The Doors called themselves âerotic politiciansâ. Though they did not specialize in protest music, the lyrics of their hard-hitting âUnknown Soldierâ can be understood today:
[slow] Wait until the war is over / And we’re both a little older / The unknown soldier
[Music speeds up]
Breakfast where the news is read / Television children fed
Unborn living, living, dead / Bullet strikes the helmet’s head
And it’s all over / For the unknown soldier
It’s all over / For the unknown soldier
Oh, ohâ¦â¦â¦
Mr. Morrison grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, right next to my home town of Arlington. His father was an Admiral in the US Navy, and worked in the corridors of power in Washington, DC. Though Mr. Morrison often sang about the Oedipal fantasy of killing his father, he was in fact survived by his father.
A brilliant artist, Mr. Morrisonâs decline seemed due to exhaustion, and a loss of inspiration in his life. For many in my generation, progressive politics seems to be our inspiration: our key to hope and optimism, our reason to keep going and keep pushing harder. This belief gives me a tremendous optimism for my generation.
While the hippies based their movement upon a youth that proved all too fleeting, progressive politics is a passion which grows, not wanes, with each passing year. Perhaps if Mr. Morrison had found politics, and made his transformation from an âerotic politicianâ to a true American politician, he might have found the inspiration he needed to carry him into the next stage of his life. It is an idle speculation, meant without disrespect, but simply as a possibility for those of us searching for inspiration today.
The American culture and the political environment of today is much changed from that of the sixties. However, there are also striking similarities. Many of the movements sparked in the sixties, both right-wing and left, have become entrenched powers today. On the day before the anniversary of our nationâs birth, I like to remember that while we are living in strange times, much can be understood if we take the time to remember the past.
Mr. Morrison, rest in peace.
Happy Independence Day, America.
Well written and I learned some details I wasn’t aware of.
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The 1960’s was the peak for the Doors. Jim Morrison was a brilliant man that was destroyed by the many vices available in his circle of friends.
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I remember seeing the Doors at the old Boston Arena, which was just off Massachusetts Avenue and St. Botolph Street. Unfortuately, Morrison was totally wasted and in his phase of trying to take his pants down onstage.
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Booze and Drugs took the best artists and thinkers of that generation and destroyed them.
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Yes, if Morrison had only survived to get off the booze and drugs, it would have been interesting had he gone into politics. But his music is still an inspiration today and maybe some good will come out of it. RIP Jim Morrison.
I read < a href=”http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0446602280&tag=nonsequitur-20&camp=1789&creative=9325″>No One Here Gets out Alive” the biography of Jim Morrison by Danny Sugarman.
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The thing I remember the most about Morrison was his ability to drink everyone around him under the table and his regular intake of unhealty substances.
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I’m afraid your post romanticizes Jim as I did when I was a young, impressionable teenager. I often wondered how cool it would have been to be a rock star, have all the women, booze, etc.
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Having grown up (mostly 🙂 I see Morrison as a frustrated artist who, in effect, commits suicide like the thousands of frustrated artists before and after him. (Joplin, Hendrix, Lenny Bruce, Cobain, Beluchi, to name a few and technically I know that only Cobain actually pulled a trigger, the others “accidentally” killed themselves)
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Perhaps these dead superstars sought meaning for life by living on the edge, but I suspect that their expectations of were so out of alignment with reality that they could no longer live in reality. No I don’t think politics would have saved Morrison.
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To your point about the progressive movement growing, I agree.
But we are not moving towards a new “style” of government. We are heading back to government of 150 years ago.
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Remember, our government has always been “of, by, and for” the people. It is only recently that “professional” politicians have taken over. As long as the “pros” have been in charge, they fostered an apathetic citizenry in order to keep themselves in charge.
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Now the “pros” have failed miserably, apathy has given way to concern which drives the progressive movement…
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Mark
Smart Mass, Dumb Mass
No one here gets out alive
Looking over my post, I can see your point. I suppose I see little reason in remembering the bad. It is true that while I appreciated Renaissance Man’s post, I disagreed with his wording at the least, that substances destroyed the artists of that day. It is a person’s own choices which are either positive or destructive.
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The book you reference is good. It portrays both the heights and the disappointments of Morrison. It turned me on to him when I was, like you, an impressionable teenager. Sometimes the truth is the most irresistible story of all.
just that. I appreciate you liked to keep on the rose colored glasses to look back at the life of Jim Morrison. And you are correct to a certain point about the choices being positive or destructive. But the facts are that after a certain amount of time, short in heroin’s case and longer, with say alcohol, the drug use takes on a life of it’s own. There does become a point of no return. I’ll have to read that book in the meantime, as maybe I’m missing that perspective.
from what I hear, heroine sucks. I was considering qualifying my statement with regard to heroine, but decided against it. It may be a terribly dominating force, but people have broken it. It’s unpleasant even to talk about…but I think if you don’t emphasize personal choice, then you have nothing to emphasize at all.