what happened with Pamela Susan Courson, Jim's long term girlfriend who lived with him in Paris [In early 1969, Morrison had made a Will leaving everything to her]. </div><div>Playing away with her lover, the drug dealing Count Jean de Breteuil [something Jim didn't try to deter as it aided the staging of his disappearance while she was distracted], Pam Courson returned unexpectedly to the Paris flat on the 3rd of July 1971 to find the sealed coffin [Jim Morrison had left Paris the previous night on a fake passport], when she was told by Ronay and Varda that Jim had died. Fearing that he would be implicated in what must be a drug death, the Count fled, while the stoned-on-heroin Pamela went into hysterics. </div><div>Varda and Ronay fed her the alibi she needed: - </div><div>'Pam was home with Jim that night, and he fell ill. He took a bath, didn't return to bed, and - Pamela having dropped off to sleep - when she checked after waking on the morning of 3rd July 1971, she found him dying after suffering a massive heart attack still in the bath tub. After trying to [unsuccessfully] help him, she then called Varda and Ronay over'. </div><div>If she stuck to that story, the suspicion of a drug related death could be avoided, and she and the drug dealing Count would be in the clear. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyXATg1grpl9uZweWTwGQsAej80y-Ckt2IMdbGThO2QuP1eln43UZvR4sAMrTzi0xx96dqcJfVqG1E3e8oKzM8Eg4BuR5PZkIsOEfgxAuyiaTjebyJ11OfsX8qBbHbJnSouaGJJT2vn9UELwxlrKUBPnwmHoH4tVr9jHp9EtJHOOlnNz0V_u8fiqUcDA/s4116/JDMWillTestamentPt1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4116" data-original-width="2652" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyXATg1grpl9uZweWTwGQsAej80y-Ckt2IMdbGThO2QuP1eln43UZvR4sAMrTzi0xx96dqcJfVqG1E3e8oKzM8Eg4BuR5PZkIsOEfgxAuyiaTjebyJ11OfsX8qBbHbJnSouaGJJT2vn9UELwxlrKUBPnwmHoH4tVr9jHp9EtJHOOlnNz0V_u8fiqUcDA/w258-h400/JDMWillTestamentPt1.png" width="258" /></a></div><br /><div> [Jim Morrison's Will of 1969 after being admitted to probate 1971] (5)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The role of the 'Count' needs to be examined more closely. Born in 1949, he was the youngest son of the late Count de Charles Breteuil, by his second wife, whose own family owned a villa in Marrakech. The de Breteuils were from old nobility, and Jean's father was politically powerful in France, and also had a media monopoly in Africa, owning many newspapers there.
Jean's elder brother was born to his father's first wife, who also had many aristocratic connections in Africa. When their father died in 1960, the elder brother - Michel de Breteuil - took over the businesses, particularly the African newspapers. Jean inherited the title of Count and became the playboy. Fascinated by the counter culture, he loved to bestow drugs and hospitality on the movers and shakers of the '60s rock scene. </div><div>In 1968, so when he was about 19, he enrolled at the UCLA! </div><div>No doubt he knew he was following in the footsteps of Jim Morrison of the Doors. And while Jean couldn't be, Jim, he was rich and handsome enough to get Jim's girlfriend, Pamela. </div><div>As Jim and Pam had an 'open' relationship, Morrison didn't seem to care too much about the young Count seeing Pamela, and her staying with him for long stretches of time. In the process she became addicted to heroin, although at the same time - from around 1969 onwards, Jim Morrison started to ignore drugs and became an advocate of alcohol - something that went against the grain in the late 60s, but it meant that he didn't mix with the Count so much. </div><div>However, the de Breteuil family were powerful, and it was the Count's elder brother - Michel, who was at the business end of the family [Michel lived on to his 90s, while his younger brother Jean, died in 1972 aged 22]. </div><div>It seems likely that Morrison could have had contact with Michel who was a ceaseless promotor of Black rights in Africa, and especially of Black women. His magazine Amina, aimed at Black women, and started in 1972, is an example of his outlook. Jim shared these views with Michel, and was also drawn to North Africa because his poetic hero - the aforementioned Rimbaud - who had given up his life in France and gone to live there anonymously. </div><div>At any rate, Morrison's connections with Varda, Demy and the de Breteuil's would've given him vast scope both in France and Africa to do his own 'Rimbaud', and escape from America, and disappear into Africa. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06f1zKHjLx68kacTpzd_2wWdQSjpKMgRxWEsOqWbNwma_r2ogKge-KRt2IfroVGQcW9vcZE5Sb5tXs-bD4A10ABdiRrTPyYsNQ5WEoA0m_xaLJC9ofKb3ySQALw-G4ydXBwkd46tATrsfRF3jfaX7z860IVi2934cigj5nZDPkN8v8Hh72zVsrIvyZA/s874/michel%20de%20Breteuil%20died%20age%2091%20in%202018.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="874" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06f1zKHjLx68kacTpzd_2wWdQSjpKMgRxWEsOqWbNwma_r2ogKge-KRt2IfroVGQcW9vcZE5Sb5tXs-bD4A10ABdiRrTPyYsNQ5WEoA0m_xaLJC9ofKb3ySQALw-G4ydXBwkd46tATrsfRF3jfaX7z860IVi2934cigj5nZDPkN8v8Hh72zVsrIvyZA/w400-h201/michel%20de%20Breteuil%20died%20age%2091%20in%202018.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>[Michel de Breteuil in his latter years - he died in 2018 aged 91 - & image of de Breteuil's AMINA magazine] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Soft Asylum</b></div><div><br /></div><div> Ray tells us in <i>The Poet in Exile,</i> that he had received some mysterious letters around the late 1990s postmarked from the 'Seychelles'. The letters were cryptic, but they were definitely in Jim Morrison's distinctive handwriting. Ray had always suspected that Morrison had faked his own death, but didn't know how. If Jim was trying to contact him some thirty years later, then he was right. He needed to find out from Jim what had really happened - and he needed to meet his soul-brother Morrison again: </div><div> "I wanted to hear the story of his life. And to finally know the truth." [p. 24] </div><div><br /></div><div> When Manzarek and Morrison do finally meet again at the latter's 'Seychelles' hideaway, where Jim languishes happily under a new identity with a new family, Ray is eager to know: </div><div> "How the hell did you pull off the death thing?" [p 46] </div><div>In response, Jim called it his "death-disappearance-resurrection." [p 66] It was something he "had to do", he had to "Stage my own death." [p 72] </div><div><br /></div><div><u> Yes: Jim Morrison had staged his own death. </u></div><div><br /></div><div>Morrison, Varda and Ronay swore "an oath of secrecy" about the plot. The latter two said nothing for about twenty years, when they both made public statements which were little more than confirmations of the official story that Morrison had died in Paris on 3rd July 1971. Ronay maintained that he didn't see Jim's dead body, because he didn't want to look at it! </div><div>Ray says that the well-connected Varda kept Morrison informed of any goings on with the Doors, Morrison and Courson estates during this period between 1971 and 2001. </div><div> Of course, there was really no "body" to see - only a sealed coffin full of a "hundred and fifty pounds of bricks and sand" [p 85]. </div><div>The death certificate was faked by a bought-off Moroccan doctor to the tune of "ten thousand American dollars." [ib.]
Morrison needed Pamela Courson to be "out of town" for his 'death', so he encouraged her to go on a drug buying trip to Corsica with the Count to get her out of the way. [p 87] </div><div>The idea to have a sealed coffin was Agnes Varda's - it was very firmly sealed with a combination of "nails and screws." [ib.] She knew that Pamela and Jim's secretary [Robyn] would go into hysterics when presented with the coffin. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YfDvTBpRzsi1S8kZYdTVSW9ZOcKyzQ02-dM3yTyE4hf2HkQ7R-_e4hx26qDWHdXUYQ7msi9BZZ_OCSHln-MNzYfs36SERNszOcKp84dj_1CZ4soMbMd-mMuDz1qAwGRuqmv3iIcy5yoeGKmyJJd7KXw_ZscqEBOmVB5ybuKTInjfCQhs02d4nhwvXg/s1345/336517546_5797384073704432_460359397040504726_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1345" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YfDvTBpRzsi1S8kZYdTVSW9ZOcKyzQ02-dM3yTyE4hf2HkQ7R-_e4hx26qDWHdXUYQ7msi9BZZ_OCSHln-MNzYfs36SERNszOcKp84dj_1CZ4soMbMd-mMuDz1qAwGRuqmv3iIcy5yoeGKmyJJd7KXw_ZscqEBOmVB5ybuKTInjfCQhs02d4nhwvXg/w321-h400/336517546_5797384073704432_460359397040504726_n.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><div>[image of Robyn Wertle, (top) with Pam (bottom right corner). They are washing Pam's dog ] (6)</div><div><br /></div><div> It is worth mentioning here that in early June 1971, so less than a month before his 'disappearance', Morrison had hired a young French Canadian girl, Robyn Wertle, to be his secretary. That she looked very similar to Pamela was no doubt part of the plot. If need be, she could pass for Pamela, should things go not according to plan. Jim had Robyn cataloguing his poetry, organising his daily life and typing his letters, like that to the Doors accountant Bob Greene the week before his 'death', telling Greene that he and Pam intended to stay in Paris "indefinitely", and had Bob end all of Jim's remaining commitments in LA, and to send money and credit cards on to France. No doubt, Robyn may also have learned to sign documents in Jim and Pam's name, too, but that is just a supposition of mine, although a common task of any secretary. Her employment can only have been to facilitate the plot, although like Pam, Robyn was unaware - another fall girl: expected to react in a certain way, and then have her emotions guided and gaslighted by Alain Ronay and Agnes Varda. </div><div><br /></div><div>Morrison says that Ronay got the faked death certificate in the seedier part of town in negotiations that lasted about two weeks.
This all fits with what we know of the events of that period of Pam and Jim's life in Paris from other sources: </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Timeline</b> </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Early June 1971 - while walking in Paris, Jim and Ronay went to Pere Lachaise cemetery. </li><li>11th June - Jim and Ronay went to see the long, silent, morbid and minimalist play, 'Deafman Glance' by Robert Wilson at the Theatre de la Musique [Ronay used Pam's ticket]. It is said that the play showed a tableau based on JL David's painting of Marat dead in his bath. This is thought to have suggested the idea of the "death in the bath" story to Ronay and Morrison. </li><li>14th June - transatlantic phone call between Jim Morrison and Doors drummer John Densmore - Jim asked regarding sales of L.A. Woman, the last album of the Doors record contract. Jim non-committal about returning to USA. </li><li>28th June - Ronay takes last pictures of Jim and Pam [and they of him and them] at the village of Saint-Leu, Paris. </li><li>30th June - Ronay [who had been living with Jim while Pam was with the Count] moved out of Jim's apartment as he intended to return to California in the next few days. In the meantime he stayed with Agnes Varda [whose partner, Jacques Demy, was in London]. </li><li>1st July - Jim sends telex to editor at Simon & Schuster and instructed that the bearded picture by "Alan C. Ronay" of him replace the Lizard King image on the cover of his poetry book. </li><li>2nd July - Ronay and Jim go for a walk, go shopping and eat out. Jim asks Ronay to stay with him as Pam isn't around, but Ronay has to meet Varda that afternoon. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div> Ray recounts that Morrison told him he couldn't have staged his own death without the help of Ronay and Varda. The idea of burying the coffin in Pere Lachaise was arranged by them, and was actually another idea of Varda's. Jim said: "I just wanted them to dump the coffin in some plain cemetery, virtually an unmarked grave. But they both said no ...They knew that there would be pilgrimages ..." [p 88]. Fans would find the grave and wonder why he wasn't buried somewhere more grand, and "perhaps demand an exhumation".
"So they arranged for the *charming* resting place" in Pere Lachaise. </div><div>"But they couldn't do it before Claude [Ronay] had the death certificate. No funeral arrangements could be made until I was legally dead." [p 89] </div><div>Ronay secured the fake death certificate: "then we had to move fast." [ib.] </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4P3jRdxZS422Qejy5EsrSeZJ_wG-OHrVgGwd2u3PZV5wuksk_1Fsu00Vu_e1ic7Fty0UFrthkzY01FQigbeo7sm_dGkfk1A__yej0QijhQqn1uH9D1x_McYl4Wtcyc3REWbWd8jM1Uyan_e74Gbiq7PTghws6PgasmvBIm8ONDWlKh3KHpsvUN-V9Gw/s4021/Jim's%20grave%201971%20-%201975.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4021" data-original-width="3495" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4P3jRdxZS422Qejy5EsrSeZJ_wG-OHrVgGwd2u3PZV5wuksk_1Fsu00Vu_e1ic7Fty0UFrthkzY01FQigbeo7sm_dGkfk1A__yej0QijhQqn1uH9D1x_McYl4Wtcyc3REWbWd8jM1Uyan_e74Gbiq7PTghws6PgasmvBIm8ONDWlKh3KHpsvUN-V9Gw/w557-h640/Jim's%20grave%201971%20-%201975.jpg" width="557" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">[Jim Morrison's grave, largely neglected in 1971, only starts to get noticed in 1975.] (7)</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Agnes had the coffin delivered to the apartment on the 1st of July: "She said it was for an 'art piece'. We weighed it down and sealed it. I had my new passport, my new suitcase, my new clothes, my new name, and my plane ticket." [p 95] </div><div>"I picked up a bag with new clothes at Claude's [Ronay's] - I had to leave all my old clothes at the apartment." [p 92] </div><div> Jim had already wired the Doors accountant to send him $100, 000 - what he called his 'travelling money' [his trip to Paris was ostensibly to be a springboard to further travels around Europe and North Africa, as it indeed was], with which he opened a Swiss bank account. </div><div>With that plane ticket, under his new name, he left alone for the 'Seychelles' on the night of the 2nd of July 1971, while Pamela Courson was with her French Count.
As for the fake passport: again Ronay and Varda "took care of it. I just took a couple of photos." [p 91]
This passport cost $5, 000, and had taken about a week to obtain. </div><div>Jim Morrison flew out of Paris, "as simple as that". [p 98] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Aftermath</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Things were not so simple in the apartment for Ronay and Varda after Jim left. With a sealed coffin and a death certificate [which was vague enough, saying that Jim's "heart had stopped"], the (bribed) doctor still had to notify the police. He did so and then left before the police arrived, the death certificate being handed to them by Ronay amidst a weeping Varda and Robyn. </div><div>Of course, the police demanded to see the body and so have the coffin opened. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jim tells Ray that Ronay "'wrote me later and told me the whole story. Make hell of a movie too. You know, you could do it, Roy, But you couldn't use real names ... You'd have to fictionalise the characters, of course.' He smiled to himself, liking the idea. 'Or maybe a novel. Yeah ... Why not? You're always looking for a good story to tell, this could be it'. " [ib.] </div><div><br /></div><div> The French police struggled to open the coffin because it was so well sealed. Ronay and Varda do their best not to help, dreading the moment when the coffin is opened to reveal, not a body, but bricks and sand. Luckily for them, Pamela Courson unexpectedly turned up just as the police were trying to open the casket, with her drug dealer Count in tow. Being told that the coffin contains Jim, she flies into a weeping fit, while the Count, seeing the police and a possible drug bust, flees the scene. </div><div>Pandemonium ensues, and the police give up trying to open the coffin as Pamela embraces it, sobbing for her dead lover, while her luggage falls open, female underwear tumbling onto the floor. </div><div>"So the cops had had enough. This was just too much hysteria. It wasn't worth the humiliation. Besides, their asses were covered. They had a death certificate. There was no foul play, nothing to investigate." [p 100] </div><div>The police gave their condolences to Pamela after Agnes Varda explained to them that she was "the deceased betrothed", and they left.
Pamela Courson continued to weep "hysterically, or she would have had the presence of mind to open the coffin herself. Instead, she went into the bathroom, no doubt shot up some of the good new Corsican smack, came out ten minutes later - according to Claude - dropped down in a chair and just sobbed softly to herself, repeating 'He's gone, he's gone, he's gone!' over and over." [p 107] </div><div><br /></div><div> "So that was it. The coffin was buried and I was dead. Phil Simmons [Bill Siddons, Doors manager] took care of the press releases, no doubt called you [Ray] and the other guys [the Doors] ..." [p 110] </div><div><br /></div><div>Asked what he did when the money ran out, Morrison tells Ray that Agnes Varda funnelled profits from her 1985 film, Vagabond to him, as he had an [unacknowledged] hand in writing it. Something Manzarek was aware of because that film used a Doors song ['The Changeling'!] in its soundtrack. The same song was used again in her 1988 film 'Jane B'. </div><div>Of course, this song could be seen as Morrison's own manifesto for staging his death in order to change into another identity. </div><div><br /></div><div>Morrison went to live in the 'Seychelles' for five years, before going on to 'India', in order to study yoga. Manzarek goes into some detail about this latter period, where Morrison addressed the demons in his soul and stopped drinking alcohol. He perfected himself, became content with himself, and after a few years [between 2 to 4] returned to the 'Seychelles', determined to settle down. </div><div>Morrison scratched a living there by writing articles for a local paper and buying and selling art and artefacts. [p 97] </div><div> Ray says that Jim married a Black woman, and they had two mixed race kids who were teenagers when he visited Jim in the late 1990s.
This takes me back to Michel de Breteuil, the Count's elder African press baron brother. Isn't it likely that Jim found somewhere to live in Africa [rather than the 'Seychelles'], and there, marrying a Black woman, he wrote articles for any one of the de Breteuil's many newspapers and magazines? Morrison was fascinated by journalism and his writing often treads a pleasing line between poetry and journalism. </div><div>Wouldn't this be a perfect end for the writer of the line: "would you like to pluck this dusky jewel"? </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b> CONCLUSION </b></div><div><br /></div><div> In 1971, the rock and pop music business was still seen as something transient and short term. The Doors were largely regarded as <i>passe </i>in the early 1970s, and Jim had been reduced to a figure of fun by some sections of the music press. </div><div> The Doors themselves broke up in 1973 after two unsuccessful albums without Jim, the last one released in 1972.
As the early photos of Morrison's grave show, few fans were beating a trail to worship him. New gods had come along, like Led Zeppelin: they were playing huge festivals and even stadia. Everything was getting bigger and louder, and one of Jim's old friends - Alice Cooper - was touring a full-on theatrical show, full of macabre elements. On the one hand, things had become more showbiz and more mass appeal - such as Shock Rock, and Glam Rock, while on the other, Progressive Rock bands dazzled large audiences with musical techno-flash: there wasn't much poetry. </div><div>The Doors had no place in this brave new world of the early to mid 70s.
To top the negativity, on a personal note, Pamela Courson, without her Jim and without her Count [who had died in 1972] died in April 1974, aged 27, after finally winning her share of Jim's estate following a long and protracted legal challenge to Jim's Will from the Doors and the Morrison family. The cause of death was said to be a drugs overdose - though the Courson family believed she was murdered. At least an autopsy was carried out on her - unlike with Jim. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5_9bJPqEBrz0p6D65DP8MG8gkk90VD7sCODnzDkt3P_4NbtHHLeRjw8RplqnFiCE43CxFSbznIJ-XQRczZ5z5lNLf80OgrAjZiP0w4MvPhv8RRflD79tdKDTK0RFQqgJh_Oc0OmmbLKLgGwG5k3EfP-MQLOkBCSz40EId9l9dLzCVAOk45XaFCzMTw/s1200/DddvkRvU0AAEl5_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1200" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5_9bJPqEBrz0p6D65DP8MG8gkk90VD7sCODnzDkt3P_4NbtHHLeRjw8RplqnFiCE43CxFSbznIJ-XQRczZ5z5lNLf80OgrAjZiP0w4MvPhv8RRflD79tdKDTK0RFQqgJh_Oc0OmmbLKLgGwG5k3EfP-MQLOkBCSz40EId9l9dLzCVAOk45XaFCzMTw/w400-h319/DddvkRvU0AAEl5_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> [Patti Smith - a copy of the privately printed <i>The New Creatures,</i> by Jim Morrison is at her feet]</div><div><br /></div><div> But there were stirrings, and when Ray Manzarek made his second solo album after the Doors of, 1974, the New York poetess Patti Smith, guested on a track where she recited one of Jim Morrison's poems. The album didn't sell well. But Patti, a prime mover of 'new wave' and 'punk', made her own first album with her band in 1975. In it, she paid homage to her favourite poets, among them Rimbaud and Jim Morrison. The album was a hit, and the new movement in rock music had begun. </div><div>Patti herself visited Morrison's grave in 1975.</div><div>Suddenly, Jim and the Doors are seen as relevant again. Many of the mainstays of the New Wave and Punk scenes, in the USA and the UK, acknowledged them as important precursors and influences. Now fans begin to flock to Morrison's grave, and start to buy Doors music once more.
And as Punk moved into post-punk and gothic in the late 1970s, new groups and singers were emulating the Doors and Morrison in sound and vision. </div><div>Emboldened, the three remaining Doors reformed for a studio project released in 1978. Using the poetry/spoken word tapes that Morrison had recorded in the Elektra studios in 1969, and at the Village recorder studios in 1970, they made the 'poetry album' that Jim had intended. It was a big success, commercially and artistically. Unreleased Doors material was now unearthed and released to a growing fanbase. </div><div><br /></div><div>As the 1970s ended, in 1980, the first full biography of Morrison was published, written by Danny Sugarman and Jerry Hopkins. It was a big seller: the Morrison myth was well on its way, and Hollywood was looking to make it all into a major film. There were many false starts, and the film - by Oliver Stone, was not released until 1990. </div><div><br /></div><div> It's unlikely that anyone could have predicted this growth of the Morrison and Doors phenomena back in 1971.I suspect that Jim, Ronay and Varda thought his staged death would be soon forgotten and therefore not subjected to scrutiny. No one would want to write his biography, and there would not be any public interest that would result in something like a major Hollywood movie. And this is where we move into the second phase of the conspiracy.
Just as when the police tried to break open the empty coffin back in 1971, so too were Ronay and Varda now having to sweat in 1991.
They had both said nothing for twenty years, as per their oath, but now the pressure was mounting. Journalists were probing - the public wanted to know more. And film makers were raking over the minutiae. Not only that, but Albert Goldman - who had done iconoclastic biographies of Presley and Lennon, amongst others, had started to embark on his biography of Jim Morrison. </div><div>Ronay and Varda broke cover and gave an interview. They reiterated the 'official' story, but added one red herring: Pamela didn't mention to them that Jim had snorted pure heroin the night of his death. It was this that killed him, not a heart attack. This rumour, and others related to it had been around for some time. But it was the last statement on the issue that they would make.
Meanwhile, Goldman kept digging, when - on a trip between Miami and London when researching his book - he died before he could complete it in 1994 - of a heart attack. </div><div><br /></div><div>The documents relating to Morrison's death were released in various forms to writers and programme makers from 1990 on. Many researchers were surprised how easy it was to get hold of them after such a long embargo. But the documents are flawed, to say the least. For example, Pamela Courson's witness statement to the French police, re. Jim's death, is signed in her name, but in Jim's hand-writing!
[see my article on this blog from last month - 28th February, 2023]
The funeral arrangement document is again signed in her name but by an unknown hand. The notorised burial certficate describes Pamela as Morrison's 'cousin'. </div><div>Given the need of the Courson and Morrison families to maintain that Morrison died on the 3rd of July 1971, and given the need for Varda to maintain the same - as well as the French police wanting to be seen to have done everything properly - is it beyond reason to suggest that these documents, many released into the public domain twenty years after Morrison's "death", are not what they seem? </div><div> Doesn't it seem more likely that the account given in Ray Manzarek's book is closer to the truth? </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Copyright, Bill Boethius Osborn March 2023, with acknowledgements to Lilith McGregor</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b> NOTES</b> </div><div>(1) The Collected Works of F W Nietzsche, edited by Oscar Levy, Vol 11 p. 57 </div><div>(2) The New Musical Express Book of Rock, edited by Nick Logan, I.P.C. 1973 p 105 </div><div>(3) The Poet in Exile, by Ray Manzarek, Thunder's Mouth Press, NY 2001 </div><div>(4) from mildequator.com </div><div>(5) thanks to Lilith McGregor for photo </div><div>(6) Last known photos of Morrison in Paris on the 28th June, 1971. These photos belie the claim that Jim was very ill in his last days. </div><div>(7) Top left photo is by Pam at time of funeral, July 1971. next two photos are between 1971 -73.
The grave is unmarked at first - only a mound in the ground. Makeshift marker and stones are added.
Bottom left - in 1973 a stone border has been added. Grave is still fairly neglected.
Patti Smith visits in 1975, and graffiti can be seen, a trend that becomes excessive in the 1980s. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>BIBLIOGRAPHY</b> </div><div><i>The Poet in Exile, A Novel</i>, by Ray Manzarek, published by Thunder Mouth Press, 2001</div><div><div><i>The Lords. New Creatures</i>. Jim Morrison, 1969, 1970. Omnibus 1985</div><div><i>The Doors Companion: Four Decades of Commentary</i>, John Rocco editor, Schirmer Books, 1997</div><div><i>No One Here Gets Ou</i><i>t Alive</i>. Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman. Plexus, 1980</div><div><i>Rimbaud and Jim Morrison. The Rebel as Poet</i>. Wallace Fowlie. Souvenir Press 1995,</div><div><i>A Season in Hell The Illuminations.</i> Arthur Rimbaud. Transalted by E Rhodes Peschel, Oxford, 1979</div><div><i>Early Work. 1970-1979</i>. Patti Smith. Norton, 1994</div></div><div><br /></div>Bill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-39983022985135250422023-02-28T16:37:00.005+00:002023-03-29T11:23:07.057+01:00In Plain Sight: The Signature that Denies the Death of Jim Morrison<div class="separator"><br /></div><p> On December the 8th of this year, 2023, Jim Morrison of The Doors, will be 80 years old. </p><p>Why do I say that, rather than state that Jim Morrison died 50 years ago?</p><p>The answer is simple: on the 3rd of July 1971, Pamela Susan Courson - the only witness to James Douglas Morrison's death - gave a statement regarding that death to the police. A statement signed in her name ... by Jim Morrison himself.</p><p>Who said that dead men can't tell tales?</p><p>But how could this be? If Morrison had died earlier that day, as his girlfriend Pamela Courson testified - it would have been impossible for him to have signed her statement in her name.</p><p>Some might argue that the statement was made before he died, and that he signed it pre-emptively. But this is even more absurd, and as I will set out, virtually impossible.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbRsnnhdfogjm1lKiAdj1ijUSScxFXnRfqXD1FIQRj_WP6pXpEdydmMBbogsoTiOto4dSgsQv8GqVW9SnZ4SKSKhn10j7yvmfybcznJMYDWfjPzoJ0PxbB7EUjCRp8hCv92GgcFEglgNnhUS7pLPt06CbcVU-ClbBLXad_06vPh50ABODXpjbuPkZtg/s1213/Riders%20on%20the%20Storm%20lyrics.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="1213" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbRsnnhdfogjm1lKiAdj1ijUSScxFXnRfqXD1FIQRj_WP6pXpEdydmMBbogsoTiOto4dSgsQv8GqVW9SnZ4SKSKhn10j7yvmfybcznJMYDWfjPzoJ0PxbB7EUjCRp8hCv92GgcFEglgNnhUS7pLPt06CbcVU-ClbBLXad_06vPh50ABODXpjbuPkZtg/w400-h205/Riders%20on%20the%20Storm%20lyrics.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>[image of Jim [aged 27] & Pam [aged 24] by Alain Ronay 28 June 1971, i.e., six days before Jim's death. Examples of Jim's handwriting added] (1)<div><br /><p>While the reports of what happened to Jim Morrison in the early hours of the 3rd of July 1971 may vary and are often contradictory, most accounts agree on one thing: in the afternoon of that day, after the body had been pronounced dead, Pamela Courson, along with Jim's long time friend, Alain Ronay, were taken by the French police to the police station so that Pam could make a full statement to the effect of how Jim Morrison had died that morning, and that he was dead when the emergency services had arrived. Alain Ronay, a French born American, acted as translator because Pam spoke no French. Pam had called Ronay over to the flat that morning when she realised Jim was dying. When Ronay arrived, he called the police, although he claims he didn't see the body.</p><p>In any walk of life, a situation like this would need explaining to the police due to the suspicion of foul play, not least when the deceased was a young man, renting a very expensive flat in a prestigious part of Paris for himself and Ms. Courson, his girlfriend.</p><p>The document which records this statement was a highly official document [report #997] that could not have been done at any other date and time as that recorded on it. That information is recorded, with every numeral spelled out as a word to indicate - in a pre-digital age - that this form cannot be easily faked. It also states the place [The Arsenal, Paris] where the interview which resulted in that statement was conducted. This kind of official document - dealing as it does with a premature death in this case - cannot be made at any date, time and place other than that which is stated on it, the investigating officer [O.P.P. Jacques Manchez] signing it to that effect. The statement is minuted in real time time by a police official: the interview began at 1540hrs [first page], and ended at 1630hrs [second page].</p><p>Once the statement is completed, it is read back to Pamela Courson, with Alain Ronay supplying the translation. Once Ms. Courson agreed that the statement faithfully records what she had said, she would then have had to sign it there and then in the station, in front of the investigating officer, who would then counter-sign it himself. Thence the document is given the official stamp next to P. Courson's signatures.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjabdxtaxfUVDwV9ggRgM1frTpFTSE652IPhXKqsfoiSdIPzuRaPmu4n0vn-xhtTCD7cvm0n4b9P4kgaZBSQmFNtSOKznTlciReW-4dgZW9gb-S2G1i0HDArtIeKJimch4YnqM9KHDRp3QymCd1hvPH1_wGn1KFEotrQvSJGoErmqZJX_bmpBm35tfNFQ/s1817/Police%20Report%20Pam%20both%20pages%20with%20large%20sigs.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1745" data-original-width="1817" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjabdxtaxfUVDwV9ggRgM1frTpFTSE652IPhXKqsfoiSdIPzuRaPmu4n0vn-xhtTCD7cvm0n4b9P4kgaZBSQmFNtSOKznTlciReW-4dgZW9gb-S2G1i0HDArtIeKJimch4YnqM9KHDRp3QymCd1hvPH1_wGn1KFEotrQvSJGoErmqZJX_bmpBm35tfNFQ/s320/Police%20Report%20Pam%20both%20pages%20with%20large%20sigs.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[Document - two pages of police report - the signatures have been enlarged] (2)</div><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">And this is where we have the problem. For, it wasn't Pamela Courson who signed as 'P. Courson' on both pages of her statement. </span><span style="text-align: left;">The handwriting clearly shows that it was Jim Morrison who had signed her name both times, not Pam.</span></div><p></p><p>But this has to be impossible - how could Jim sign a police report which states he had died some eight hours prior?</p><p><br /></p><p>Before we examine the signatures on this document more closely, let us reflect on the seeming attempts - immediately after Morrison's death - to prevent this document from getting into the public domain.</p><p>In the month following the death, Jim's attoney, Max Fink [who was named in Morrison's 1969 Will as an executor], and Pam Courson [named as the main beneficiary in the same Will] both sought to ensure that Jim's estate be placed in their hands.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEKC538SCU5l4oQfZj_CzV6IIl8SPQpgJzpHq0IJTHNx_n0tnkLKsTFIzAR5Xg05ZEStgqp6TljQOTj1e3tY7J2iZEEo6eEyY5fxPUpvp1iS8UpZTwOJfJIMisvn_v_t1lWzaP6GpMUzViXW0YiynwVqzdh43GcDRbS5E18MTMBOwLZNPMGnqoRMnXA/s2932/JDM%20Will%20&%20Probate.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2320" data-original-width="2932" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEKC538SCU5l4oQfZj_CzV6IIl8SPQpgJzpHq0IJTHNx_n0tnkLKsTFIzAR5Xg05ZEStgqp6TljQOTj1e3tY7J2iZEEo6eEyY5fxPUpvp1iS8UpZTwOJfJIMisvn_v_t1lWzaP6GpMUzViXW0YiynwVqzdh43GcDRbS5E18MTMBOwLZNPMGnqoRMnXA/w400-h316/JDM%20Will%20&%20Probate.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[documents - Jim's Will of 1969 subjected to petition of probate in August 1971 after his death in July] (3)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No doubt, Morrison's own family, the Doors & their management & publishers, and the Courson family too, were all on the case, legally. We can be certain that their collective lawyers - quite rightly - would have pored over all the documents relating to Jim's death, including the police report which contained the statement of the ONLY witness to Jim's death.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While one would not expect these documents to be made public back in those days of the early 1970s, how is it - when writing the first full biography of Jim Morrison [published in 1980] - that The Doors employee Danny Sugarman and his co-author Jerry Hopkins could write:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"There was no police report ..."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">['No One Here Gets Out Alive', Hopkins & Sugarman, p. 368]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As the public interest in Morrison and The Doors grew, from the late 1970s, and through into the 1980s, with film rights being discussed, how could this police report remain hidden?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 1990, freelance writer and investigator Bob Seymore badgered the Paris authorities to disclose all the documents relating to the death of Jim Morrison. And after first being stonewalled by Danny Sugarman and the French authorities ["confidential" they said], his persistence paid off, at least in regard to the French. Finally he got a copy of the elusive police report which he reprinted in his book 'The End, The Death of Jim Morrison', published in 1990.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Strangely, Seymore didn't notice that the signatures on that police report which said 'P. Courson' were not written by Pam, but by Jim. Or if he did notice, like all those before him, he said or did nothing about it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How could it be, that this vital piece of evidence - hiding in plain sight - had not been noticed before now?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 2022 [23rd of September], on 'The Doors Fan Group' [Facebook], Lilith McGregor wrote:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">"<i>Hello everyone from Italy! </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Does anyone know that Pamela was left-handed? Because I just finished translating Sam Barnett's book and at the end of the book there are police reports and other documents and I found a strange thing, the signature of the police report (Pamela's signature) has the same handwriting as the signature of the will made by Jim (signature of Jim). It seems that the same person signed it but it's impossible! Look at the letter N of the signatures, they are identical and both appear to be written by a left-handed person with the same handwriting</i>."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxtYU4Lum9QM_YcueT1gyj6XIR4Rw1es7V1IXSkfoOlcuerpHjTNLO7ON00U-k5XYuD4BjyX_wiQWKY7bO7F36Q1CyHYw6qoIYT7hjP7s0bkdUwWhbvHaelMiY8owRxNASw9MKKOcZXtmfM6BAu4LlQKai1Hjs2kfK61yya49zB4uZJcBXSLZ0FQ-VQ/s2048/pam%20jim%20sig.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1457" data-original-width="2048" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxtYU4Lum9QM_YcueT1gyj6XIR4Rw1es7V1IXSkfoOlcuerpHjTNLO7ON00U-k5XYuD4BjyX_wiQWKY7bO7F36Q1CyHYw6qoIYT7hjP7s0bkdUwWhbvHaelMiY8owRxNASw9MKKOcZXtmfM6BAu4LlQKai1Hjs2kfK61yya49zB4uZJcBXSLZ0FQ-VQ/s320/pam%20jim%20sig.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[Lilith McGregor added the above graphic comparing the Pam police statement signature (top) with Jim's signature from his Will (bottom)]</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I didn't see this post until February of 2023, and then entered into a discussion with Lilith on the same thread, and became convinced she had uncovered this startling - and seemingly impossible - fact: Jim Morrison signed Pam's name.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Jim's handwriting is well known, as he wrote all his poems long hand in his journals, and many examples of these have been published from the 1960s onwards, and his looping style is very distinctive. Pam's handwriting is less well evidenced, but there are examples. A blog dedicated to Pam on Wordpress published the following example of Pam's writing, that show her handwriting was very different to Jim's. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5rErb6RxdPwvT8g-pB29Gy9Ux4QVewn4BK0nF_SFo2JyBIVp6mysm8a6paFEUUV4jtnnlNRk2qLB1Z8ujv4s_6UcaV6rtzZaJ2V4xvcz2SEF6JurjqJw9p7sRZwAs50ErbDTVPMhlvoDYRC0eQm42i37zjlTYH4GzKRJBduyvv-N2CALXPz2KGKN2Q/s800/pam%20sigs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="800" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5rErb6RxdPwvT8g-pB29Gy9Ux4QVewn4BK0nF_SFo2JyBIVp6mysm8a6paFEUUV4jtnnlNRk2qLB1Z8ujv4s_6UcaV6rtzZaJ2V4xvcz2SEF6JurjqJw9p7sRZwAs50ErbDTVPMhlvoDYRC0eQm42i37zjlTYH4GzKRJBduyvv-N2CALXPz2KGKN2Q/w400-h333/pam%20sigs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[example of Pamela Coursan's self written lyrics] (4)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This is corroborated by some examples of cheques made out to Jim Morrison during his time with The Doors, where he has signed the back of them. On some of these he also signed Pam's name, presumably so that Pam could cash them in her account on his authority. On one of these cheques, underneath Jim's signature is written 'Pamela S Courson' in Pam's handwriting, matching that given above, an occasion where she signed for herself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTu-brmU7ROjoDm3StKdbynjsSLDYJvydrJRB_Ykmjg3blwls2mSC1232cWumguRt0Az1h59y-RDJRpuZpcmNr1I5LvIXLac2wrdZN2kbpzVrMyoxk01fl1rnklDLn5fx4P-I4ArbcLa_F1pr2i6pX_eqxfsDzjCvnzuTX1-b4_VlLql7pDc_zQypcA/s2013/cheque1back.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="2013" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTu-brmU7ROjoDm3StKdbynjsSLDYJvydrJRB_Ykmjg3blwls2mSC1232cWumguRt0Az1h59y-RDJRpuZpcmNr1I5LvIXLac2wrdZN2kbpzVrMyoxk01fl1rnklDLn5fx4P-I4ArbcLa_F1pr2i6pX_eqxfsDzjCvnzuTX1-b4_VlLql7pDc_zQypcA/w400-h140/cheque1back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[examples of cheques 1) Jim signs and Pam signs 2) Jim signs as himself <b>and</b> Pam] (5)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>But there is a good example where Jim signs his own name, and then signs Pamela's name under it as 'P Courson' in an identical fashion to the signature on the police report. This is clear proof that it was not Pam who signed her statement on the afternoon of the 3rd of July, but James Douglas Morrison, 'deceased'.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQctSt0-iBAlP1wGLIuwtEbfx7zmForztyIEaTEytzNp9wB0c1HS_GVGx4Od28vQG1AHzV36B9bEqbez_D2Dou5eADJj_38CA_HHkB9Sbl3Mnt_lfcHtLxENRE-CdlCD66iAR-WM1cZD0UEKIXyKb8ZXF7wkJ7eNt-iTbZxDrcaEUtUIDYY14r4T0dsg/s2124/compariosn%20of%20cheque%20-%20police%20-%20will%20by%20lilith.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="2124" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQctSt0-iBAlP1wGLIuwtEbfx7zmForztyIEaTEytzNp9wB0c1HS_GVGx4Od28vQG1AHzV36B9bEqbez_D2Dou5eADJj_38CA_HHkB9Sbl3Mnt_lfcHtLxENRE-CdlCD66iAR-WM1cZD0UEKIXyKb8ZXF7wkJ7eNt-iTbZxDrcaEUtUIDYY14r4T0dsg/w400-h219/compariosn%20of%20cheque%20-%20police%20-%20will%20by%20lilith.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I can only conclude that Morrison did not die on that day, and that Pamela Courson and Alain Ronay both knew this to be true, directly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Given the initial attempted cover up of the existence of the police report, I might assume that The Doors management and the Morrison and Courson families also knew of this too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While speculation might follow, the one salient fact remains: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Jim Morrison signed his own death report!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He lived.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvhvpKWLNPfYdYi2LQbewIfDFKTePhWcnxOhOB2UCLZP3vaPNhD-2GO8rtZZajSIFbG29CKuIBACo_7HijhAnPnWOnYq414TLVTtE-lxHrWdrHm5L69WAFuNY8RUhoi03Q-ZtY1AjcyUEDjfoYD6YBP2SeGzEQFfTJHBgADTAhY4j6K53xZmM9HBGQQ/s1500/queen%20of%20the%20Highway.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1030" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvhvpKWLNPfYdYi2LQbewIfDFKTePhWcnxOhOB2UCLZP3vaPNhD-2GO8rtZZajSIFbG29CKuIBACo_7HijhAnPnWOnYq414TLVTtE-lxHrWdrHm5L69WAFuNY8RUhoi03Q-ZtY1AjcyUEDjfoYD6YBP2SeGzEQFfTJHBgADTAhY4j6K53xZmM9HBGQQ/w275-h400/queen%20of%20the%20Highway.png" width="275" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[Jim Morrison's handwritten lyrics to part of the song 'Queen of the Highway', said to be about Pam Courson].</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>Notes:</u> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1) Photomontage</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2) Autopsyfiles.org - Jim Morrison Death Certificate and Police Report [PDF 2011]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3) http://mildequator.com/documents/legaldocs.html</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4) Song Lyrics: https://pamelasusancoursonmorrison.wordpress.com/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">5) https://www.psacard.com/autographfacts/music/jim-morrison/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> https://live.autographmagazine.com/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Links:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Doors Fan Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/424086354457130</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Mild Equator - The Doors Collective Archive and Online Marketplace http://mildequator.com/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Pam and Jim Morrison - https://pamelasusancoursonmorrison.wordpress.com/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>Bibliography</u>;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Seymore</b>, Bob; <i>The End. The Death of Jim Morrison</i>, 1990, Omnibus Press</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Butler</b>, Patricia; <i>Angels Dance and Angels Die. The tragic romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison</i>, 1998, Omnibus Press.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Hopkins,</b> Jerry & <b>Sugarman,</b> Danny; <i>No One Here Gets Out Alive. The long-awaited biography of Jim</i> <i>Morrison</i>, 1980, Plexus Publishing Ltd.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Copyright Bill Boethius Osborn, February 2023 with acknowledgements to Lilith McGregor</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div>Bill Boethius Osbornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170421985702494049noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4239233357711379309.post-28415852503708320622011-01-22T08:52:00.003+00:002023-03-12T10:32:34.460+00:00The Doors to Dionysos: The Nietzschean Jim Morrison<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>At the beginning always stands the god</i></div>
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(W.F. Otto, Dionysos p. 29) </div>
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CONTENTS</div>
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<b>Introduction</b></div>
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<b>Chapter One: Insider/Outsider<br />
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Chapter Two: The Poet Possessed<br />
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Chapter Three: The Unrepressed Man<br />
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Chapter Four: Artist Tyrant<br />
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Chapter Five: Erotic Politician<br />
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Chapter Six: Meta-Orpheus<br />
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Chapter Seven: Poet-Politician<br />
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Bibliography</b></div>
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<i>copyright Bill Osborn 2009<br />
Revised 2011</i></div>
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<b>Introduction</b><br />
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Nietzsche's influence has crossed many boundaries, sometimes even inhabiting that no-man's land between high culture and popular culture. Appropriate then that Nietzsche's work should influence singer Jim Morrison of the rock group the Doors, as he was very much the embodiment of the cultured and the primitive combined, and testified to their tension as he straddled the hedge between them.<br />
Nietzsche's <i>Apollo/Dionysos</i> symbolic antinomy is given a strange echo in Morrison's assertion that "we appeal to the same human needs as classical tragedy and early Southern blues."[1] <br />
And does not Morrison himself become a sym-bol, with his various <i>personae</i>: - that of the mythic hero, the primal bluesman, and the erudite poet - all being generated by this rift?<br />
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This essay will explore this, and related issues, by focusing on key books that Morrison studied and chose to live by. These include Friedrich Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy', Wilhelm Reich's 'The Function of the Orgasm', Colin Wilson's 'The Outsider', Joseph Campbell’s ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’, and Norman O. Brown's 'Life Against Death.' I shall try to keep to the editions and translations that Morrison would have used and note how they influenced his complex artistry and thought.<br />
The underlying thrust though is to achieve a comprehension of the (Nietzschean) Dionysian; and Morrison is a worthy, if dangerous, guide for this part of the quest.<br />
While writing, I began to see the increasing importance of Colin Wilson's ideas, his 'New Existentialism' being a powerful development of a Nietzscheanism that Morrison well understood.<br />
Strange then that in her otherwise admirable 'Historical Dictionary of Nietzscheanism' (The Scarecrow Press, London, 1999), Carol Diethe does not mention Wilson’s treatment of Nietzsche at all ... but then she doesn't mention the Doors either.<br />
As the two main subjects of the essay will be quoted frequently, the quotations will be attributed to the abbreviations 'JDM' (James Douglas Morrison), and 'FWN' (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche).<br />
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<b>Note to Introduction</b><br />
1. Lisciandro p. 16 See also Davis p. 229 - he dates the quote to 1969. <br />
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<b><br />
Chapter One: Insider/Outsider</b><br />
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<b>1) Dualities</b><br />
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"There is an old illusion - it is called good and evil."<br />
FWN [2]<br />
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"You favour Life, he sides with Death: I straddle the fence, and my balls hurt."<br />
JDM [3]<br />
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"Mankind will not put aside its sickness and its discontent until it is able to abolish every dualism."<br />
N. O. Brown [4]<br />
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"... there is a sharp conflict between natural demands and certain social institutions. Caught as he is on this conflict, man gives in more or less to one side or the other; he makes compromises which are bound to fail; he escapes into illness or death; or he rebels - senselessly and fruitlessly - against the existing order. In this struggle, human structure is molded ..."<br />
Wilhelm Reich [5]<br />
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The first three quotes imply that dualities are in some way illusory. Morrison suggests that he inhabits the place in between duality – “the fence”, or that the poet is the place in between, and that this ‘fence’ is the reality, rather than the duality. Or that the (false) belief in dualities is a cause of ‘sickness’ as Brown has it. <br />
But the Reich quote suggests rather that dualities, real or otherwise, (as the necessary components of ‘conflicts’) create the struggle which ‘molds’ “human structure.”<br />
So dualities - real or imagined - seem to be indispensable to this discourse.<br />
<br />
Dualities invite us to choose what side we might be on; ultimately the <i>law of non-contradiction</i> tells us we must either be or not be. Those who seek to surmount such dualities and even dissolve them can themselves be torn apart and even destroyed in the attempt. Jim Morrison [1943-1971] was such a one, dead at the age of 27 after attempting to overcome the antinomy of Apollo and Dionysos.<br />
<br />
<br />
"Nietzsche killed Jim Morrison."<br />
John Densmore [6]<br />
<br />
<br />
And here we arrive at our first philosophical problem. We often express ourselves in terms of dualities; and yet life is a totality. Ultimately then, are all dualities illusory? This will be picked up again in section 15 in relation to the main Nietzschean duality of Apollo/Dionysos.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2) Jim Morrison as a Nietzschean</b><br />
<br />
<br />
"Jim Morrison was probably the most effective populariser of Nietzsche in the twentieth century." [7]<br />
<br />
"The first and greatest satyr alive today."<br />
FWN [8]<br />
<br />
<br />
In the first book-length biography of Morrison, published 1980 in the USA - i.e. some nine years after his death - its co-authors presented him very much as a Nietzschean. Not only was he said to be well-read in Nietzsche, but he too was a 'philosopher'. The authors assert that: "like Nietzsche, Jim identified with the long-suffering Dionysos, who was without images, himself pure primordial pain and its primordial echoing." [9]<br />
One of the co-authors, Danny Sugarman, went on to publish a (semi-fictionalised?) autobiography nine years later which included an account of his supposed relationship with Morrison - Sugarman had a junior administrative role in the Doors LA office.<br />
He claims that Morrison gave him books which exemplified his Nietzschean devotion to Dionysos. In a somewhat garbled account Sugarman describes the Doors' singer enthusiastically giving him a copy of Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy', but then goes on to quote from W. F. Otto's 'Dionysos,' while seeming to describe another book by Karl Kerenyi : "I was digging through the books Jim had given me. I set down the one I was reading and picked up 'Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life.' [10] <br />
<br />
In a later, thorough, and less hagiographical biography of Morrison, author Stephen Davis confirms that "nothing he read left a more lasting impression on Jimmy Morrison than his encounter with Nietzsche." [11]<br />
<br />
While the posthumous 'legend' of Morrison has emphasised the Dionysian Nietzscheanism, the same image was being cultivated in his lifetime during the 1960's when writers on the popular music scene obviously longed to put a more intellectual spin on a hitherto lowbrow culture. Among those writers was Richard Goldstein, who in 1967 called the emerging 24 year-old singer and song-writer with the Doors a 'Shaman Superstar', going on to say that Morrison "suggests you read Nietzsche on the nature of tragedy to understand where he is really at. His eyes glow as he launches into a discussion of the Apollonian-Dionysian struggle for control of the life force."<br />
[12]<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
3) The Hiway</b><br />
<br />
“Kerouac! I salute your<br />
wordy beard, Sad Prophet!”<br />
Ginsberg [13] <br />
<br />
We can be certain then that Morrison was imbued with the Nietzschean theories of the Dionysiac found in 'The Birth of Tragedy' and had looked further into the work of other scholars regarding the nature of the god Dionysos. Patricia Kennealy, the music critic/writer who was said to have 'married' Morrison in a Wicca ceremony on Midsummer's Night in 1970, [14] says that in his last years Morrison was studying Jane Harrison's tomes 'Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion' (1903) and 'Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion' (1911). This is confirmed independently by an interviewer noting in 1970 the book 'Themis' on a table in Morrison's house, [15] as well as 'Themis' being the name of the boutique that he had bought for his long term girlfriend Pamela Courson. [16] <br />
<br />
<br />
But in what intellectual/cultural context did he imbibe his Dionysian Nietzscheanism?<br />
The son of a military careerist, frequently moving from State to State as a boy, he is immediately attracted to the 'Beat Movement'. The seminal 'Beat' text, 'On the Road', by Jack Kerouac is published in 1957 when Morrison is 14 and he quickly becomes an adherent. [11] <br />
The first paragraph of 'On the Road', referring to the correspondence between the book's hero Dean Moriarty and "Chad the Nietzschean anthropologist," [17] has Kerouac saying: "I was tremendously interested in the letters because they so naively and sweetly asked Chad to teach him about Nietzsche and all the wonderful intellectual things that Chad knew." [18]<br />
<br />
Morrison identified with Moriarty - "a wandering cowboy and rebellious spirit of the fifties" [19] - and might have taken Kerouac's effusion as his personal credo:<br />
<br />
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centrelight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'" [20] <br />
<br />
Like Kerouac, Morrison saw direct connection between the 1950s Beat Movement and the Hippies of the 1960s. In a televised interview made shortly before he died, Kerouac said that they were of the "same movement, which is apparently some kind of Dionysian movement in late civilisation." [21] <br />
Two years later, in a radio interview, Morrison echoes Kerouac by describing the Hippie movement as a "kind of Dionysiac reaction, but very naive and fruitless." [22] <br />
Here we note Morrison's realistic outlook that always helped him to maintain a certain distance from the Hippie movement. His Nietzscheanism then extended beyond any beatific interpretation, and had more in common with an 'existentialist' outlook.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>4) Wilson's Nietzsche</b><br />
<br />
Morrison read Colin Wilson's 'The Outsider' - published the year before 'On the Road' - when he was about fifteen [23]. Wilson is an English writer who created a stir by producing a philosophically mature work at the age of twenty-four. [24] Wilson later noted with a sardonic irony that he "was at least as important as Sartre and Camus, a real British home-grown existentialist." [25] <br />
Wilson also had something of an affinity with the American 'Beat Movement.' [26] The leading Beat poet Allen Ginsberg - who therefore had a profound influence on Morrison's own poetry - met Wilson in 1978. Recollecting the meeting, Ginsberg wrote: "we'd not encountered before, though 'Outsider' and 'Beat' ethos had theoretically some sense of spiritual expansiveness and hermetic insight in common." And yet remained mystified as to how Wilson could have got that "open mind". [27] <br />
The main interest for us though is Wilson’s treatment of Nietzsche in 'The Outsider' and how this influenced Morrison's own Nietzscheanism. [28] It is a view of Nietzsche which probably has its root in those passages in his first book, 'The Birth of Tragedy' (section 7), where it is said that the character of Shakespeare's Hamlet "resembles the Dionysian man," [29] who seeks to conquer the "nausea of the absurd." [ib.]<br />
<br />
Poor Ophelia<br />
All those ghosts he never saw<br />
floating to doom<br />
on an iron candle.<br />
JDM [30] <br />
<br />
But the Existentialist despairs of ever being able to conquer, whereas the Nietzschean-Dionysian man is very much a conqueror. The Existentialist interpretation of Nietzsche is therefore somewhat nihilistic - although Wilson will later insist that his own Existentialism is a positive philosophy (see his 'New Existentialism' e.g., Wilson 1980 passim). In 'The Outsider', Wilson says that, while Nietzsche saw the potential of genius in man, he felt that it was "only inertia" that "keeps him mediocre" [31]<br />
This may be the seed of Morrison's idea for 'The Lords', who prey on this tendency to "inertia" - an idea we shall look into in more detail later [32]<br />
<br />
In relation to this nihilistic notion of Nietzscheanism is the view that the profound thinker must necessarily experience pain - a masochistic tendency in the 'outsider' hero/genius. [33] Wilson takes a biographical approach to Nietzsche's work in keeping with a philosophy which says that one must live ones ideas. [34] <br />
As a young man of 21 Nietzsche is said to have experienced a kind of pagan epiphany during a storm on a hill while witnessing a man killing two lambs as the man's son looked on. The mixture of thunder, death, sacrifice, and blood and childhood innocence conspired to evoke a world of "Pure Will," - that is a world that is "free", and "without morality." [35] <br />
<br />
Wilson quickly compares this with the "drunken" "Dionysian emotions" [36] that Nietzsche will describe in his 'The Birth of Tragedy'.<br />
<br />
We may also relate this to Morrison's own epiphany, when he "experienced death for the first time." [37] As a four-year-old, he and his family chanced upon the immediate aftermath of a truck accident which had left a group of American Indians strewn across the road, bleeding to death. He later said, "At that moment, the souls of those dead Indians ... landed in my soul". [ib.]<br />
<br />
Similar to Nietzsche's experience, we have the ingredients of blood, death, a sudden inexplicable catastrophe, blended with childhood innocence: <br />
<br />
<br />
Like our ancestors<br />
The Indians<br />
we share a fear of sex<br />
excessive lamentation for the dead<br />
& an abiding interest in dreams and visions.<br />
JDM [38]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
5) The Clap</b><br />
<br />
"He would go to prostitutes and expose himself to venereal disease."<br />
Reich [39] <br />
<br />
<br />
The most crucial aspect of Wilson’s portrayal of Nietzsche for our study though, is that of the manner of Nietzsche's collapse into insanity.<br />
While contemporary opinion differs, [40] Wilson was of the general view held at the time that Nietzsche's insanity was due to "venereal disease contracted in his student days from a prostitute." [41] Sugarman claims that "Morrison said that's how he wanted to go. First you go crazy, then you go blind, get visions, get dead." [42]<br />
This leads Morrison to speculate that Nietzsche deliberately had himself infected with syphilis in order to experience a progressive disintegrating insanity - a kind of masochistic, calculated, break-down:<br />
<br />
"One line of Rimbaud in particular was a favourite [of Morrison's] ... 'The poet makes himself into a visionary by a long derangement of all the senses,' Un long dereglement de tous le sens, describes and explains Jim's activity." [43]<br />
<br />
Wilson quotes a letter of Nietzsche's where he says that "I must live a few years longer. I feel a presentiment that the life I lead is a life of supreme peril. I am one of those machines that sometimes explode," [44] adding that Nietzsche "died insane, like a big gun with some trifling mechanical fault that explodes." [45]<br />
This all directly inspires the language Morrison will use when he writes of the moment of Nietzsche's collapse into madness:<br />
<br />
"On the third of January, near the door of his lodgings, Nietzsche saw a cabman whipping a horse. He threw his arms around the animal's neck and burst into tears, marking first hour of his madness.<br />
He had purposely contracted syphilis as a student - playing Wagner on an upright for the whores - and carried the germs of chaos all his years. When he at last despaired of embodying in words his entire world of thought, he let those forces sweep 'through him and explode chambers in his brain.<br />
But not before capping his philosophy with that last symbolic act - the final chapter in his philosophy - and wed himself with the act and the animal for all time." [46] <br />
<br />
Fitting that the philosopher who wrote that one should "die at the right time" [47] would eke out a protracted creative suicide, inaugurated by a seemingly bizarre mockery of Celtic pagan 'horse marriage.' [48]<br />
And the first animal is jettisoned<br />
Legs furiously pumping<br />
Their stiff green gallop.<br />
JDM [49]<br />
<br />
Morrison seemed somewhat obsessed with this dramatic scene. As a film student at UCLA (1964-5) he had planned to make a film of the incident. The soundtrack "would be applause" [50] - no doubt meant to be a pun on 'clap' - i.e., syphilis.<br />
<br />
We got our final vision<br />
by clap<br />
JDM [51]<br />
<br />
<br />
Morrison's relentless program of drugs and alcohol abuse coupled with a self-harming could be seen as an emulation of a Nietzschean 'salvation' through 'the body' as envisioned by Wilson. [52] Morrison would say that "to transcend the limitations of the body, you have to immerse yourself in it." [53]<br />
<br />
Was this the "new religion" that Wilson claimed Nietzsche wanted to start?<br />
[54]<br />
<br />
We could plan a murder, or<br />
Start a religion.<br />
JDM [55]<br />
<br />
To Wilson, 'the outsider' is "a prophet in disguise - disguised even from himself ... If we tried to express the prophet's purpose in the simplest graspable form, we could say that it was a desire to shout 'Wake up!' in everybody's ear." [56]<br />
<br />
Wake Up!<br />
You can't remember where it was<br />
Had this dream stopped?<br />
JDM [57]<br />
<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Colin Wilson, in the 50s</i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes to Chapter One: Insider/Outsider</b><br />
2. Nietzsche 1999B p. 140 (TSZ III, 56:9)<br />
3. From poem 'Adolf Hitler', by Jim Morrison, 1969 (cf. Davis p. 310) <a href="http://www.alwaysontherun.net/doors2.htm">http://www.alwaysontherun.net/doors2.htm</a><br />
Also on live recording of the Boston concerts 1970<br />
Harrison thought that the duality was religiously prior to the "trinity" which "grew out of the duality." (Harrison p. 286) Dionysos himself expresses the dualism of mortal/immortal (Otto p. 73). The American Western operates on the dichotomy of White (good) and Black (bad) with its racial undertones. "Bad whites in westerns are often associated with darkness." (Dyer p. 35) Morrison himself can be seen to fusing the 'Good White/Bad White' in his personae.<br />
4. Brown introduction p. ix<br />
5. Reich p. 247 (Chapter VII 'Break-through into the Biological Realm') Note the term ‘break-through’ used extensively by Morrison.<br />
6. Densmore p.3<br />
7. ed. Rocco ed's intro. p. xviii<br />
8. Nietzsche 2001 p.21 (DD; Nietzsche's dedication to the poet Catulle Mendes, January 1st 1889)<br />
9. Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 p. 45 ‘Without images’, therefore anti-Apollonian. The first edition paperback has a blurb on the back which begins; "Jim Morrison, singer, philosopher, poet, delinquent ..." The book's title is a line from one of Morrison's songs ('Five To One') - see note 246 below<br />
10. Kerenyi's book, 'Dionysos: 'Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life' was not published until 1976, although Part One was completed in 1967. Otto's book [Otto 1965] was translated in 1965, and it is this that is quoted ('A god who is mad!' etc.) Presumably the book that Sugarman first "sets down" was Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy'; "I hadn't been reading long when I came across: 'A god who is mad!' “(Sugarman 1991 p. 131) It seems we must take Sugarman’s claims with a pinch of salt, at least in their detail.<br />
11. Davis p. 21<br />
12. ed. Rocco p. 6 <br />
13. Ginsberg (from 'Aether', 1960) p. 251<br />
14. Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 pp. 293-6. See also Davis pp. 366-7<br />
15. Jim Morrison: Ten Years Gone, L. James - Creem Magazine 1981, available at <a href="http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/TenYearsGone.html">http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/TenYearsGone.html</a> (accessed 25/02/2005)<br />
16. Davis pp. 301-2 - Themis was opened in 1968 and "became a hip fashion spot in late-sixties L.A. "<br />
17. Kerouac p. 10<br />
18. ib. p. 4<br />
19. Fowlie p. 82<br />
20. Kerouac p. 8<br />
21. Firing Line with William Buckley Jr. <i>The Hippies</i>, taped on Sept. 3 1968. Available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Firing-Line-William-Buckley-Hippies/dp/B001MBTSK4">http://www.amazon.com/Firing-Line-William-Buckley-Hippies/dp/B001MBTSK4</a> (accessed 9/4/09)<br />
22. Interview with James Douglas Morrison, Canadian Broadcasting Co. May 27th 1970, track#1 <i>The Lost Interview Tapes, Featuring Jim Morrison Vol. 1</i>, Bright Midnight 2004<br />
23.Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 p. 18<br />
24. Wilson 1990 (Postscript 1967) p. 290 "I was nearly twenty-five".<br />
25. ib. (Introduction, The Outsider Twenty Years On') p. 6<br />
26. ed. Stanley p. 292 Wilson lectured in the USA in 1961 and 1966<br />
27. ib. ('A Literary incident') p. 60. The connections between the Beats and Wilson was noted early on. In a collection called 'Protest' of 1958 (USA), the editors included a section of excerpts from Beat writers such as Ginsberg and Kerouac, and another section of the English 'Angry Young Men', which included an excerpt from Wilson's Outsider. (cf. ed. Feldman & Gartenberg 1960 p. 10) However, in 1959, Wilson distanced himself from the Beats, writing that they may "represent a kind of revolt, but it is difficult to discover a great deal more." (Wilson 2001) Of Kerouac, Ginsberg, McClure, Ferlinghetti et al he says that their work "achieves vigour at the expense of content." (ib. 93) By the 1960s, Wilson's attitude may have softened slightly as he writes in his book 'Poetry and Mysticism'; "In March 1968, I sat in a San Francisco bar with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and we discussed the death of a girl who had taken an overdose of a new psychedelic drug, and failed to return from her 'trip'. Ferlinghetti admitted to having many reservations about the use of psychedelics, and I tried to explain briefly my own view that mystical experience is a normal potentiality of everyday consciousness, and not something that has to be snatched by inducing states over which we have no control." (Wilson 1970 p. 13) . Wilson dedicated that book to the Beat poet Ferlinghetti who was one of Morrison's heroes. As a young teenager, Jim is said to have visited Ferlinghetti's 'City Lights Book Shop' in San Francisco , once plucking up the courage to say 'hello' to the poet. (Henke 2007 p. 24)<br />
28. cf. Chapter 5 of Wilson 1990 called 'The Pain Threshold'.<br />
29. Nietzsche 1995 p. 23 (I use the Fadiman translation as I assume this was the one that Morrison was most familiar with). Here are some of the basic concepts of Existentialism: "The discomfort in the face of man's own inhumanity, this incalculable tumble before the image of what we are, this 'nausea', as a writer of today calls it, is also the absurd. Likewise the stranger who at certain seconds comes to meet us in a mirror, the familiar and yet alarming brother we encounter in our own photographs is also the absurd." Camus 1975 p. 21. The writer referred to is of course, J.P. Sartre. Camus' first novel was called 'the stranger' (L 'Etranger). Morrison had studied Camus and Sartre. (Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 p. 18)<br />
30. Morrison 1989 p. 129 ('Ode to LA while thinking of Brian Jones, deceased', 1968)<br />
31. Nietzsche 1995 p. 123. cf. "Dionysus entered the world as a conqueror." (Otto p. 77)<br />
32. Morrison 1971 p. 112<br />
33. Wilson 1990 p. 124<br />
34. "And if it is true, as Nietzsche claims, that a philosopher, to deserve our respect, must preach by example." (Camus 1975 p. 11)<br />
35. Wilson 1990 p. 126 Harrison says of Dionysus: "his Epiphany is marked by a manifest thunderstorm." (Harrison p. 408)<br />
36. Wilson 1990 p. 127<br />
37. ed. Doe & Tobler p. 10<br />
38. Morrison 1989 p. 71<br />
39. Reich p. 185<br />
40."Nietzsche 'died of brain cancer' May 6 2003, Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher thought to have died of syphilis, was the victim of a posthumous smear campaign by anti-Nazis, new research shows. A study of medical records has found that, far from suffering a sexually transmitted disease that drove him mad, Nietzsche almost certainly died of brain cancer." full article available at: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/05/1051987657451.html">http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/05/1051987657451.html</a> (accessed 4/6/2009)<br />
41. Wilson Outsider p. 130<br />
42. Sugarman 1991, p. 134<br />
43. Fowlie p. 4 : Fowlie published (Chicago University Press) his translation of Rimbaud's 'Complete Works' in 1966. In 1968 he received a brief note from Morrison:<br />
" 'Dear Wallace Fowlie, Just wanted to say thanks for doing the Rimbaud translation. I needed it because I don't read French that easily ... I am a rock singer and your book travels around with me’ ... " (Fowlie p. 16) Fowlie hadn't heard of Morrison at the time, and as a university teacher had to ask his students who Morrison was. He put the note with other letters he had received about the book in the University archive.<br />
44. Wilson 1990 p. 131<br />
45. ib. p. 145<br />
46. The so-called Nietzsche Prose was actually a section in the first privately printed version of Morrison's book, The 'Lords: Notes on Vision' [April 1970]. With the public printing of the book a year later, this section was left out. [Handwritten draft of the section from a Morrison notebook]:<br />
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<br />
47. Nietzsche 1999B p. 46 (TSZ 1:XXI 'Voluntary Death')<br />
48. "In Celtic Britain and Gaul the horse goddess Epona was associated with water, fertility and death. There was widespread sacrifice of horses in Celtic Europe in the belief that they would become soul-mounts for their masters' symbolic ride of death." (Saunders p. 82) Note that Morrison regularly symbolically associates the horse with water, most notably in his poem 'Horse Latitudes'. In Greek mythology, Poseidon the sea god was also said to have created the first horse - "he gave the first horse to man." (Hamilton p. 27)<br />
A radio play Nietzsche's Horse (1997) by Lavinia Murray concentrates on and dramatises the moment of Nietzsche's collapse over the beaten horse (BBC Radio 4 broadcast 28/4/1997) in a series of somewhat absurd and surreal vignettes.<br />
49. Morrison 1991 p. 156 (Horse Latitudes) track #5 on Strange Days, the Doors, Elektra Records EKS-74014 October 1967<br />
50. Hopkins/Sugarman 1980 p. 47 - cf. Davis p. 64 & ed. Rocco, ('Cameras Inside the Coffin', J. Rocco) pp. 71-2<br />
51. Morrison 1991 p. 4. In the Doors self-made documentary film 'A Feast of Friends' there is a scene backstage (New York, September 1968) where Morrison improvises an absurdist 'Ode to Friedrich Nietzsche' at the piano, recounting Nietzsche's collapse and subsequent sectioning. (cf. ed. Rocco pp. 71-72)<br />
52. Wilson 1990 p. 144<br />
53. ed. Sugarman 1988 (Lizzie James interview with Jim Morrison 1970) page p. 124<br />
54. Wilson 1990 p. 145<br />
55. Morrison 1991 p. 124<br />
56. Wilson 1990 p. 146<br />
57. Morrison 1991 p. 40 <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Chapter Two: The Poet Possessed</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>6) A Poet's Manual</b><br />
<br />
Morrison evidently read Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy' very closely, taking it almost as a manual of poetic method. When Nietzsche says that dreams are the inspiration for the "glorious divine figures" of which the poets write, [58] Morrison will adopt this as his mode of poetic creation.<br />
The singer Nico [59] had a brief relationship with Morrison in 1967. She wanted to write her own songs but couldn't get started. Morrison "told her to write down her dreams ... This would provide her raw material." [60]<br />
<br />
Nietzsche would assert: "The beautiful appearance of the dream-worlds, in creating which everyman is a perfect artist, is the prerequisite of all plastic art, ... and an important part of poetry also." [61]<br />
<br />
For Nietzsche, dreams themselves 'interpret' life, and provide ‘training’ for life, [ib.] because "our innermost beings, our common subconscious experiences, express themselves in dreams." [ib.]<br />
<br />
Enter again the sweet forest<br />
Enter the hot dream<br />
JDM [62]<br />
<br />
Brown writes that "dreams are certainly an activity of the mind struggling to circumvent the formal-logical law of contradiction."[63] <br />
Morrison develops this thought in an interesting compressed poetic aphorism:<br />
<br />
Dreams are<br />
at once fruit & outcry<br />
against an atrophy of the senses.<br />
JDM [64]<br />
<br />
Whereas Brown sees the dream as a rebellion against the logical tendency, Morrison has the dream as a protest against the supposed degradation of sense perception. Man has ‘fallen’; his perceptions have been ‘narrowed’ – no doubt to allow the development of logic. But the usurped senses will not go quietly; they are the conscience pangs of the defeated irrational. The poet takes up these remnants and restores perception to its former glory via his disordered senses.<br />
<br />
In his book on Rimbaud and Morrison, Fowlie confirms that Rimbaud used this method: <br />
<br />
"By use of the dream, Rimbaud adds his testimonial to the belief of Nerval, Baudelaire and Mallarme that the purest disinterestedness of poets manifests itself in the dream." [65]<br />
<br />
<br />
Morrison was searching for the ability to write poetry automatically [66] , for, as Nietzsche said, the Dionysiac poet creates "unconsciously." [67]<br />
<br />
Even when awake, the poet's world must have a dreamlike quality:<br />
"The poet is a poet only in so far as he sees himself surrounded by forms which live and act before him, and into whose innermost being he penetrates." [68]<br />
For "at bottom the aesthetic phenomenon is simple: if a man merely has the faculty of seeing perpetual vitality around him, of living continually surrounded by hosts of spirits, he will be a poet." [ib.]<br />
<br />
And here we can see the connection with music too, it being used to enable and to enhance this 'faculty'.<br />
<br />
Music inflames temperament<br />
JDM [69]<br />
<br />
Of Schiller, Nietzsche says that "before the act of creation he did not perhaps have before him or within him any series of images accompanied by an ordered thought-relationship; but his condition was rather that of a musical mood ... A certain musical mood of mind precedes, and only after this ensues the poetical idea." [70]<br />
<br />
Morrison would then be drawn to working with musicians hoping to unlock the free flow of his poetic dream worlds, saying that "poetry is very close to music", and that music's "hypnotic quality" puts the poet in the right "state of mind" leaving him "free" to allow his "subconscious" to "play itself out wherever it goes." [71] <br />
Not only that, but musical accompaniment gave Morrison the feeling of "a kind of security" [ib.] to recite his poetry.<br />
<br />
In other words, music re-creates that lost world of perception which is inhabited by the dream. However, a poem is not the dream itself. The poem is – in this case – an attempt to put the dream into words. A dream itself is never words but always images.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>7) Words & Music</b><br />
<br />
"Words can lie. The mode of expression never lies."<br />
Reich [72]<br />
<br />
"Lyric poetry is dependent on the spirit of music."<br />
FWN [73]<br />
<br />
"When one talks about music its power is lessened, it loses its effectiveness, the smallest loss due to verbalisation occurs in tragedy, says Nietzsche."<br />
Meltzer [74]<br />
<br />
<br />
Nietzsche claimed there to be a gulf and an antagonism between words and music. In a posthumously published fragment from the time of 'The Birth of Tragedy' he wrote that "there cannot ... be any question as to a necessary relation between poem and music; for the two worlds brought here into connection are too strange to one another to enter into more than a superficial alliance." [75]<br />
<br />
For Nietzsche, "the origin of music lies beyond all individuation," [ib.] i.e. it is primal, non-Apolline. <br />
"The Will is the object of music but not the origin of it." As Schopenhauer - Nietzsche's mentor during the period of 'The Birth of Tragedy' - says, music is a 'copy' of the will, [76] and it certainly shouldn't concern itself with the emotions - in the way that lyric poetry does: "The lyric poet interprets music to himself through the symbolic world of emotions." [75]<br />
<br />
Words then are parasitic and inferior to musical tones, while poetry itself is generated by "melody." [77]<br />
<br />
Once again, we see Morrison following Nietzsche; his song writing consists in his quickly putting words to an initial melody. [78]<br />
<br />
"A song comes with the music, a sound or rhythm first, then I make up words as fast as I can just to hold on to the feel." JDM [79]<br />
<br />
It is the music that comes first - and last.<br />
<br />
Nietzsche will say that "language can never adequately render the cosmic symbolism of music, because music stands in symbolic relation to the primordial contradiction - primordial pain in the heart of Primal Unity, and therefore symbolises a sphere which is beyond and before all phenomena." [80]<br />
<br />
Morrison accordingly would feel that "lyrics aren't that necessary in music." [81]<br />
<br />
However, Nietzsche's views on 'folk song' were no doubt interpreted by Morrison as a positive endorsement of the blues:<br />
<br />
"What is the folk-song ... but the perpetuum vestigium of a union of the Apollonian and the Dionysian? Its enormous diffusion among all peoples, further re-enforced by ever-new births, is testimony to the power of this artistic dual impulse of Nature: which leaves its vestiges in the folk-song just as the orgiastic movements of a people perpetuate themselves in its music. Indeed, it might also be historically demonstrable that every period rich in folk-songs has been most violently stirred by Dionysian currents, which we must always consider the substratum and prerequisite of the folk-song." [82]<br />
<br />
Nietzsche waxed poetic on the awesome transfiguring power of music: "we find our hope of a renovation and purification of the German spirit through the fire-magic of music." [83] <br />
<br />
<br />
Similarly, Morrison saw his musical performance as a striving "to break through to a cleaner, freer, realm." [84]<br />
<br />
Poetry then, as expression of the dream, can lead back into the wordless, irrational and antilogical realm of Dionysian music.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>8) Shamanism</b><br />
<br />
It might be well here to mention the oft discussed figure of the shaman, particularly as it is associated with Morrison's stage performances with the Doors. The 1980 biography says that as a student Morrison was "into the shaman: the poet inspired," [85] as if the shaman and the poet were synonymous.<br />
Eliade's influential book on shamanism was published in 1964, and Norman O. Brown's 'Life Against Death' - which, as we shall see, had an important influence on Morrison in the same period - also mentions shamanism. The "primitive shaman" is described by Brown as "the historical ancestor of philosopher and prophet and poet ... with his techniques for ecstatic departure from the body, soul-levitation, soul-transmigration, celestial navigation." [86]<br />
<br />
When around eighteen years old, Morrison wrote "a paper called 'The Sexual Neuroses of Crowds'. It is the germ of Jim's conception of the performer as healer, the shaman who can draw out evil spirits and banish them. Crowds, like people, have diseases that can be diagnosed and treated."<br />
[87]<br />
<br />
<br />
In his published poetry Morrison has a section in 'The Lords' describing; "A sensuous panic, deliberately evoked through drugs, chants, dancing" which 'hurls the shaman into a trance." [88]<br />
<br />
Music critics also talked of Morrison's shamanistic performances, [89] and he certainly played up to that during 1966-9. However, by 1970 he is playing it down, telling an interviewer that "the shaman is a healer - like a witch-doctor. I don't see people turning to me for that."<br />
[90]<br />
<br />
<br />
Note that Morrison is recoiling from the over-wide and loose use of the term 'shaman'.<br />
As the classical scholar Fritz Graf points out, "'shaman' is a term that originally belonged to a very small and clearly defined area among the Tungus in Northern Siberia : those societies believed that a specialist could communicate with the powers that govern the world and distribute or withhold health or a successful hunt. He did so in an ecstatic journey to these powers with the help of spirits that he had acquired during his initiation. Mainly through the work of the historian of religion Mircea Eliade, this narrow definition of a shaman has been broadened to encompass all religious specialists that combine ecstasy and healing; the underlying notion is that shamanism is a phenomenon that was shared at one time by most human societies. This assumption and its underlying evolutionary concept are highly problematic; it works only at the price of emptying the term of much of its specificity."<br />
[91] <br />
<br />
Naturally, Graf had little time for the notion that Dionysos was a 'shaman': "Early Greece had no shamans," [92] although Dionysos is undoubtedly connected with "the ecstasy of dance and drugs." [93]<br />
<br />
<br />
Morrison rejects the ‘healing’ aspect of shamanism in relation to his own work. It might be proper to say that Morrison wanted his work to wound, rather than heal.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
9) Drink & Drugs</b><br />
<br />
Zarathustra stood there like one drunken: his glance dulled, his tongue faltered and his feet staggered.<br />
FWN [94]<br />
<br />
"Drug addiction is the dead end where only youth exists, and from which you pass not to adulthood, but to death and transfiguration." [95]<br />
<br />
In 1970 Morrison would tell an interviewer, "Three years ago there was a wave of hallucinogenics. I don't think anyone really has the strength to sustain those kicks forever. Then you get into narcotics, of which alcohol is one. Instead of trying to think more, you try to kill thought." [96]<br />
<br />
No doubt reflecting his own transition from experimenting with lysergic acid - in order to open the 'doors of perception' - to an alcohol habit, a "pain killer." [ib.]<br />
<br />
He describes an attraction to alcohol due to its being "like gambling", because "it could work out good or it could be disastrous. It’s like the throw of the dice." [ib.]<br />
<br />
This is reminiscent of the passages about Dionysos in Hamilton 's 'Mythology' - a book he is said to have carried around with him : [97] "wine is bad as well as good ... The reason that Dionysus was so different at one time from another was because of this double nature of wine and so of the god of wine. He was man's benefactor and he was man's destroyer."<br />
[98]<br />
<br />
<br />
Nietzsche implies that drunkenness is the origin of music and song. [99] Those who might call this Dionysian 'rush' [100] a "folk disease" [101] are "bloodless weaklings", incapable of experiencing the "glowing life" of the Dionysian. [ib.]<br />
<br />
But at what cost is this drunkenness? Drinking for Morrison was 'like the difference between suicide and a slow capitulation." [102] He had read Reich's warnings but heeded them not, for had not the latter written that narcotics "ruin the organism", and that narcotic addition was caused by "the denial of sexual happiness" and the "lack of genital satisfaction."? [103] <br />
<br />
In his book 'Beyond The Outsider' (1965), Wilson discusses Huxley's 'The Doors of Perception' [104] and the use of hallucinogenics. After taking mescaline himself, Wilson thought that it "seems to inhibit evolutionary consciousness." [105] By 'evolutionary consciousness' he means; "all pleasures associated with the intellect and intellectual sensibility (which includes music, painting ...)" [ib.]<br />
Neither kykeon [106] nor "the wine, dying on the vine" [107] is the answer.<br />
<br />
Am I soothsayer? <br />
Or a dreamer? <br />
Or a drunkard? <br />
Or a dream-reader? <br />
Or a midnight-bell?<br />
FWN [108]<br />
<br />
Running, I saw a Satan<br />
or Satyr, moving beside<br />
me, a fleshly shadow<br />
of my secret mind ...<br />
A hairy Satyr running<br />
behind.<br />
JDM [109]<br />
<br />
<br />
"The Greek fearlessly embraced the figure of the satyr; the man of the primitive, the natural, the man of the woods." FWN [110]<br />
<br />
God, you are a satyr in disguise.<br />
JDM [111]<br />
<br />
"The Dionysian reveller sees himself as a satyr, and as satyr he in turn beholds the god."<br />
FWN [112]<br />
<br />
"... the essence of the Oedipal complex is the project of becoming God."<br />
[113]<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes to Chapter Two: The Poet Possessed</b><br />
58. Nietzsche 1995 pp. 1-2<br />
59. German born Christa Pfaffgen - "the world's first supermodel" (The Times, 26/9/2008, 'The Perfect Sturm', J. Cale, pp. 13-15) appeared in Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' before joining Andy Warhol's 'Factory' in 1967. She made solo recordings as well as recording with the avant-garde rock group 'The Velvet Underground'. Cale, of the Velvets and her producer remarked that Morrison "drew her into his poetic circle."(ib.)<br />
60. ed. Rocco 1997 ('Nico: The Life of an Icon', R. Witts) p. 137<br />
61. Nietzsche 1995 p. 2<br />
62. Morrison 1989 p. 136<br />
63. Brown p. 319. The 'law of contradiction', also called 'the law of non-contradiction': "In modern logic, the principle that no statement of the form (p and not-p) can be true. The classical defense of the law is in Aristotle's 'Metaphysics' Book IV, 4f." (Dictionary of Philosophy, ed. T. Mautner, Penguin 1997 p. 390)<br />
64. Morrison 1991 p. 131<br />
65. Fowlie p. 72<br />
66. Morrison 1989 (Prologue, 'self-interview', p. 1)<br />
67. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 12) p. 45<br />
68. ib. (BT 8) p. 26<br />
69. Morrison 1991 p. 5<br />
70. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 5) p. 14<br />
71. Hopkins 2006 p. 214<br />
72. Reich p. 176<br />
73. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 6) p. 19<br />
74. Meltzer p. 245<br />
75. <i>On Music and Words, F. Nietzsche, A Fragment from 1871</i>. Available at <div>https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51548/51548-h/51548-h.htm#ON_MUSIC_AND_WORDS</div><div>76. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 16) p. 56<div>
77. ib. (BT 6) p. 17<br />
78. ed. Sugarman, 1988 p. 95<br />
79. <i>Rolling Stone</i> p. 16<br />
80. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 6) p. 19<br />
81. <i>Circus Magazine</i> (1970) Interview by Stevenson available at: <a href="http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/circus.html">http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/circus.html</a> (accessed 25/07/2005) . Excerpts from the original tapes of this interview are also available in Henke on an enclosed CD called 'Jim Speaks'.<br />
82. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 6) p. 17<br />
83. ib. (BT 20) p. 75<br />
84. Doe & Tobler p. 48<br />
85. Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 p. 45<br />
86. Brown pp. 157-8<br />
87. Dalton p. 28<br />
88. Morrison 1971 p. 71 This was written before Morrison’s involvement in music.<br />
89. ed. Rocco p. 6<br />
90. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 123<br />
91. Graf 2009 pp. 48-9<br />
92. ib. p. 49<br />
93. ib. p. 170<br />
94. Nietzsche 1999B (TSZ IV 'The Drunken Song') p. 229<br />
95. Roger Scruton 1998 p. 99<br />
96, ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 189. Hallucinogenics did indeed wreak some havoc in the 1960s, early 1970s. There were many 'acid casualties', such as Peter Green, the talented guitarist, singer and composer who played with John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac. He left the latter band suddenly in 1970; "I had to go to hospital 'cos I took too many LSD trips. I wanted the wisdom of LSD but I couldn't quite get back again. I took one trip too many ..." (Interview with Peter Green by Cliff Jones, Mojo Magazine September 1996 #34, London, Emap p. 75). He goes on to say; "You come back from your first few trips and it’s OK, but when you do six or seven and you have a few under your belt it gets more intense. Something happens to you so you're not in control anymore. Some one else is."(ib. p. 76) This last quote reminds us of Morrison's 'Lords', as explored in this essay - see chapter four, 'The Artist Tyrant'.<br />
97. Davis p. 73. Hamilton 's book 'Mythology' had a deep effect on Morrison. For example, its account of the death of Hyacinth describes Apollo's discus unintentionally striking Hyacinth - "a beautiful youth" - in the head, killing him. He dies in Apollo's arms: "while he held him the boy's head fell back as a flower does when its stem is broken. He was dead. Apollo kneeling beside him wept for him, dying so young, so beautiful." (Hamilton pp. 115-6.) Compare this to Morrison's expression: "A child is like a flower, his head is just floating in the breeze." (quoted by Patti Smith in a review of the album 'An American Prayer', Creem Magazine (1979) available at <a href="http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/poetry/amprayer.htm">http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/poetry/amprayer.htm</a> (accessed 17/10/2003)<br />
98. Hamilton p. 72<br />
99. Nietzsche 1995 p. 4<br />
100. German 'Rausch - cf. Nietzsche 1999A p. 15<br />
101. Nietzsche 1995 p. 4<br />
102. Rolling Stone p. 21<br />
103. Reich p. 220<br />
104. Huxley, also available at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors_of_Perception">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors_of_Perception</a> (accessed 2/7/09)<br />
105. Wilson p. 221 1966. However, some argue the opposite and suggest that the ingestion of hallucinogenics brought about a 'leap' in human consciousness in pre-history (cf. McKenna's 'Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution' 1992, and Hancock's 'Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind' 2005.<br />
Hancock [<i>Kindred Spirit Magazine</i> #77 2005] contends also that the supernatural beings encountered in drug induced shamanic visions actually exist(ed) and were the teachers of early mankind, enabling the Nietzschean leap ‘from ape to man’. Such beings can relate to Morrison’s Lords and Connectors, of course.<br />
106. Hallucinogen used in the Eleusinian Mysteries in ancient Greece, "made from ergot, a toxic fungus that grows in grain containing substances related to LSD" (ed. Badiner & Grey p. 91) The Eleusinian Mysteries "became affiliated to the mysteries of Dionysos." [Harrison p. 150]<br />
107. Morrison 1991 p. 5<br />
108. Nietzsche 1999B (TSZ 'The Drunken Song') p. 233<br />
109. Morrison 1989 pp. 37-9<br />
110. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 8) p. 24<br />
111. Morrison 1991 p. 174<br />
112. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 8) p. 27<br />
113. Brown p. 118 <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Chapter Three: The Unrepressed Man</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>10) Freedom</b><br />
<br />
<br />
You call yourself free? I would hear of your master thought, not of your escape from the yoke.<br />
Are you a man that should escape from the yoke? Many have cast off all their values when they cast off their servitude.<br />
Free from what? How does that concern Zarathustra?<br />
Let your eye answer me frankly: Free for what?<br />
FWN [114]<br />
<br />
"People claim they want to be free ... (But) people are terrified to be set free - they hold onto their chains. They fight anyone who tries to break those chains."<br />
JDM [115]<br />
<br />
<br />
Norman O. Brown's 'Life Against Death' was published in 1959 when Morrison would have been about 16. He read it then alongside Wilson's 'The Outsider' and Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy' [116] when it became a "deep influence." [117] There are indications that he studied the book closely, using its extensive bibliography to make further inroads into Brown's meaning. [118]<br />
<br />
If Wilson gave Morrison the persona of Nietzsche, then Brown gave him a conceptual orientation for a Nietzschean philosophy. The main Brownite theme was 'freedom' (in Nietzsche, 'the will to power') [119] , personified as 'the unrepressed man' (or in Nietzsche the 'Uebermensch'). [120]<br />
<br />
For Brown, mankind as a species is sick, neurotic, diseased. He cites Nietzsche as his authority for this view. [121]<br />
<br />
To quote in full the passage in Nietzsche to which Brown alludes:<br />
<br />
"But thereby he [i.e. man] introduced that most grave and sinister illness, from which mankind has not yet recovered, the suffering of man from the disease called man, as the result of a violent breaking with his animal past." [122]<br />
<br />
‘The animal past’ – i.e., the Dionysian; man is a disease in as far as he has evolved away from his healthy animality. As he had to ‘narrow perception’ to become man, so too did he have to repress his instincts, and became sick thereby.<br />
The same idea also occurs in Nietzsche's 'Thus Spake Zarathustra’: " 'The earth', he [i.e., Zarathustra] said, 'has a skin, and this skin has diseases. One of these diseases, for example, is called "man'. " [123]<br />
For Brown, this disease is a "general" [124] neurosis [125] which afflicts all mankind. Following Nietzsche, this neurosis is caused when "instincts which do not find a vent without turn inwards." [126]<br />
<br />
Morrison would say that "if natural energy and impulses are too severely suppressed for too long, they become violent." [127]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>11) Eros & Thanatos</b><br />
<br />
The duality of life (Eros) and death (Thanatos) dominates Brown's thinking, as the book's title makes clear. They are "the energies which create human culture." [128]<br />
<br />
death & my cock<br />
are the world<br />
JDM [129]<br />
<br />
The repression of both life and death instincts has made man sick; he needs to return to a state of childlike innocence [130] to get healthy. Nietzsche advocated the same:<br />
<br />
Innocence is the child, a forgetfulness, a new beginning, a game, a self-rolling wheel, a first movement, a holy Yea.<br />
FWN [131]<br />
<br />
For Brown, the concept of play typifies this childlikeness. This was also central to Morrison's view. He differentiated between 'play' - which is 'open' and 'free' - and 'the game', which involves rules and so isn't free. [132]<br />
<br />
<br />
When play dies it becomes the Game.<br />
JDM [133]<br />
<br />
A real man wants two things: danger and play.<br />
FWN [134]<br />
<br />
Note that danger and death are always close to this affirmation of life in play. <br />
To Brown, "death is the reality with which human beings ... cannot come to terms." [135]<br />
<br />
In his quest to become Brown's 'the unrepressed man', Morrison will obsess over and court death [136] :<br />
"Jim Morrison's life and art entailed a continuous dialogue with death." [137]<br />
<br />
<br />
They are waiting to take us into<br />
the severed garden ...<br />
Death makes angels of us all<br />
gives us wings<br />
where we had shoulders<br />
smooth as raven's<br />
claws ...<br />
JDM [138]<br />
<br />
Gently they stir<br />
Gently rise<br />
The dead are new-born<br />
awakening<br />
with ravaged limbs<br />
& wet souls<br />
JDM [139]<br />
<br />
<br />
In an interview of 1969 he would say: <br />
<br />
"I want to feel what death's like. I want to taste it, hear it, smell it." [140]<br />
Indeed, he found it strange that death is feared more than pain, because "life hurts more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over."<br />
[141]<br />
<br />
And to the dead there is no time.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>12) Time</b><br />
<br />
Time does not exist ... JDM [142]<br />
<br />
"Unrepressed life has no sense of time." [143]<br />
<br />
Just as to Nietzsche the healthy man does not have an historical sense, [144] to Brown, "activity without any sense of time is play." [145]<br />
<br />
Art, philosophy and psychoanalysis, then, must work towards the unification of an acceptance of death with that of life; this can only happen when all repression is swept aside. [146]<br />
A major stumbling block to this project, according to Brown, is the "human family." [147] Morrison's cutting himself off from his own family and claiming that they were all dead, [148] no doubt demonstrated yet another attempt at lifting 'repression'.<br />
This leads us to the so-called oedipal complex - the desire to kill the father (death) and to copulate with the mother (life), which is actually unsatisfactory to Brown, as we shall see.<br />
<br />
Morrison would say: "I used to have this magic formula ... to break into the subconscious. I would lay there and say over and over, 'Fuck the mother, kill the father, fuck the mother, kill the father...' That mantra can never become meaningless. It's too basic." [149]<br />
<br />
To Brown the Oedipal desire to have a child with the mother is to become the father of oneself. [150]<br />
This is the continual re-invention of oneself, an 'eternal recurrence of the same,' [151] and so is a 'flight from death' - a "perverted world" to Nietzsche, "like that of a son wanting to create his father." [75]<br />
Incestuousness is the negative aspect of the eternal return – it is the inhuman repetition of a closed circuit [e.g. Oedipus, Myrrha – the latter tricked her father into having sex with her – see Ovid’s Met. X]. <br />
<br />
<br />
Morrison's Nietzschean Dionysianism, as refracted by Brown, is an attempt to remove repression by embracing death in the form of joy in destruction and the refusal to flee from death. <br />
<br />
Morrison's 'slow capitulation' is a form of suicide which incidentally projects art-forms as it spirals out of control. It kills the past as it goes forward to copulate with its future demise. <br />
<br />
<br />
I haven't fucked much with the past<br />
But I've fucked plenty with the future<br />
Over the skin of silk are scars<br />
From the splinters of stations and walls I've caressed<br />
[Patti Smith, Babelogue,<br />
http://pattismith.lyrics.info]<br />
<br />
<br />
Those who Race toward Death<br />
Those who wait<br />
Those who worry.<br />
JDM [152]<br />
<br />
<br />
It is "art" that "seduces into the struggle against repression," [153] says Brown. <br />
And if life is justified through art, "then man's sickness may be, again Nietzsche's phrase, a sickness in the sense that pregnancy is a sickness, and it may end in a birth and a rebirth." [154]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Notes to Chapter Three: The Unrepressed Man</b><br />
114. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (Tille’s translation) quoted in Wilson 1990 p. 142<br />
115. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 64<br />
116. Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 pp. 13-18<br />
117. ib. p. 45 - cf. Davis p. 36<br />
118. Clear evidence of Brown's influence on Morrison: "the incest taboo in effect says that you may enjoy your mother only by looking at her from a distance" (Brown. p. 173). In 'The Lords', Morrison has: "You may enjoy life from afar. You may look at things but not taste them. You may caress the mother only with the eyes. You cannot touch these phantoms." (Morrison 1971 p. 45) Brown's bibliography to his book is extensive, and one can imagine Morrison working through it; Blake, Coleridge, Eliade, Frazer, Freud, Hegel, Huxley, Kaufmann, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Otto, Reich, Rilke, Ruskin, Russell, Sartre, Schiller, Schopenhauer, Sombart, Sorel, Spengler, Tillich, Veblen, Weber, Whitehead, Wittgenstein; all have works listed, as well as many rather more obscure authorities.<br />
119. cf. Nietzsche 1999B (TSZ I:15 'The Thousand and One Goals') p. 36<br />
120. cf. ib. (TSZ Prologue: 3) p. 3<br />
121. Brown p. 6<br />
122. Nietzsche 2003A p. 57 (GM II 'Guilt Bad Conscience and the like') Brown used Samuel's translation. <br />
123. Nietzsche 1976 p. 242 (TSZ II On Great Events) <br />
124. Brown p. xi<br />
125. 'Neurosis: Mental disturbance characterised by a state of unconscious conflict, usually accompanied by anxiety, obsessional fear' (Chambers Dictionary)<br />
126. Nietzsche 2003A ib. p.56<br />
127. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 123 But Morrison's use of 'suppressed', rather than Brown's 'repressed', suggests an influence from Wilhelm Reich. However, one assumes that he was introduced to Reich via Brown's book which comments on him.<br />
128. Brown p. 21<br />
129. Morrison 1991 p. 60 ('Lament for the Death of my Cock')<br />
130. Brown p. 32<br />
131. Nietzsche 1999B p. 14 (TSZ I 'The Three Metamorphoses')<br />
132. ed. Rocco p. 9<br />
133 Morrison 1971 p. 13<br />
134. Nietzsche 1976 p. 178 (TSZ I)<br />
135. Brown p. 38<br />
136. ed. Rocco p. 82<br />
137. ib. p. 146<br />
138. Morrison 1991 p. 10<br />
139. ib. p. 57<br />
140. ed. Doe & Tobler p. 92<br />
141. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 124<br />
142. Morrison 1989 p. 120<br />
143. Brown p. 93<br />
144. Nietzsche 1980 pp. 8-9 (section 1) "He cannot learn to forget but always remains attached to the past ..."<br />
145. Brown p. 96<br />
146. ib. p. 109<br />
147. ib. p. 113<br />
148. Press release of 1967: under 'Family Info.', Morrison put one word - "dead." (ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 9)<br />
149. Davis p. 131<br />
150. Brown p. 118<br />
151. cf. Nietzsche 1999B p. 108 (TSZ III: 46, 2, 'The Vision and the Enigma')<br />
152. Morrison 1989 p. 194<br />
153. Brown p. 64<br />
154. ib. p. 84 <br />
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Heroic depiction of Nietzsche</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Chapter Four: Artist Tyrants</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>13) Tour of the Labyrinth</b><br />
<br />
" ... art is the highest task and the proper metaphysical activity of this life."<br />
FWN [155]<br />
<br />
"It is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified."<br />
FWN [156]<br />
<br />
"In the vision, this chorus beholds its lord and master Dionysus, and so it is forever a chorus that serves."<br />
FWN [157]<br />
<br />
"The eye symbolises Apollo as 'viewer of the heavens', the sun, which is also the eye of Zeus."<br />
[158]<br />
<br />
<br />
It was the Beat poet Michael McClure who encouraged Morrison to publish his poetry. Two volumes, 'The Lords' and 'The New Creatures' respectively, being eventually published together in one book . [159]<br />
<br />
'The Lords', subtitled 'Notes on Vision', can be seen as an Apollonian work due to its content and its oracular form. While 'The New Creatures' - in its evocation of a primal world - can be called Dionysian. [160]<br />
<br />
Philosophically, the concept of 'the Lords' - which actually appears in both volumes - is worthy of discussion. In his online study of Morrison's poetry, Grant Cook relates 'the Lords' to Nietzsche's 'The Lords of the Earth' [161] named in his posthumous collection 'The Will to Power'. [162]<br />
True, they certainly bear some relation to Nietzsche's "ruling race," [163] but they have a more ambiguous character all their own.<br />
<br />
Given Morrison's deep interest in Greek mythology, we might bring in the fact that the term 'Titans' means 'Lords' in Greek. [164] The successors to the Titans - the Olympians - were also known, in relation to the Titans who they had conquered, as 'the New Gods'. [165] So we can draw a parallel here with 'the New Creatures': 'the Lords and the New Creatures' reflect the Titans and the Olympians. Furthermore, Dionysos inaugurated a "new worship." [166] The name of Dionysos most probably derives from the Phrygian dio- (god), and -neos (new); - so 'new god' [167] - i.e., Dionysos, was not at first accepted as one of the twelve Olympians. [168]<br />
<br />
All in all, we have a Nietzschean process of upward evolution, a process of continual self-overcoming. As Cook acknowledges, this is a hierarchical philosophy. [162] <br />
In Morrison's world - as in the world of Nietzsche and the ancient Greeks - there are Lords or Masters, and there are Slaves.<br />
<br />
<br />
"You are all a bunch of slaves!" JDM [169]<br />
<br />
<br />
"Rimbaud resembles Nietzsche in denouncing what both interpreted in Christianity as the morality of enslavement." [170]<br />
<br />
"There is nothing more terrible than a barbaric slave class, who have learned to regard their existence as an injustice, and now prepare to avenge, not only themselves, but all future generations." FWN [171]<br />
<br />
There is one consolation for the aristocrat faced with the terrifying "revolt of the slaves," [172] and that is the fact that "the slave is somehow in love with his own chains." [173]<br />
<br />
It is this psychological insight that induces the idea of 'the Lords' to Morrison. Whereas force, or 'the will to power,' suggests the Nietzschean 'Lords of the Earth', it is Brown's question - "How can there be an animal which represses itself?" [174] that evinces Morrison's own 'Lords'. Due to the very slavish nature of the average man, 'the Lords' are able to insinuate themselves covertly and control by acquiescence.<br />
<br />
They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lords,<br />
Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords.<br />
['The Secret People', G.K. Chesterton] [175]<br />
<br />
Fear the Lords who are secret among us<br />
The Lords are within us<br />
Born of sloth and cowardice.<br />
JDM [176]<br />
<br />
<br />
It was while he was at UCLA (1965) that Morrison "wrote concentrated poems that described a superhuman elite of elevated beings - 'the Lords' - who operated on a higher psychic plane than the rest of humanity, who 'saw things as they were' ..." [177] " ... the hyperreal controllers of human culture and behaviour, the invisible high lamas who intercede on humanity's behalf with destiny and the gods." [178]<br />
<br />
<br />
"The Lords. Events take place beyond our knowledge or control.<br />
Our lives are lived for us." JDM [179]<br />
<br />
This describes an inauthentic existence: it is "the feeling of powerlessness and helplessness that people have in the face of reality. They have no real control over events or their own lives. Something is controlling them." JDM [180]<br />
<br />
And this is the antithesis not only of the unrepressed existence, but of authenticity too. As Colin Wilson says; "Inauthenticity is to feel futile, contingent, without purpose. Authenticity is to be driven by a deep sense of purpose." [181]<br />
<br />
"How can man escape inauthenticity? There are two ways [according to Heidegger]. First of all, one must live constantly in the face of death, recognising it as the ultimate necessity ... There is another way ... Poetry and myth can bring man closer to the realm of pure Being." Wilson [182]<br />
<br />
To Morrison, as well as the above two ways there is a third - to assert ones will and to master and control others.<br />
<br />
"We can only try to enslave others."<br />
JDM [179]<br />
<br />
"Freedom only exists in a world where what is possible is defined at the same time as what is not possible. Without law there is no freedom ... At the conclusion of the most complete liberation, Nietzsche therefore chooses the most complete subordination." [183]<br />
<br />
He who controls others is free in himself; intentional – not passive - perception is the means to control:<br />
<br />
"But gradually, special perceptions are being developed."<br />
JDM [179]<br />
<br />
Where Blake wanted to widen perceptions [Blake p. xxii] and where Rimbaud wanted to derange them, Morrison advocates the evolution of unique perceptual powers which will allow the new masters to enslave others.<br />
<br />
"It became clear to me that what we are dealing with here is a problem of evolution." [184]<br />
<br />
"The idea of the 'Lords' is beginning to form in some minds."<br />
JDM [179]<br />
<br />
These new masters - the Lords - are the product of the 'mind', i.e. the higher minds of a few. They are more evolved beings by token of their heightened perceptual powers. Seeming to inhabit other planes of existence, like the gods, they are able to intersect with our own.<br />
<br />
"we should enlist them into bands of perceivers to tour the labyrinth during their mysterious nocturnal appearances."<br />
JDM [179]<br />
<br />
I am thy labyrinth.<br />
FWN [185]<br />
"We must now avail ourselves of all the principles of art hitherto considered in order to find our way through the labyrinth, as we must call it, of the origin of Greek tragedy." FWN [186]<br />
<br />
I am a guide to the labyrinth.<br />
JDM [187]<br />
<br />
With the emphasis on perception, and the mention of nocturnal mystery, 'the Lords' have a decidedly Apollonian cast.<br />
<br />
<br />
The night like a vast<br />
conspiracy to dream.<br />
JDM [188]<br />
<br />
"This deep consciousness of nature, healing and helping in sleep and dreams, is at the same time the symbolical analogue of the soothsaying faculty and the arts generally which make life possible and worth living."<br />
FWN [189]<br />
<br />
"The Lords have secret entrances, and they know disguises. But they give themselves away in minor ways. Too much glint of light in the eye. A wrong gesture. Too long and curious a glance."<br />
JDM [179]<br />
<br />
Just as the ancient Norse believed that their god Odin went among them in a broad brimmed hat, so too the Lords are amongst us. To Morrison "the Lords are a romantic race of people who have found a way to control their environment and their own lives. They're somehow different from other people." [190] <br />
<br />
What else is this but resurgence in the belief in an Aryan race? [191] Driven underground by the Judeo/Christian 'repression,' [192] Morrison's "hidden gods of the blood" [288], linger on, ready to reappear, recognised by those who know the sight - blood calls to blood.<br />
<br />
"He simply disappeared when the times turned against him, and remained invisible for more than a thousand years, working anonymously and indirectly. Archetypes are like riverbeds which dry up when the water deserts them, but which it can find again at any time."<br />
[193]<br />
<br />
The Lords have been busy these past two millennia developing 'special perceptions'. They are a master-race - and who are their slaves today? It seems the slaves are those consumers of modern culture which the Lords have manipulated in preparation for their return one day in the future.<br />
<br />
As befits the hierarchical concept, there are another layer of people in between the Lords and the slave masses [thereby adhering to the basic Indo-European tripartite division of functions]. These are 'the connectors', who serve to facilitate the Lords in their enslavement of the masses.<br />
<br />
<br />
People need<br />
connectors<br />
Writers, heroes, stars<br />
leaders<br />
To give life form ...<br />
Ceremonies, theatre, dances<br />
To reassert Tribal needs & memories<br />
a call to worship, uniting.<br />
JDM [194]<br />
<br />
The connectors "are able to assemble masses," [22] and no doubt prepare the ground for the Lords, who concentrate on higher culture.<br />
<br />
"The Lords give us books, concerts, galleries, shows, cinemas. Especially the cinemas. Through art they confuse us and blind us to our enslavement. Art adorns our prison walls, keeps us silent and diverted and indifferent." JDM [195]<br />
<br />
The emphasis on cinema once again announces the Apolline nature of 'The Lords: Notes on Vision', with its dreamlike image-making. It points too to Morrison's counterpointed longing for the Dionysian:<br />
<br />
"There are no longer 'dancers', the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time ... we are content with the 'given' in sensation's quest. We have been metamorphosised from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark."<br />
JDM [196]<br />
<br />
And yet there is a recognition - as in Nietzsche - that the Apolline is necessary to temper the Dionysian. What Nietzsche called "gradations of rank." [197]<br />
<br />
"Cinema is the most totalitarian of the arts."<br />
JDM [198]<br />
<br />
"Vision is a form of prophecy. When Rimbaud says in 'Parade', 'I alone have the key to the barbarous procession ... He sees the invisible spectacle (parade) going on behind the real one."<br />
[199]<br />
<br />
<br />
The soft parade has now begun.<br />
JDM [200]<br />
<br />
<br />
Morrison sees not a 'barbarous parade', but a decadent one - a 'soft parade'.<br />
<br />
The Apollonian eye is itself erotic perception:<br />
<br />
"exhibition was thought to be due to an especially strong erogenicity of the eye."<br />
Reich [201]<br />
<br />
"Too much glint of light in the eye."<br />
JDM [179]<br />
<br />
<br />
There is a pronounced obsession with the eye, with vision, in all of Morrison's writing. Rocco says that Nietzsche's "Dionysian force" challenged Apollonian ocularcentrism. And yet it seems that Morrison, that supposed disciple of Dionysos, is rather praying at the temple of Apollo - in his writings at least. But this can be deceptive. Even here, Morrison is not an adherent of the single-point vision, but rather of the multiple-vision - those 'special perceptions'. Just as Brown extols the polysexuality of the 'polymorphously perverse,' [202] so Morrison extols a polymorphous perception.<br />
<br />
"Seeing all perspectives at once."<br />
JDM [203]<br />
<br />
More than that, Morrison exhibits a veritable aversion to the 'evil eye' in his longing for touch in a remarkable piece he wrote for 'Eye' magazine in 1968. Here he complains: "Ask anyone what sense he would preserve above all others. Most would say sight, forfeiting a million eyes in a body for two in the skull." <br />
The piece begins with a prophetically autobiographical vignette:<br />
"He sought exposure, and lived the horror of trying to assemble a myth before a billion dull, dry eyes. Leaving his plane, he strode to the wire fence, against the advice of his agents, to touch hands."<br />
He says further that "Blind, we could live and possibly discover wisdom", and that the "blind copulate, eyes in their skin."<br />
The eye is like a parasite:<br />
"The eye is a hungry mouth<br />
"That feeds on the world."<br />
<br />
There is a sense that 'the world' seen by the eye is not real, as well as being dangerous and damaging;<br />
"'Seeing' always implies the possibility of damaged privacy, for as eyes reveal the huge external world, our own infinite internal spaces are opened for others."<br />
<br />
He laments that a desired woman is "chosen first by visual appeal", but her "image is never real in the eye, it is engraved on the ends of the fingers."<br />
But the eyes have established a tyranny. They have usurped the authority of the other senses."<br />
<br />
Morrison's fear of the eye also contains a sense of awe, because the eye is godly:<br />
"Ptah gave birth to man from his mouth, the gods from his eyes."<br />
After referring to Oedipus, Tiresias, St. Paul and others, he asks with some anguish:<br />
"Why is blindness holy?"<br />
The answer emerges that 'Light' is Promethean and salvific;<br />
"The eye is a creature of fire."<br />
[204]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The idea of vision escapes<br />
the animal worm whose earth<br />
is an ocean, whose eye is its body.<br />
JDM [205]<br />
<br />
Herein lays Morrison's fascination with the Apollonian art-form of the cinema.<br />
<br />
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Jim Morrison</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>14) Cinema</b><br />
<br />
"Camera, as all-seeing god." JDM [206]<br />
<br />
"True art is the ability to create images." FWN [207]<br />
<br />
"I offer images." JDM [208]<br />
<br />
"The eye symbolises the solar door giving access to celestial regions."<br />
[209]<br />
<br />
"The Apollonian frenzy excites the eye above all, so that it gains the power of vision."<br />
FWN [210]<br />
<br />
"That sunlike eye [of Apollo] which perceives but does not taste, which always keeps a distance." [211]<br />
<br />
Morrison saw cinema as having its roots in magic and sorcery, "a summoning of phantoms," [212] and in alchemy too, "an erotic science, involved in buried aspects of reality, aimed at purifying and transforming all being and matter." [213]<br />
He echoes Brown here, who described alchemy as "the last effort of Western man to produce a science based on an erotic sense of reality." [214]<br />
Morrison thought that film was "the closest approximation in art that we have to the actual flow of consciousness, in both dreamlife and in everyday perception of the world." [215]<br />
<br />
He noted though that "film compresses everything", because when "you put a form on reality, it's going to look more intense." [216]<br />
<br />
And as befits an Apollonian art-form, film is also ephemeral because it is "perishable" in contrast to poetry which is "eternal." [217]<br />
<br />
And yet cinema touches on something most profound;<br />
<br />
"Cinema returns us to anima, religion of matter, which gives each thing its special divinity and sees gods in all things and beings." JDM [218]<br />
<br />
Morrison hoped that film would be able to create "an intermittent other-world, a powerful, infinite mythology." [219]<br />
<br />
"The Apollinian power to give form is further associated with the creation of illusions, while the Dionysian frenzy carries with it a suggestion of blind will."<br />
[220]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
15) Apollo & Dionysos</b><br />
<br />
"The continual development of art is bound up with the Apollonian and Dionysian duality."<br />
FWN [221]<br />
<br />
"Though I love the bull's neck on him; I also want to see the eyes of the angel."<br />
FWN [222]<br />
<br />
From his throat, dreams<br />
sing to ships and sailors<br />
nightmares of our time:<br />
island universe<br />
dark with narcotic<br />
blooms<br />
vanishing<br />
over quicksilver<br />
waters ...<br />
[from 'Some Deaths', W. Lowenfels (1964)]<br />
<br />
How do the antinomies of life/death instincts play against Nietzsche's Apollonian/Dionysian antinomy in 'The Birth of Tragedy'?<br />
Brown devotes a whole chapter to the latter in 'Life Against death.' [223] Brown understands Apollo and Dionysus as a process of sublimation. [224] The 'Greek Dionysian' [225] of Nietzsche is an example of the Apollonian sublimation of the primitive Dionysian. The latter, unsublimated, is the Dionysian "witch's brew" Nietzsche talks of, [ib.] which can be found, according to Brown, in de Sade and Hitler, for example.<br />
<br />
"The mass death in the war for the glory of the German race is the apotheosis of this witches' dance." Reich [226]<br />
<br />
The sublimated Greek Dionysian consciousness, on the other hand, can be discerned in the Romantics, like Blake, and in their 'heirs', Nietzsche and Freud. [227] These have taken the first steps towards the immense task of "constructing a Dionysian ego" [ib.] according to Brown - but is this not a willful paradox?<br />
The ego, after all, is a construction of the Apollonian and its principle of individuation, [228] and is therefore alien to the Dionysian which eschews all individualism. [229] Camille Paglia, looking back at the "sixties vision" of Morrison, calling him "brilliant and learned", says that "no one can control Dionysus", and that "we can never totally harmonise Apollo and Dionysus, but we have to try." [230]<br />
<br />
Why do we have to try? In order to survive? Is the Dionysian in its raw unformed aspect literally too destructive to behold?<br />
<br />
And here we must look towards Reich who's influence has been bubbling under. He advocates a complete Dionysianism which some might fear as being too unrestrained, too 'unsublimated'. It is said that Morrison read Reich's book 'On the Function of the Orgasm' carefully, making his own marginalia. [231]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes to Chapter Four: The Artist-Tyrant</b><br />
155. Nietzsche 1995 (Foreword) p. iv<br />
156. ib. 1995 (BT 5) p. 17<br />
157. ib. 1995 (BT 8) p. 27<br />
158. Cooper 1978 p. 62<br />
159. Both volumes were completed in manuscript form in 1968. At McClure's urging they were published privately and separately in 1969 (Davis p. 268, p. 331). They were subsequently published together by Simon and Schuster ( New York ) in 1970 ( Davis p. 331)<br />
160. Fowlie says Rimbaud's Une Saison is "largely Dionysian and Les Illuminations largely Apolloninan." (Fowlie p. 74)<br />
161. Nietzsche 1924 p. 365 (WP 958) Kaufmann's later translation of 'The Will to Power' [1967] has "masters of the earth", rather than "lords of the earth".<br />
162. Jim Morrison's Poetry: A Critical Analysis, G. Cook 2001 (available at) <a href="http://jimmorrisonspoetry.blogspot.com/">http://jimmorrisonspoetry.blogspot.com/</a> (accessed 1/7/2009)<br />
163. Nietzsche 1924 (WP 960) p. 365<br />
164. McLeish 1996 p. 612<br />
165. Evans & Millard s.l. p. 59<br />
166. Hamilton p. 66<br />
167. Room 1983 p. 116<br />
168. Hamilton p. 64; "Homer did not admit him." Harrison agrees: "In Homer, Dionysos is not yet an Olympian" calling him an "immigrant Thracian." (Harrison pp. 364-5) Otto was a lone voice insisting rather that Dionysos was "indigenous to Greek civilisation." (Otto p. 58) It seems that subsequent discoveries have now shifted towards Otto's view (Otto p xx translator's introduction 1965)<br />
169. Fong-Torres 2002 p. 165 ( Miami 1969)<br />
170. Fowlie p. 70<br />
171. Nietzsche 1995 (BT18) p. 65<br />
172. Nietzsche 2003A p. 17 (GM I:7)<br />
173. Brown p. 242<br />
174. ib. p. 242<br />
175. Quoted in Chesterton 1975 p. 5 This conspiracy classic by A.K. Chesterton and the lines quoted from G.K. Chesterton - they were cousins - certainly reflects the sinister aspect of Morrison's secret Lords. Nietzsche himself construed Christianity itself as a conspiracy engendered by the priests so that the slaves could overthrow the masters. (cf. Nietzsche 2003 pp. 31-2 - GMI:16). Morrison sees 'the Lords' both negatively and positively. In the former perspective we might compare them with Colin Wilson's 'mind vampires' in his book 'The Mind Parasites' (1967). Wilson too sees that the 'mind vampires' might also have a positive function: "The vampires might serve, therefore, to inoculate man against his own indifference and laziness." (Wilson 1985 p. 207)<br />
176. Morrison 1971 p. 112<br />
177. Davis p. 64<br />
178. ib. p. 269<br />
179. Morrison 1971 p. 89<br />
180. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 188<br />
181. Wilson 1980 p. 153<br />
182. Wilson 1966 p. 108<br />
183. Camus 1971 p. 62<br />
184. Wilson 1990 pp. 293-6 (Postscript 1967)<br />
185. Nietzsche 2001 p. 65 (last words of 'Ariadne's Complaint' - said by Dionysos to Ariadne)<br />
186. Nietzsche 1995 p. 70 (BT 7) Nietzsche wants to get back to the point before the worship of Dionysos becomes theatre, before Dionysos transforms from being god to a mere actor. cf. Bertram, Chapter 8, ‘Masks’.<br />
187. Morrison 1989 p. 12 (also p. 84)<br />
188. Morrison 1991 p. 139<br />
189. Nietzsche 1989 p. 3<br />
190. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 188<br />
191. cf. Nietzsche 2003A p. 14 (GMI:5) Densmore says that Jim and Ray Manzarek [Doors keyboard player] had "constant arguments ... about man's evolution. Ray wanted the golden race to come out of blending" and Jim "argued against the loss of individual characteristics." (Densmore p. 28) Ray married a Chinese girl, while Jim always sought out red-haired girls, so much so that the very Aryan Nico dyed her hair red to please him (Davis p. 191). The following could even sum up Morrison's Lizard King persona: "Classicism, Californianism, barbarism and crucifixionism are specific and strongly White representational traditions." (Dyer p. 150)<br />
192. cf. Brown p. 15, Nietzsche 2003 (GMI:7 pp. 16-17)<br />
193. Jung 1988 p. 20, chapter 2, 'Wotan' [1936]; here Jung refers to the Germanic god Wotan, but says, "No doubt it sounds better to academic ears to interpret these things as Dionysus, but Wotan might be a more correct interpretation." (ib. p. 12)<br />
194. Morrison 1989 p. 14<br />
195. Morrison 1971 p.89<br />
196. ib. p. 29 <br />
197. Nietzsche 1997 p. 89 (BGE 219)<br />
198. Morrison 1971 p. 52<br />
199. Fowlie p. 71<br />
200. Morrison 1991 p. 50<br />
201. Reich p. 95<br />
202. Brown p. 30<br />
203. Morrison 1999 p. 168<br />
204. All quotes here from Morrison 1978 pp. 218-226. Herve Muller, the editor and translator of this bilingual edition, says of the piece 'Eye': "Enfin, le texte qui termine ce recueil fut publie en 1968 dans le revue americaine Eye, pour qui Jim offrit de l'ecrire plutot que de se preter a une traditionnelle interview. Il est particulierement interessant dans la mesure ou il se situe dans le prolongement direct de Seigneurs ('The Lords'), sous-titre, rappelons-le, Notes sur le vision ('Notes on Vision')." [ib. p. 6]<br />
205. Morrison 1971 p. 105<br />
206. ib. p. 17<br />
207. Nietzsche 1999A ('The Dionysiac World View' 1870) p. 128<br />
208. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 67<br />
209. Cooper p. 62<br />
210. Nietzsche 1976 (TI Skirmishes 10) p. 519<br />
211. Brown p. 174 cf. Morrison, "You may look at things but not taste them." (Morrison 1971 p. 45)<br />
212. Morrison 1971 p. 67. Compare: "Western society is characterised by the albeit troubled centrality of vision to knowledge and power." (Dyer p. 106) Dyer sees a link between photography/light and the privileging of racial 'Whiteness'. (ib. p. 122) Compare to the iconic 'Young Lion' picture of Morrison: "photographer Joel Brodsky took the famous black and white pictures that presented Jim Morrison as the bare-chested incarnation of classical Aryan manhood: a hypnotically gazing Adonis." (Davis p. 153)<br />
213. ib. p. 84<br />
214. Brown p. 316<br />
215. Rolling Stone p. 16<br />
216. ib. p. 18<br />
217. ib. p. 15<br />
218. Morrison 1971 p. 87<br />
219. ib. p. 54<br />
220. Kaufmann 1956 p. 108<br />
221. Nietzsche 1995 p. 1<br />
222. Nietzsche 1976 (TSZ II 'On Those Whose Are Sublime') p. 230<br />
223. Chapter XII 'Apollo & Dionysus'<br />
224. Brown p. 174<br />
225. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 2) p. 6<br />
226. Reich p. 241<br />
227. Brown p. 176<br />
228. cf. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 1)<br />
229. Kaufmann 1956 p. 108<br />
230. Camille Paglia available at <a href="http://allinonefilms.com/html_pages/paglia.htm">http://allinonefilms.com/html_pages/paglia.htm</a> (accessed 9/1/11)<br />
231. Davis p. 39 <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Chapter Five: Erotic Politician</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>16) Wilhelm Reich</b><br />
<br />
"There is but one road leading from orgasm."<br />
FWN [232]<br />
<br />
The influence of Reich on Morrison is obvious. For example, in an interview Morrison says - playfully - that he once conceived of "the universe as a mammoth peristaltic snake." [233]<br />
We find Reich describing his 'Orgasm Formula', which has cosmic significance for him, [234] as having the "serpentine motion" of "peristalsis." [235]<br />
Frequently, Reich speaks of natural sexuality "breaking through," [236] a favourite phrase of Morrison's too, with his song 'Break on Through'. [237] Reich also adumbrates Wilson , declaring himself to be an "outsider". [238]<br />
Reich's notion of a "sex-economy" - i.e., a society governed by "orgastic potency" rather than by "compulsive morality" [239] suggests Morrison's "erotic politicians". [240] Reich saw the repressive nature of "patriarchal society" [241] as all-pervasive, covering at least six-thousand years of history [ib.]. Its root lay in the family itself which seeks to "suppress" the "sexuality" of children. [242] Here again we are reminded of Morrison's rejection of his own family. [243] To Reich, "sexual repression, biological rigidity, moralism and puritanism are not confined to certain classes or groups of the population; they are ubiquitous." [244] Obviously, this is a far more radical message than Brown's, and chimes with the Beat Movement and the subsequent 1960s 'counter-culture', which it pre-figured by some 25 years.<br />
<br />
"The development into the future is consistent and uninterrupted only if that which is old and senescent, after having fulfilled its function in an earlier phase of the democratic development, is now wise enough to make room for what is young and new, wise enough not to stifle it by reason of its dignity and formal authority." Reich [245]<br />
<br />
<br />
The old get older and the young get stronger<br />
JDM [246]<br />
<br />
Because, to Reich, "the sexual orgasm" is "the supreme experience of happiness", [247] then "every release of sexual tension through genital satisfaction immediately reduced the breaking through of pathological drives." [248]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>17) Theatre</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Then I grew wings to soar off into distant futures. Into more distant futures, into more southern souths than any artist ever dreamed of - where gods are ashamed of all clothes. FWN [249]<br />
<br />
I am not allowed to take my clothes off.<br />
I am outside the gates of paradise.<br />
The Living Theatre [250]<br />
<br />
It was ‘The Living Theatre’ who exemplified the Reichian message in the 1960s. Formed in 1947, this radical New York based theatre troupe was "dedicated to transforming the organisation of power within society from a competitive hierarchical structure to cooperative and communal expression." [251]<br />
In the 1950s the troupe "shared aspects of style and content with 'Beat generation' writers", [ib.] their play about drug addiction, 'The Connection', (1959) being noted for its "harsh language." The troupe's leaders were "briefly imprisoned" in the early 1960s in the USA, leading the Living to spend the most of that decade touring Europe producing work that was "even more politically and formally radical, carrying an anarchist and pacifist message." [ib.]<br />
Their most famous piece of this period, 'Paradise Now!', "challenged every given in Western civilisation - borders, morals, laws, behaviour, received wisdom - in a loud argumentative presentation that deployed semi-naked actors moving among the audience." [252]<br />
The work "led to multiple arrests for indecent exposure." [251] The Living toured 'Paradise Now!' in the USA from 1968 to 1969, before breaking up in the latter year. They performed four nights in early 1969 in Los Angeles - Jim Morrison, accompanied by his friend the Beat poet Michael McClure attended each performance.<br />
<br />
"McClure called the troupe 'eagle angels of the anarchist spirit'," [253] and had known the founders of the troupe for some years hoping that they would perform his own play 'The Beard'. (1965) He said that "we were involved in activity against the war, in protesting censorship ... We were deliberately living a gypsy revolutionary lifestyle. Drugs were a part of it ... taking them to deepen our consciousness, which we felt was a liberational act." [254]<br />
<br />
This is very much what Morrison wanted to be doing. McClure recounts attending those Living shows with Morrison, with the latter outrageously drunk, joining in the production by among other things, screaming "Nigger!" [255]<br />
<br />
After attending the Living's show on Friday 28th February 1969, when Morrison had "a madder look than usual" according to a friend, [256] he went on to perform a concert with his band the Doors in Miami (March 1st 1969). Determined to break every taboo in language and nudity, he made it clear that it was the Living Theatre who had inspired him. Saying from the stage that he used to think that stage performing was "a joke", he had "met some people" - i.e. the Living Theatre - who were doing something of real importance; he wanted to "get on that trip too." The message at Miami was simple: "there are 'No limits! No laws!'" [257]<br />
Taunting his audience, he jeered at them: "'You want to see my cock don't you? That's what you came here for isn't it?'" [258] Of course, Morrison would be arrested for that performance, charged, tried and found guilty. [259]<br />
<br />
He was still appealing the verdict when he died in Paris in 1971.<br />
<br />
He later rationalised his performance at Miami , saying that he had "tried to reduce the myth to absurdity, thereby wiping it out. It just got too much for me to stomach, so I put an end to in one glorious evening." [260] <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes to Chapter Five: The Erotic Politician</b><br />
232. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 21) p. 76<br />
233. Stevenson (interview with Jim Morrison Circus Magazine 1970) <a href="http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/circus.html">http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Interviews/JimInterviews/circus.html</a><br />
234. Reich p. 360-1 "Orgone Energy; Cosmic Energy; universally present and demonstrable visually. Hermetically and electroscopically and by means of Geiger-Mueller counters. In the living organism: Bio-energy, Life Energy." (ib., Glossary p. 370) - And in Nietzscheanism, the 'Dionysian'?<br />
235. Ib. pp. 270-1<br />
236. Reich passim. see e.g., p. 60, p, 68 etc., and Chapter VII heading. It seems to be a 'Beat' cliché too: "For the man who is hip, there is nothing more cool than breaking through and swinging." (ed. Feldman & Gartenberg 1960 p. 16)<br />
237. Track #1 'The Doors', Elektra Records EKS-74007, January 1967<br />
238. Reich ib. p. 59 <br />
239. Reich ib. pp. 28-9<br />
240. Doe & Tobler p. 75<br />
241. Reich. p. 29<br />
242. Ib. p. 30<br />
243. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 9<br />
244. Reich p. 33<br />
245. ib. p. 36<br />
246. Morrison 'Five to One' lyric, track #11 <i>Waiting for the Sun</i>, the Doors, Elektra EKS-74024 1968<br />
247. Reich p. 214<br />
248. Ib. p. 94<br />
249. Nietzsche 1976 (TSZII,'On Human Prudence') p. 256<br />
250. From Paradise Now!, The Living Theatre, available at <a href="http://www.sterneck.net/utopia/living-theatre/index.php">http://www.sterneck.net/utopia/living-theatre/index.php</a> (accessed 13/6/09)<br />
251. The Living Theatre (available at) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Living_Theatre & <a href="http://www.livingtheatre.org/">http://www.livingtheatre.org/</a> (accessed 14/6/09)<br />
252. Davis pp. 313-4<br />
253. ib. p. 314<br />
254. <i>Beat Scene</i> #40 March/April 2002 ed. K. Ring , England s.l. (interview with Michael McClure) pp. 17-18. "Dionysus is, after all, given the highly significant name of the 'liberator'." (Otto p. 97)<br />
255. "Big Rufus, the Living's only black actor, was standing by the door. Jim looked at him and immediately started yelling 'NIGGER' as loud as he could. McClure was shocked that Jim's racism was so open and violent sounding." Davis p. 315<br />
256. Clarke 1993 pp. 134-8<br />
257. Davis pp. 319-320. To the ancient Dionysian, "all tradition, all order, must be shattered." (Otto p. 78)<br />
258. Clarke p. 143 Actually, Morrison denied saying this; “Prosecutor: ‘Do you deny saying “do want to see my cock”? Morrison: ‘Yes’.”<br />
<a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/jim-morrisons-trouser-transcript-0?page=5">http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/jim-morrisons-trouser-transcript-0?page=5</a> [Accessed 5/1/11]<br />
259. On September 20th 1970, a jury found Morrison guilty of 'indecent exposure' and 'open profanity' (Davis p. 387). The sentence was handed down on October 30th 1970: eight month’s hard labour in the tough Dade County jail, a $500 fine, plus an additional two years and four months of probation (Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 p. 317). "Within a fortnight of the sentencing" Morrison's lawyer had "filed an appeal of the convictions with the US District Court." (ib. p. 318)<br />
260. Doe & Tobler p. 62 <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter Six: Meta-Orpheus</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>18) The Myth</b><br />
<br />
And what "myth" exactly?<br />
Colin Wilson published the book ‘On Music’ [261] in 1964, and while his biographers don't mention Morrison having read this book, [262] internal evidence seems to suggest he might have. [263]<br />
In a chapter entitled 'The Nature and Spirit of Jazz' (chapter 6), Wilson describes what he calls 'the jazz myth'. [264] What Wilson calls 'jazz' tends to include 'blues' too. He claims that there are two strands of 'jazz', "the personal and the extraverted." The latter includes what we might call 'Trad Jazz', and 'Big Band' jazz, while the former is the classic blues singers. Wilson mentions Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, for example. [265] Jazz which departs from these roots, such as the 'semi-intellectual developments" of the Modern Jazz Quartet, "represent a kind of a dead end. Good jazz has always been the intense expression of personalities." [266] And that personality has always been a purveyor of the 'jazz myth'. Writing in 1964 he says that "in our own time it can be found in the singing of Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins." [267]<br />
Morrison was deeply influenced by those named blues singers, even covering some of their songs, such as John Lee Hooker's 'Crawling King Snake'. [268]<br />
<br />
So what exactly is this 'jazz/blues myth'? Wilson says that "violence and tragedy" is at "the heart" of the myth. [269] It is "involved with self-destruction" [270] and "bound up with early death, like the myth of romantic poetry." [271]<br />
He gives an example in the person of Buddy Bolden who "rises from the unknown mass" to become an "idol". His instrument has a phallic power and he is proclaimed the "King of the Zulus", and women flock to him. He lives a fast and roistering life and "then collapses into madness." [272] Not only that, after his death there is the lingering mystery of a lost recording that his fans hope will be discovered one day. This is essentially the myth of the rock-star Jim Morrison too, who simply continued the tradition. His 'lost writings', [273] the mystery of his death, his self-proclaimed 'Lizard King' [274] persona, his phallocentric performances and self-induced madnesses.<br />
<br />
Staring<br />
into<br />
the hollow idol's eyes.<br />
JDM [275]<br />
<br />
Wilson also brings in what he calls the 'success myth': "The success myth itself is one of the great romantic myths of the 20th century. It accounts for much of the hysteria that has surrounded popular entertainers, from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley ..." [276]<br />
<br />
We might note that Morrison named Presley and Sinatra as his two favourite singers in 1967. [277] Exemplified by the film-star James Dean, the success myth blends with the 'jazz myth' - living fast and dying young. "Death gives" the myth "a new dimension of morbid nostalgia." [278]<br />
<br />
Wilson then sees a clear connection between jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll, with the latter incorporating the jazz/blues myth with the success myth. A perfect example in rock 'n' roll would be the tortured singer Gene Vincent, who, according to the counter-culture writer and activist Mick Farren, actually became a friend of Morrison's. [279]<br />
Both faced "the problem of the rock star being simultaneously an artist and a cartoon character, a creative force and a marketable product." [280] <br />
<br />
Both were doomed, like Oedipus, to fulfil the fate of their myths: "both men also drank to excess to dull the noise in their heads." Drinking together, Vincent "exhibited bouts of behaviour that even Jim Morrison - the man who would dangle by one hand from 20th floor hotel balconies - declared crazy." [281]<br />
<br />
Morrison and Vincent died the same year - 1971. Morrison was 27 and Vincent 36.<br />
<br />
Morrison may have wanted to reduce the 'success myth' to absurdity at Miami, but he wanted to return to the blues myth as a way to get back to the Rimbaudian poet he had always wanted to be. But even here there was an absurdity. As David Dalton points out in his book on Morrison, unlike his equally tragic 'blues myth' peers - Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin - Morrison was no "freak." [282]<br />
<br />
As for the romantic poet myth; "Jim identified with Rimbaud, but Rimbaud was a goofy-looking, pimply tormented 19th century homosexual", whereas Morrison "was exceptionally handsome, charming and intelligent. He had few money problems ... He had no demonstrable reason for being embittered ... He was famous ... rich, women flung themselves at him. Intellectuals and rock literati made fools of themselves coining epithets for him ... He had everything." [ib.]<br />
<br />
How then, could such a one personify the 'blues myth'? Was he not rather an actor, a hero, on the stage?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>19) The Hero</b><br />
<br />
"Jim was a metamorphic hero who thrilled us with his energy and daring."<br />
McClure [283]<br />
<br />
<br />
"The hero, the highest manifestation of the will."<br />
FWN [284]<br />
<br />
<br />
"It holds true in all things that those whom the gods love die young."<br />
FWN [285]<br />
<br />
"I know from talking to him that he never expected to live very long."<br />
McClure on Morrison [286]<br />
<br />
"A hero is someone who rebels, or seems to rebel, against the facts of existence and seems to conquer them, but obviously that can work at moments. It can't be a lasting thing."<br />
JDM [81]<br />
<br />
"The measurement of a hero, his definition, is in his confrontation with an antagonist."<br />
[287]<br />
<br />
“He took to heart the archetypal hero figure so characterized in Joseph Campbell’s works.”<br />
[Sundling p.16]<br />
<br />
Miami was the natural catastrophe of Morrison’s role as the hero.<br />
<br />
Hitchhiker drinks:<br />
'I call again on the dark<br />
hidden gods of the blood.'<br />
JDM [288] <br />
<br />
The hero is destined to test, break and re-write the boundaries of life. He is above 'the laws of this world' [289] - a 'law breaker' and a 'law maker'. [290] The hero flourishes in 'frontier situations': "the 18th and 19th century frontiers of America produced such heroes", who were "on the borders of law, order and civilisation which abutted on chaos, anarchy and howling savages." [291]<br />
<br />
" America was conceived in violence. All Americans are outlaws."<br />
JDM [292]<br />
The boundary-breaking hero is a necessary myth because "without myth ... every culture loses its healthy creative natural power: it is only a horizon encompassed with myths that rounds off to unity a social movement. It is only myth that frees all the powers of the imagination and of the Apollonian dream from their aimless wanderings." FWN [293]<br />
<br />
<br />
Let's reinvent the gods, all the myths of the ages<br />
celebrate symbols from deep elder forests<br />
(Have you forgotten the lessons of the ancient war)<br />
We need great golden copulations.<br />
JDM [294]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>20) The Anatomy of Rock</b><br />
<br />
"The singer is projected as the incarnation of a force beyond music, which visit the world in human form, recruiting its followers something like the way religious leaders recruit their sects ... Like the totem animal of the tribe, the pop star is an icon of membership, set apart from the everyday world in a sacred space of his own. His appearance on stage ... is a 'real presence', an incarnation of an other-worldly being, greeted by a release of collective emotion comparable to the Dionysiac orgies depicted by Euripides.<br />
Tribal totems are species - and therefore immortal. By identifying with the totem you partake of its immortality, and take your place in the tribe. The pop star is an individual, but in his own way sempiternal, immortalised on disk, set against a background noise which dramatises his eternal recurrence ..." Scruton [295]<br />
<br />
In one of his last interviews Morrison seems to admit that the Doors had reached their 'limits': " Miami was the culmination in a way of our mass performing career."<br />
[296]<br />
<br />
Clearly, he was not to find the kind of personal and artistic freedom he craved playing in a rock band, certainly not in the 'mass field' of popular music. Had he said and done the same things he did at Miami in a tiny avant-garde theatre he would not be facing over six months of hard labour in a tough prison. Not only that, but the counter-culture 'bible', 'The Rolling Stone', had ridiculed his Miami performance. [297] What he hoped would be a controversy around the principles of freedom of speech was turned into a media circus with himself as the clown. [298] Evoking his early reading of Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy he stated that "the origin of freedom of speech ... goes side by side with the origin of drama." [299]<br />
<br />
Trouble is, no one in the 'mass field' cared. Even those wanting to put him on trial and punish him only really cared about their own political advancement. Suddenly, he was left high and dry - had he wasted the past five years?<br />
I've done nothing with time<br />
A little tot prancing the boards playing with revolution.<br />
JDM [300]<br />
<br />
"The pop star is displayed ... high up on electric wires, the currents of modern life zinging through him ..."<br />
Scruton [301]<br />
<br />
The whole thing started with rock 'n' roll, and now it's out of control." JDM [302]<br />
<br />
"Nietzsche's Dionysiac revelry has been utterly surpassed by the rock 'n' roll frenzy."<br />
Meltzer [303]<br />
<br />
Morrison began his foray into rock music by making a clear analogy between the birth of rock and Nietzsche's account of the birth of tragedy. As the latter was a synthesis of the Apollonian and the Dionysian, so rock was the off-spring of European and African folk musics. [304]<br />
<br />
"I like to think of the history of rock 'n' roll like the origin of Greek drama. That started out on the threshing floor during the crucial seasons, and was originally a band of acolytes dancing and singing. Then, one day, a possessed person jumped out of the crowd and started imitating a god." JDM [305]<br />
<br />
The 'possessed person' had now become a clown.<br />
<br />
"I think of myself as an intelligent, sensitive human being with the soul of a clown."<br />
JDM [306]<br />
<br />
As Fowlie wrote, with Morrison in mind:<br />
<br />
<br />
"The youth rebel ... has a brother ... called clown, acrobat or fool ... he has even been called ... poet." [307]<br />
<br />
And the danger, "that of the acrobat, of falling into the public looking at them" had befallen him.<br />
<br />
It was the danger Nietzsche warned of at the beginning of his 'Zarathustra' with the character of the "rope-dancer", [308] one that Morrison deliberately invoked with his own high-wire antics. [309] Had he been betrayed by his own youthful enthusiasm for rock?<br />
<br />
In that year<br />
We had an intense visitation of energy.<br />
JDM [310]<br />
<br />
The wild storm<br />
where savages fell out<br />
in late afternoon<br />
monsters of rhythm.<br />
JDM [311]<br />
<br />
The 1st electric wilderness came<br />
over the people<br />
on sweet Friday<br />
Sweat was in the air.<br />
The channel beamed,<br />
token of power<br />
Incense brewed darkly.<br />
Who could tell then that here<br />
It would end?<br />
JDM [312]<br />
<br />
"The birth of rock 'n' roll coincided with my adolescence, my coming into awareness."<br />
JDM [313]<br />
<br />
Always analytical, Morrison described the evolution of rock as cyclical, and it was now - in the late 1960s - returning to its roots, ready to embark on new evolutionary syntheses, which would combine roots in a new, unheard of way in the coming decades:<br />
<br />
"Ten years ago [i.e., 1959] ... what they called rock 'n' roll was a kind of blending of these two forms [i.e., of Negro Blues and White Country musics] ... "Now rock is dying out and everyone's going back to their roots again."<br />
[314]<br />
<br />
And yet Morrison felt his own 'roots' not to be those of White Country but of Negro Blues. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>21) The Blues</b><br />
<br />
Well I'm an old blues man<br />
And I think that you understand<br />
I've been singing the blues<br />
Ever since the world began.<br />
JDM [315]<br />
<br />
The Negroes in the forest<br />
brightly feathered<br />
they're saying<br />
'Forget the Night! Live with us in forests of azure<br />
Out here in the perimeter, there are no stars<br />
Out here we is stoned - immaculate.'<br />
JDM [316]<br />
<br />
“Guitar blues during a chant<br />
Chanting, chanting, through the Delta<br />
Leadbelly prison songs<br />
pounding a tattoo on hard rocks<br />
Urban blues-singers with sweat oozing<br />
from their black faces singing gutter<br />
music for niggers with ?heads<br />
Howling wolf screaming like a mad animal<br />
while James Brown does his Thing.<br />
Chanting, chanting, <br />
chanting to soul<br />
and the Blues continue<br />
a driving force<br />
to remember Otis Redding.”<br />
(Eugene Perkins, 1968) [317]<br />
<br />
Poor Otis dead and gone,<br />
Left me here to sing his song,<br />
Pretty little girl with the red dress on,<br />
Poor Otis dead and gone.<br />
JDM [318]<br />
<br />
"Within 'Beat' culture the poet is a visionary and 'the sign of his authentic vision is the quality of unchecked outpouring of rhapsodic, jazz-inspired improvisation in his utterance."<br />
[319]<br />
<br />
<br />
Translations of the divine<br />
in all languages. The blues,<br />
The records get you high,<br />
in armies<br />
on swift channels.<br />
The new dreamer will sing<br />
to the mind with thoughts<br />
unclutched by speech.<br />
JDM [320]<br />
<br />
Nietzsche had written that the Negro represents the pre-historic in man, and unlike the European - who had become effete and over-sensitive - the Negro had a much higher pain threshold. [321]<br />
<br />
The poet Lorca (1898-1936) became influenced by Negro Blues, and in a letter written while he lived in New York , he said " 'The Negro is living close to pure human nature and other forces of Nature.' " [322]<br />
The Blues, then, as an expression of the primitive Negro, was a perfect Dionysian vehicle for Morrison: "my thing is more in a Blues vein; long, rambling, basic and primitive." [323] "I like singing Blues - these free, long Blues trips where there's no specific beginning or end." [324]<br />
<br />
Morrison even invents a new persona for his embodying the Negro blues myth; it is the anagramic 'Mr Mojo Risin'. [325] At the same time, growing a full beard, he hopes to ultimately become the anonymous poet 'James Douglas Morrison', leaving the corpse of rock behind to bury itself.<br />
<br />
As long as I got breath, <br />
the death of rock<br />
is the death of me<br />
and rock is dead.<br />
JDM [326] <br />
<br />
“he died in a bathtub. slumped<br />
over like Marat. the only clue was the red<br />
rash over his heart.<br />
someone said there were last words. water<br />
poured from his eyes. he was truly immaculate<br />
yet surprised. outside it was raining. storm<br />
clouds. danger waters. the tub was overflowing.<br />
he looked up” <br />
(Patti Smith, 'death by water', 1971-2) [327]<br />
<br />
<br />
That porky satyr's<br />
leer<br />
has leaped upward<br />
into the loam.<br />
JDM [328]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes to Chapter Six: Meta-Orpheus</b><br />
261. Wilson 1967 (first published as 'Brandy of the Damned', 1964)<br />
262. Morrison made a will in 1969 leaving everything to his girlfriend Pamela Courson [will reproduced in Clarke p. 208]. When she died in 1974 of a drugs overdose, all his literary remains went to her family. They have published some of the poetry (Wilderness/American Night – Morrison 1989/1991) but the notebooks remain largely in private hands as far as I know. And it is in the so far unpublished notebooks that the evidence of his reading will be found. However, Morrison also said [in 1968] that he discarded most of his notebooks; “I threw away all my notebooks that I’d been keeping since high school.” [ed. Sugarman p. 95]<br />
263. Some lines from 'On Music' [Wilson 1967] that might have influenced Morrison, e.g., "But Blake was right when he said that if the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear infinite." (p. 14)<br />
"If we could hear with the 'doors of perception cleansed' ..." (p. 64)<br />
"Art has the power, possessed by alcohol and certain drugs, to remove some of the mind's filters." (p. 108)<br />
Frequent reference to Morrison's favourite Blake quote from 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' (Blake pp. xxi-xxii), of course.<br />
"Rilke said that the poet's problem is to keep himself as wide open as he can, even if, like a flower in the sunlight, he may find it impossible to close up again." (p. 19)<br />
Similar to the Blake but also reminiscent of Morrison's line about a child (cf. Hamilton pp. 115-6), note 97. above<br />
"Yet as Dostoevsky pointed out in 'The Grand Inquisitor', men do not want freedom; it is too heavy a burden." (p. 30)<br />
Same point made by Morrison (ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 64 - cf. Brown p. 242)<br />
"It was fitting that the ultimate expression of romanticism should be 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' [Strauss], with its implicit declaration that man was on the threshold of a new evolutionary leap." (p. 51)<br />
Compare to the Lords.<br />
"No jazzman so far has displayed any development analogous to the development of many 'serious' composers." (p. 135)<br />
Compare Morrison's point that "in the mass music today ... I don't think there are any minds as heavy as Bach's, for example." (Rolling Stone p. 15)<br />
"... wearing a false moustache ..." (p. 76)<br />
In his absurdist poem 'Adolf Hitler', Morrison says "come out from behind that false moustache" (Davis p. 310)<br />
264. Wilson 1967 p. 124<br />
265. ib. p. 129<br />
266. ib. p. 133<br />
267. ib.<br />
268. Track #8, <i>L.A. Woman</i>, the Doors, Elektra EKS-75011, 1971, <br />
269. Wilson 1967 ib. p. 128<br />
270. ib. p. 124<br />
271. ib. p. 125<br />
272. ib.<br />
273. cf. 'Wilderness' subtitle -'The Lost Writings' - Morrison 1989<br />
274. cf. 'The Celebration of the Lizard', tracks 13-19 on <i>Absolutely Live</i>, the Doors, Elektra Records EKS-9002, July 1970<br />
275. 'Wild Child', track #6, <i>The Soft Parade</i>, the Doors, Elektra Records EKS-75005, 1969<br />
276. Wilson 1967 p. 125<br />
277. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 9<br />
278. Wilson 1967 p. 125<br />
279. Farren p. 120<br />
280. ib. p. 83<br />
281. ib. p. 135<br />
282. Dalton p. 31-2 Despite doing drama at college, and ‘starring’ in his own unfinished film ‘HWY’ [although this was an anti-acting performance], Morrison said that he had no interest in acting ‘Hollywood’ was apparently interested in him, but nothing transpired]. This can be related to Nietzsche who always had contempt for actors: “What? A great man? I always see only the actor of his own ideal.” [BGE 97] <br />
283. Hopkins & Sugarman 1980 (<i>McClure Afterword</i>) p. 377<br />
284. Nietzsche 1995 (sec. 16) p. 59<br />
285. ib. (sec. 21) p. 76<br />
286. <i>Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend </i>(Rockmine Archives) The Doors (available at) <a href="http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Players/Personal/mcclure_recalls.html">http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Players/Personal/mcclure_recalls.html</a> (accessed 2/7/09)<br />
287. Butler p. 18<br />
288. Morrison 1989 p. 46<br />
289. Butler p. 6<br />
290. ib. pp. 8-9<br />
291. ib. pp. 7-8<br />
292. Doe & Tobler p. 85<br />
293. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 22) p. 85<br />
294. Morrison 1991 p.3<br />
295. Scruton 1998 p. 92<br />
296. Hopkins 2006 p. 265<br />
297. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 127 (faked 'wanted' poster)<br />
298. Ib. p. 184<br />
299. Hopkins 2006 p. 266 cf. Harrison p. 148<br />
300. Morrison 1989 p. 66<br />
301. Scruton 1998 p. 93 See the image on the inside cover of the album LA Woman of a Christ figure crucified high up on a telegraph pole.<br />
302. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 169<br />
303. Meltzer p. 24<br />
304. Hopkins 2006 p. 214<br />
305. ed. Doe & Tobler p. 84 cf. Otto p. 21 : "later it was said that man was imitating the god."<br />
306. ed. Sugarman 1988 p. 158<br />
307. Fowlie p. 135<br />
308. Nietzsche 1999B (TSZI Prologue: 6) p. 8<br />
309. Farren p. 135<br />
310. Morrison 1989 p. 135<br />
311. Morrison 1989 p. 129<br />
312. Ib. 1989 p. 27<br />
313. Rolling Stone p. 15<br />
314. Hopkins 2006 p. 214<br />
315. 'Maggie M'Gill', track #11, <i>Morrison Hotel</i>, the Doors, Elektra Records EKS-75007, 1970<br />
316. 'The WASP', track #9, <i>L.A. Woman</i>, the Doors, Elektra Records EKS-75011, 1971<br />
317. Ellison p. 128 ('Blues', Eugene Perkins 1968)<br />
318. ‘Runnin’ Blue', track #7, <i>The Soft Parade</i>, the Doors, Elektra Records EKS-75005, 1969<br />
319. Ellison p. 157<br />
320. Morrison 1991 p. 32<br />
321. Nietzsche 2003A p. 43<br />
322. Ellison p. 156<br />
323. Doe & Tobler p. 75<br />
324. Rolling Stone p. 15<br />
325. Cf. <i>L.A. Woman</i> title track - track # 5<br />
326. The Doors, <i>Rock is Dead</i>, (available at) <a href="http://www.metrolyrics.com/rock-is-dead-lyrics-the-doors.html">http://www.metrolyrics.com/rock-is-dead-lyrics-the-doors.html</a> (accessed 26/06/09)<br />
327. Smith p. 27 "The press reported that Jim had died in his Paris apartment in the early hours of the morning of July 3 1971 from a heart attack while taking a bath." (Seymore p. 10)<br />
328. Morrison 1989 p. 132 <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter Seven: Poet-Philosopher </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>22) Apolline Dionysos or White Negro? </b><br />
<br />
Did Norman Mailer, in his complex satire on the Beat movement, [329 ] touch upon the real philosophical background to Morrison's Nietzscheanism?<br />
<br />
Truth is often revealed in jest, and the cruelest truths are revealed in satire:<br />
<br />
"To be 'with it' is to have grace, to be closer to the secrets of that inner unconscious life which will nourish you if you can hear it, for you are then nearer to that God which every hipster believes is located in the senses of his body, that trapped, mutilated and nonetheless megalomaniacal God who is It, who is energy, life, sex, force, the Yoga's prana, the Reichian orgone, Lawrence's 'blood', Hemingway's 'good', the Shavian life-force; 'It'; God; not the God of the churches but the unachievable whisper of mystery within the sex, the paradise of limitless energy and perception just beyond the next orgasm." Mailer [330 ]<br />
<br />
The obsession with death and rootlessness sounds familiar:<br />
<br />
"The American existentialist - the hipster, the man who knows that if our collective condition is to live with instant death by atomic war, relatively quick death by the State as l'univers concentrationaire, or with a slow death by conformity with every creative and rebellious instinct stifled ... if the fate of 20th century man is to live with death from adolescence to premature senescence, why then the only life-giving answer is to accept the terms of death, to live with death as immediate danger, to divorce oneself from society, to exist without roots, to set out on that uncharted journey into the rebellious imperatives of the self." Mailer [331]<br />
<br />
As does the emphasis on perception:<br />
<br />
"The unstated essence of Hip, its psychopathic brilliance, quivers with the knowledge that new kinds of victories increase one's power for new kinds of perception." [ib.]<br />
<br />
Is Mailer right to suggest that the down-going of the Dionysian is not a transcendent glimpse of the 'Primal Unity', but a regression into the squalid criminality of the 'Negro-world'?<br />
<br />
"Psychopathy is most prevalent with the Negro ... in the worst of perversion, promiscuity, pimpery, drug addiction, rape, razor-slash, bottle-break, what-have-you, the Negro discovered and elaborated a morality of the bottom." [332]<br />
<br />
Is Mailer right to suggest that the Brownite 'unrepressed man' merely exchanges 'neurosis' for 'psychopathy'? [333]<br />
<br />
"It might be fruitful to consider the hipster, philosophical psychopath, a man interested not only in the dangerous imperatives of his psychopathy but in codifying, at least for himself, the suppositions on which his inner universe is constructed. By this premise the hipster is a psychopath, and yet not a psychopath but the negation of the psychopath for he possesses the narcissistic detachment of the philosopher, that absorption in the recessive nuances of ones own motive which is so alien to the unreasoning drive of the psychopath." Mailer [334]<br />
<br />
Or the Reichian erotic economist becomes only a solipsistic orgasm addict:<br />
<br />
"At bottom, the drama of the psychopath is that he seeks love. Not love as the search for a mate, but love as the search for an orgasm more apocalyptic than the one which preceded it. Orgasm is his therapy." [335] <br />
<br />
Or the Nietzschean metamorphosis into the Child as a mere infantilism:<br />
<br />
"The fundamental decision of his [i.e. the psychopath] nature is to try to live the infantile fantasy." [336]<br />
<br />
And does violence and hatred lurk at the root of the Hipster's 'love'?<br />
<br />
"It takes literal faith in the creative possibilities of the human being to envisage acts of violence as the catharsis which prepared growth ... since the hipster lives with his hatred ... many of them are the material for an elite of stormtroopers ready to follow the first truly magnetic leader whose view of mass murder is phrased in a language which reaches their emotions." [337]<br />
<br />
<br />
And would the ultimate rule of the Hipster not be the victory of the Negro revolt and the subsequent dominance of nihilistic negroid values?<br />
<br />
<br />
"The organic growth of Hip depends on whether the Negro emerges as a dominating force in American life ... for the Negro's equality would tear a profound shift into the psychology, the sexuality, and the moral imagination of every White alive." [338]<br />
<br />
<br />
But Morrison always resisted negritude, as Davis says with some understatement, that he "was never really comfortable around black people." [339 ]<br />
<br />
As we have seen above, he had no illusions about the Hippie movement, and had rejected the infantilism of the 'rock scene'. I would even aver that he had read Mailer's piece on the 'White Negro', [340] and had noted its critique of some of the superficialities of the Beat philosophy, and sought to avoid them by adhering to a more profound Nietzschean, a more Olympian - nay, Titanic - approach.<br />
<br />
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Young Nietzsche</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>23) Doktor Dionysos</b><br />
<br />
"I am a disciple of the philosopher Dionysus, and I would prefer to be even a satyr than a saint."<br />
FWN [341]<br />
<br />
"The primeval world has stepped into the foreground, the depths of reality have been opened, the elemental forms of everything that is creative, everything that is destructive, have arisen, bringing with them infinite rapture and infinite terror ... Age-old laws have suddenly lost their power, and even the dimensions of time and space are no longer valid."<br />
[342] <br />
<br />
<br />
"The worshippers of Dionysus cast off their worldly concerns and join in a dance. This dance is an innovation of the god and he is present in it. All music derives from this desire to dance together, in a community that embraces each of us, and cancels our separation. The chorus that we form tells us the story of the god, and also the story of those who separate themselves, as we all must separate ourselves, from the pure communion, so as to embark on some fatal project of our own.<br />
Out of the dance there steps the tragic hero, whose fate appalls and fascinates his fellow dancers. He acts apart, affirms himself, and is destroyed, sinking back into the unity from which he briefly emerged."<br />
Scruton [343]<br />
<br />
Ultimately, what kind of philosophical positions does Morrison's Nietzscheanism lead us?<br />
Firstly, it presents us with the problem of a 'pure' Dionysianism; of the difficulty we have in even being able to conceptualise such a thing - the abyss it offers tempts us to oblivion. Perhaps this is a problem of perception, as Morrison's Lords suggests.<br />
As Nietzsche acknowledges: "If, however, we felt as purely Dionysian beings, myth as a symbol would stand by us absolutely ineffective and unnoticed." [344]<br />
<br />
A solution to this is the positing of a duality: i.e. the anti-Dionysian has those qualities which the Dionysian negate: both are defined in turn against the other - opposition gives them Being. We think we know what the Dionysian is because we know what the anti-Dionysian is and vice versa.<br />
The anti-Dionysian is called the Apollonian, of course: -<br />
"And lo! Apollo could not live without Dionysus!"<br />
FWN [345]<br />
<br />
The Dionysian - "the eternal life beyond all phenomena". FWN [346]<br />
<br />
But another problem arises - whence the 'phenomena'? <br />
Whence the Apollonian?<br />
If the Dionysian is 'life' in its totality, then what is the Apollonian?<br />
Is not the Apollonian [i.e., phenomena] therefore 'beyond' all life just as the Dionysian [i.e., life] is 'beyond' all phenomena?<br />
If this duality is maintained, then the Apollonian must be a metaphysical force beyond life itself, and yet able to give form to life.<br />
[347]<br />
<br />
The Apollonian therefore is the eternal realm of the gods, the realm of myth and the supernatural.<br />
The Dionysian is - in its pure sense - the godless, primal world of Becoming: life in the raw.<br />
The Apollonian is the world of phenomena created by the gods, or rather by the Lords and facilitated by the connectors.<br />
<br />
Morrison's philosophy is then an invitation for us to live as gods, creating art, elaborating myths, and most of all, expanding our perceptions, in order - as he put it - to "deepen a strange hue in the clan tartan." [348]<br />
<br />
This will involve the dangerous business of plunging periodically back to the roots, into the unfathomable abyss of the Dionysian, before heroically emerging from that underworld, ready to create once more in the searing sunlight of the Apollonian.<br />
<br />
For Morrison, poetry had superseded philosophy. His interest in philosophy being less about ideas, but about how philosophers "have used words, have used language ... I appreciate philosophy these days from the standpoint of poetry, the use of one word next to another word, next to another word, next to another word. So, philosophy is semantics."<br />
[22]<br />
<br />
'The philosophers of the future' then, will be poet-philosophers or philosopher-poets - like Blake, like Nietzsche ... and like Morrison.<br />
<br />
The flowering<br />
of godlike people.<br />
JDM [349]<br />
<br />
"Human prehistory and mythology are - in the strict sense of the word - reproductions of the sexual economy of humanity."<br />
Reich [350]<br />
<br />
Now I ask of my wisdom<br />
that it grow not mean in this aridity:<br />
yourself overflow, yourself drop dew,<br />
yourself be rain to this yellowed wilderness!<br />
FWN [351]<br />
<br />
O Great creator of being<br />
grant us one more hour to<br />
perform our art<br />
& perfect our lives.<br />
JDM [352]<br />
<br />
<br />
The central passage to our Nietschean-Morrisonianism is arguably this one of Blake's:<br />
<br />
"The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years is true ...<br />
... the whole creation will be consumed and appear infinite and holy ...<br />
... This will come to pass by an improvement of sensual enjoyment.<br />
But first the notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged ...<br />
... melting apparent surfaces away and displaying the infinite which was hid.<br />
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.<br />
For man has closed himself up, til he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."<br />
Blake [353]<br />
<br />
<br />
"According to one astrologer, Jim's birth at 5:45 am on December 8, 1943, put him in the right place at the right time for cosmic knowledge and a universal consciousness. Curiously, his Mercury and Saturn are placed in the nearly identical positions as the chart of Nostradamus, the 16th century astrologer renowned for his prophetic writings."<br />
'Fate' [354]<br />
<br />
James James <br />
Morrison Morrison <br />
(Commonly known as Jim) <br />
Told his <br />
Other relations <br />
Not to go blaming him. <br />
James James <br />
Said to his Mother, <br />
"Mother," he said, said he, <br />
"You must never go down to the end of the town with-<br />
out consulting me."<br />
[355]<br />
<br />
<br />
Peyote, coyotes, acid-rock hops,<br />
Morrison legendises West Coast myth<br />
the singer as delirious apotheosis<br />
drunk on Rimbaud's venomous delirium,<br />
the snotty Charleville punk, whose words were jewels<br />
ripped off his lacerated soles.<br />
A leather-jeaned Dionysian,<br />
personifying self-destruct, Jim burnt<br />
like nails popping in a scorched log.<br />
<br />
Each moment discontinuous<br />
to anything but his own myth,<br />
his twitchy body draped the microphone<br />
like a black swan.<br />
(from 'The Lizard King', Jeremy Reed) [356]<br />
<br />
Make Greek Dionysian pride once more<br />
Possible on Earth.<br />
Out of which, men will,<br />
Grappling with the never-lessening force<br />
Of the flesh-fired furnace of affliction,<br />
Dramatise the wisdom of tragedy ...<br />
(from 'The Dream of Intelligence', Sebastian Barker) [357]<br />
<br />
As the body is ravaged<br />
the spirit grows stronger.<br />
JDM [358]<br />
<br />
Osiris assassinated<br />
by a swampy black-pig,<br />
I was the one boated<br />
in a coffin<br />
through the Paris sewers<br />
a graffiti-tag on the lid<br />
proclaiming sacrifice<br />
on the way to Pere Lachaise<br />
to be retrieved by Isis<br />
reassembled as a myth<br />
of bar-room excess;<br />
a snake on the road<br />
eating its own skin.<br />
(from 'Litany of the Dead- Morrison', Jeremy Reed) [359]<br />
<br />
The ape of his God - will you<br />
Only be an ape of your God?<br />
FWN [360]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes to Chapter Seven: The Poet-Philosopher</b><br />
329. 'The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster' (1957) in ed. Feldman & Gartenberg, pp. 288-306. The essay first appeared in the 'Dissent' magazine (summer 1957) and was reprinted in Mailer's 'Advertisements for Myself' (1957)<br />
330. ed. Feldman & Gartenberg p. 300<br />
331. ib. p. 289 cf., "Xenophanes, writing in the 6th century BC, knew that God is 'without body, parts or passions', but he knew also that, till man becomes wholly philosopher, his gods are doomed perennially to take and retake human shape" with "the loss of the element of formless, monstrous mystery." (Harrison p. 258)<br />
332. ib. p. 297<br />
333. ib. p. 295<br />
334. ib. p. 293<br />
335. ib. p. 296<br />
336. ib. p. 295<br />
337. ib. p. 303<br />
338. ib. p. 304<br />
339. Davis p. 321<br />
340. The following from Mailer's piece sounds very Morrisonian too: "one is a rebel or one conforms, one is a frontiersman in the Wild West of American night life, or else a Square cell, trapped in the totalitarian tissues of American society." (ib. p. 290) And in the Rolling Stone interview he expressed his admiration for Mailer generally (Rolling Stone p. 22).<br />
341. Nietzsche 2004 p. 2 (Preface:2)<br />
342. Otto pp. 95-6<br />
343. Scruton 1996 p. 454<br />
344. Nietzsche 1995 (BT 21) p. 78<br />
345. ib. (BT 4) p. 12<br />
346. ib. (BT 16) p. 59<br />
347. cf. Nietzsche 2001 (translator's introduction) pp. 17-18<br />
348. Sundling p. 14 (JDM interview March 1970)<br />
349. Morrison 1991 p. 66<br />
350. Reich p. 222<br />
351. Nietzsche 2001 ('Of the Poverty of the Richest Man') p. 75<br />
352. Morrison 1991 p. 4<br />
353. Blake pp. xxi-xxii<br />
354. 'The Afterlife of Jim Morrison', C. De Winter, Fate Magazine, # 699, July-August 2008, Lakeville MN USA p. 11<br />
355. (available at) <a href="http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~ridge/local/disobedience.html">http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~ridge/local/disobedience.html</a> (accessed 27/7/09)<br />
356. Reed p. 194<br />
357. ed. Caygill p. 39<br />
358. Morrison 1989 p. 119<br />
359. Reed p. 203<br />
360. Nietzsche 2003B p. 111 (from 'Through the circle of Dionysos Dithyrambs') <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Bibliography</b><br />
<br />
Note on abbreviations:Dates in round brackets after a book's title refer to the original date of the publication, and the same after the translators’ name, the original date of the translation. This is indicated when these dates might be relevant to the subject.<br />
Nietzsche's works have standard abbreviations of the titles followed by a section number. This allows his works to accessed in any edition. In some cases - i.e., <i>Genealogy of Morals</i>, <i>The Twilight of the Idols</i>, <i>Thus Spake Zarathustra</i> and <i>Ecce Homo</i>, chapters and 'books' are referred to also. The abbreviations are BT (<i>The Birth of Tragedy</i>), TSZ (<i>Thus Spake Zarathustra</i>), BGE (<i>Beyond Good and Evil</i>), GM (<i>The Genealogy of Morality</i>), TI (<i>The Twilight of the Idols</i>), EH (<i>Ecce Homo</i>), WP, (<i>The Will to Power</i>), DD (<i>The Dithyrambs of Dionysos</i>).<br />
<br />
ed. Badiner and Grey, <i>Zig Zag Zen, Buddhism and Psychedelics</i>, San Francisco, Chronicle 2002<br />
Bertram, E. <i>Nietzsche: Attempt at a Mythology</i>, Illinois 2009<br />
Blake, W. <i>The Marriage of Heaven & Hell</i>, (1790), Oxford, OUP 1973<br />
Brown, N. O., <i>Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History</i>, Wesleyan University Press, 1959<br />
Butler, B. <i>The Myth of the Hero</i>, London, Rider & Co. 1979<br />
Campbell, J. <i>The Hero with a Thousand Faces</i>, (1949) Fontana 1993<br />
Camus, A. <i>The Rebel</i> (1951) trans. A. Bowe (1953) Penguin 1971<br />
Camus, <i>The Myth of Sisyphus</i>, (1942), trans. J. O'Brien, UK, Penguin 1975<br />
ed. Caygill, H. <i>Journal of Nietzsche Studies</i>, issue 6 Autumn 1993<br />
Chesterton, A.K. <i>The New Unhappy Lords, an exposure of power politics</i>, (1965) England, Candour, 1975<br />
Clarke, R. <i>The Doors, Dance on Fire</i>, UK, Castle Communications 1993<br />
Cooper, J.C. <i>An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols</i>, UK, Thames and Hudson 1978<br />
Dalton, D. <i>Mr Mojo Risin', Jim Morrison, The Last holy Fool</i>, New York, St. Martin 's Press 1991<br />
Davis, S., <i>Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend</i>, London, Ebury, 2004<br />
Densmore, J., <i>Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors</i>, Delta, 1991<br />
ed. Doe & Tobler, <i>The Doors in their Own Words</i>, London, Omnibus 1988<br />
Dyer, R. <i>White</i>, Routledge 1997<br />
Ellison, M. <i>Extensions of the Blues</i>, London, John Calder 1989<br />
Evans & Millard, <i>Greek Myths and Legends</i>, Usborne 1985<br />
Farren, M. <i>Gene Vincent, There's One in Every Town</i>, London, Do-Not-Press, 2004<br />
ed. Feldman & Gartenberg, <i>Protest</i> (1958), London, Panther 1960<br />
Fong-Torres, B. <i>The Doors by The Doors</i>, New York, Hyperion Books 2002<br />
Fowlie, W., <i>Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet</i>, London, Souvenir Press, 1995<br />
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The Death of Marat</div>
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