MEET JIM MORRISON
by Gloria Stavers 1967
The facts are very simple.
So simple that they might mislead you into thinking that the young man
whose picture you see on this page is- well, a lot like a lot of other
young men. But he isn't. His full real name is James Douglas Morrison.
He was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Fla.- which is near Cape
Kennedy. Jim is six feet tall and has brown hair and haunting blue-grey
eyes. After attending Florida State University, he moved to California,
where he studied film-making at UCLA. Fortunately, he was side-tracked
into the world of music (which had always held great interest for him)
and he soon found himself the lead singer of a group called the Doors.
After almost two years of
hard work, the Doors (Jim, Robby Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek)
finally did what every group has to do in order to start their climb to
the top- they cut a hit single record. Oddly enough, the hit had been sitting
on record store shelves in the Doors Elektra LP for quite a while. One
single was lifted from the LP and didn't make it. Then someone came up
with the bright idea of releasing the vocal part of Light My Fire as a
single record (if you have the LP, you know that the whole Light My Fire
band is eight minutes long). Anyway, as they say, the rest is history.
Except it really isn't- for Jim Morrison is not like any other pop singer
to appear on the scene: past, present or future. One word that can describe
him is "total". He is so whole, so complete, so all himself and nobody
or nothing else that just meeting him is an unforgettable experience. Hearing
him sing and watching him perform- well, that's really magic! I've been
lucky enough to have this experience, and I'll try (mind you, try) to describe
just a little bit of what it's like to you. So close your eyes, open your
mind and take my hand while I try to lead you through "Jim Morrison's magic
land". It begins like this:
At first, everything is serene-
blue and green. The lights are low and the stage is empty. Slowly, the
boys come out and in the dark ness they start to "set up". You can hardly
distinguish which is which. After a minimum amount of tuning up, the house
lights suddenly go on. Just as they do, there is a fabulous blast of sound.
It's the Doors- and they are on and it's unmistakably their music that
you hear. Then, seemingly from nowhere, a figure leaps onto the stage.
It's him- Jim Morrison! And you feel something you have never felt before.
It's like an electric shock that goes all through you. Jim is singing and
you realize that it's a combination of him, the way he looks and moves,
and his sound that has completely turned you on. His voice is like spirals
of flame, and beautiful red and yellow colors seem to fly out of his fingertips.
Come on, baby, light my fire....He
is singing it to you and all at once the room around you seems to glow.
At first it's warm, then it's hot- like something burning, but it doesn't
hurt. You dig it. It's the fire- the fire that Jim is singing about. The
fire that he knows all about and now- suddenly- you do too! You are consumed
by his vibrant presence and his sensational singing. He is electric. He
is magic. He is all afire. And everything that he is, he is giving to you
freely and totally!
Then he is gone. The music
continues for a while- echoing through your mind- and the room around you,
which you think must have been consumed in the blaze that Jim created in
you and all about you, slowly comes back into focus. Soon, all is serene
again. It's blue. And it's green. And it's serene. But the gigantic talent
of Jim Morrison has changed you- and you will never be the same again.
16 Magazine November 6, 1967