Jim Morrison

Angels Dance and angels die

James Douglas Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Rear Admiral George

Stephen Morrison and Clara Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in

1 947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was

borJames Douglas Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Rear Admiral George

Stephen Morrison and Clara Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in

1 947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in

1 948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Irish and Scottish descent. Morrison reportedly had

an I .Q. of 1 49.

In 1 947, Morrison, then four years old, al legedly witnessed a car accident in the desert,

where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly ki l led. He referred to this

incident in a spoken word performance on the song "Dawn's Highway" from the album An

American Prayer, and again in the songs "Peace Frog" and "Ghost Song."

Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event of his l ife, and made repeated

references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. His family does not

recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No

One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison's family did drive past a car accident on an Indian

reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it.

Doors, written by the

remaining members of

The Doors, explains

how different

Morrison's account of

the incident was from

the account of his

father. This book

quotes his father as

saying, "We went by

several Indians. I t did

make an impression

on him [the young

James]. He always

thought about that

crying Indian." This is

contrasted sharply

with Morrison's tale of

"Indians scattered all

over the highway,

bleeding to death." In

the same book, his

sister is quoted as

saying, "He enjoyed

tel l ing that story and

exaggerating it. He

said he saw a dead

Indian by the side of

the road, and I don't

even know if that's

true."

In the Summer of 1 965, after graduating from the UCLA, Morrison led a bohemian l ifestyle in

Venice Beach. Living on the rooftop of a building inhabited by his old UCLA cinematography

friend Dennis Jakobs, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Doors would later

perform live and record on albums, the most notable being "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love

You". According to Jakobs, he l ived on canned beans and LSD daily for several months.

Morrison and fel low UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors,

forming the group during that same Summer of 1 965. They actual ly met months earl ier as fel low

cinematography students. The now-legendary story claims that Manzarek was lying on the

beach at Venice one day, accidental ly encountered Morrison, he was impressed with Morrison's

poetic lyrics, claiming that they were "rock group" material . Thereafter, drummer John

Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore's

recommendation and was then added to the l ineup. All three musicians shared a common

interest in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Meditation practices at the time, attending

scheduled classes, but Morrison was not involved in this

series of classes, claiming later (prior to the famous

Hollywood Bowl show in July 1 968) that he "did not

meditate". The Doors took their name from the title of

Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception

(a reference to the "unlocking" of "doors of

perception" through psychedelic drug use).

Huxley's own title was a quotation from

Wil l iam Blake's The Marriage of Heaven

and Hell , in which Blake wrote: "I f the

doors of perception were cleansed

everything would appear to man as it is,

infinite." By 1 969, the formerly svelte

singer gained weight, grew a

beard, and began dressing more

casually — abandoning the

leather pants and concho belts for

slacks, jeans and T-shirts.

Morrison died on July 3, 1 971 .

In the official account of his

death, he was found in a

Paris apartment bathtub by

Courson. Pursuant to French

law, no autopsy was

performed because the

medical examiner stated that

there was no evidence of foul

play. The absence of an

official autopsy has left many

questions regarding

Morrison's cause of death.