Was Jim Morrison burned out at the time of his death?

[Hepcat]

Jim could be just completely out of control due to his substance abuse habits. Stephen Davis in his book "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend" describes one particular incident at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in 1969 or so.

Jim had come in to see a hit band, but he was zonked out of his mind. He couldn't converse with people, he just kept saying "Get it on. Suck my momma. Right on". He ended up sliding into a booth to sit down with Eric Burdon who was with a girl that worked as a dancer at the Body Shop across the street. When the girl asked Jim about his music, he poured a beer over her head!



Jim was very fortunate at this point not to be punched out by Eric, who had grown up as a street tough in Newcastle, England. With the forbearance of a saint, Eric just reminded Jim that life wasn't all just a stage performance and that it was necessary to behave with some measure of consideration for other people.

Here's a pic of Eric with Jimi Hendrix:

 

[Hepcat]

Pamela Courson, Jim's longtime girlfriend, was herself a heroin user. It was Pam who allegedly turned Jim onto heroin in Paris to act as a suppressant for his smoker's cough. Jim had previously eschewed heroin because of a fear of needles, but he took up snorting it. Twould seem the treatment worked far too well.

Nevertheless, Jim's death generated a spate of rumours of which many continue to swirl today:

Seize the Night

Pamela died at the age of 27 of a heroin overdose as well three years after Jim's death.

 

[Hepcat]

For the record Robby Krieger believes that the Doors' would have had no problem recording more albums upon Jim's return from Paris.

Oh yeah, we were all ready to record the next album, when Jim came home from Paris, which he never did. But, he never made it back unfortunately. We definitely would have gone on. I don't know how many more albums, but what else did we have to do? (laughs) For all the complaining, John was gonna quit, and Jim going to Paris, we always got back together because it worked. That was the deal. No matter what personal lives we're doing or what each guy had in his little trip, the music was always there when we four got together.

 

[Cinder]

Considering what was happening within the group and of course Morrisons addictions I dont think they had another 3 or 4 albums in them. Maybe one or two, but as stated, we will never know.

Jim was troubled by his inner demons that went back to his childhood, he got addicted to alcohol and drugs which didnt provide any escape for him as such it was only momentarily escapism.

He was a very talented guy, wrote some pretty deep poetry, and his songs? Awesome! My all time favourite being Riders on the Storm, I remember listening to that when it was in the charts, it just blew me away. Love the sound of the rain. Also another favourite, The End, LA Woman and People are Strange.

Btw thought Billy Idol did a great cover of LA Woman, very fitting to have him in The Doors movie and yes Kilmer was fantastic playing Jim, to me it was like watching Jim.

Kilmer also sang the tracks.

I still find it hard to believe how young Jim was, he had a very mature sound and I believe he also was an old soul.

Like a lot of the Musicians that have died young due to addiction, they were also extremely talented. I believe they were already destined to only have a short time with us but they left us with some legendary songs/sounds that have inspired many more after their passing and although there time physically on earth was so short they will remain alive forever in spirit.

Btw Ive always thought alcohol increases your mentality its like a switch to the creative mind and when deep within its grip some extroadinary work is produced.

Drs/Scientist have also come to recognise this increase in IQ levels when under the influence. (Not the Drs lol - case studies).

Of course there are a hell of a lot of ppl out there when under the influence are just totally AHoles and as I said the "switch" is only turned on for certain ppl.

R.I.P Jim

 

[Cinder]

Ps. No he wasnt burned out, he needed help, he needed rehab.

 

[Hepcat]

Btw Ive always thought alcohol increases your mentality its like a switch to the creative mind and when deep within its grip some extroadinary work is produced.

Drs/Scientist have also come to recognise this increase in IQ levels when under the influence. (Not the Drs lol - case studies).

I find that very difficult to believe.

 

[Dave78]

I find that very difficult to believe.

Have a drink and find out for yourself.

I haven't commented on this debatable subject yet because I wasn't in Jim's close circle of confidants so any opinion I have would merely be speculation on my part.

However... I have heard Ray Manzarek say in one or more radio interviews that Jim never really wanted to be a "rock star". He said that Morrison always considered himself to be more of a poet and truly wanted to pursue that endeavor and drop music altogether. That, according to Ray, was why Jim moved to Paris.

So if I were to speculate on the subject, I would guess that Morrison was indeed burned out of the rock music business machine and moved to Paris to escape the world of rock music and eventually begin his career as a poet, be it in Paris, Europe or back in the states.

But because he died of an apparent heart attack before any of that happened, that pretty much left everything else open to interpretation.

Just my and Ray's collective .02

 

[PinkFreud]

However... I have heard Ray Manzarek say in one or more radio interviews that Jim never really wanted to be a "rock star".

I can't remember where I heard this, but if I'm not mistaken Jim was a very shy person who was very succeptible (sp?) to stage fright in his early musical days. The rock star life was probably too much for him to handle as a sober, shy person

 

[Dave78]

Maybe. I remember the story of Jim being told not to use the word "higher" when The Doors performed "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show, but Morrison did it anyway. So shy or not, he certainly was not going to let anyone tell him what to do.

Similarly, Morrison also shot down the proposal of using the song in a commercial because he didn't like the idea of The Doors selling out to "the man".

Personally, I think Jim put on weight and grew a beard to distance himself from his image as a rock star, and perhaps so he wouldn't be as recogizable, if at all, to the public in Paris.

I also think Ray said Jim's stay in Paris was to be temporary and he was to return to the band at some point. I just don't recall how long the break was intended to be for.

 

[LG]

It is true about him being shy, he used to drink to get ready to perform, and get over his stage fright.

Thanks Dave, some people don't think he was fat, but I have seen pictures of him during his latter years and he was at least 30 lbs or more heavier than when he was active in the Doors, you could really see it in his face too, beard or no beard.