This is another one of those Paul Harvey kinds of blogs where you’ll learn who he is at the end.
He was a singer, songwriter, but most notably a poet. He read more than anyone his high school literary teacher had ever seen and the books he read were post graduate material. There were many times his teacher had to call around to see if the book this student did report on actually existed; they always did.
His father was a Rear Admiral something he never mentioned to other people. Most people thought his family died in a car accident which wasn’t true. He attended both Florida State University and UCLA. At UCLA he became interested in film and created a few shorts films.
One day a friend of his read this guy’s poem and said it was the greatest thing he’d ever read. He then asked him if he could sing and he talked him into singing the words/lyrics which when he did,
his best friend immediately said they had to form a band.
When the band got together and started singing in small clubs the crowds went wild not only because the songs were so different and their sound so unique but that the front man was strikingly good looking. Even though he was good looking he was shy when he first started singing because he had never done it before his friend asked him to sing. He even turned his back to the audience sometimes because he was so nervous. Of course this nervousness gave way eventually and he became one of the most exciting singers on stage at the time. Girls were constantly running up on stage to kiss him so there had to be a large police presence at each concert. The other band members became a little jealous of the girls going wild for him but they knew they’d become famous if they hung in there.
All of his songs and his poetry were a bit dark so their manager kept trying to get them to mix in some more upbeat songs like they Byrds and the Turtles were doing but he refused. The music industry was hearing something they’d never heard before which was a mix of Blues and Dark Rock and it was working as seen by the packed concert halls.
When one of his songs hit number one on the charts, Ed Sullivan asked his band to be on his show. The producer of the Ed Sullivan Show asked him to revise some of his lyrics because of television standards yet during the show he didn’t change them. After the show the producer
said his group would never be on the Sullivan Show again. This made his band members livid but they couldn’t do anything about it because he was their meal ticket.
He had a reputation for being an extreme partier and he slept with his groupies all the time (something his girl friend knew) which led to twenty paternity suits against him by the end of his career. He had both alcohol and drug problems from the beginning of his career; things his band mates tried to keep under wraps for public relations purposes. He would get stoned before going on stage and the band never knew what he was going to do. He often broke into sharing his poetry while the band did what they could to keep the background music going. His girl friend who was with before he became famous asked him several times to quit the band and focus instead on his poetry but he refused.
Unfortunately he kept falling deeper and deeper into drugs and alcohol and ended up being pulled off stage several times for indecent exposure and profane language; this led to numerous arrests and concert venues banning the group. In his last concert he began cussing at the fans which led to people booing and leaving the show. His band members were fed up but didn’t know what they could do to help because he wouldn’t accept their offers.
He always had a fascination with France because so many poets were from there so he moved to Paris to live with his girl friend. One night she found him in a bath tub dead from a drug overdose; he was 27 at the time. His career skyrocketed for six years when he ended it abruptly. His band members said he was always talking about death and that it was the only way he’d finally experience peace. They said his songs directly reflected who he was because they were so dark. He never discussed his family with them even though there was no evidence he had a difficult one. He did move around a lot because of his dad’s Navy career.
The people who got hurt the most by his overdose were his original band members who formed The Doors because when Jim Morrison died so did the band. We can never know what is in someone’s mind but it appears he didn’t feel like he deserved happiness. People who knew him said he always had a death wish and said he'd only find peace when he died. He passed away depressed feeling like he had nothing left to do with his life. What an awful way to leave this place. I hope that when I'm on my way out that I'll be more like a child on Christmas day; all excited and looking forward to seeing my gifts.
He was a singer, songwriter, but most notably a poet. He read more than anyone his high school literary teacher had ever seen and the books he read were post graduate material. There were many times his teacher had to call around to see if the book this student did report on actually existed; they always did.
His father was a Rear Admiral something he never mentioned to other people. Most people thought his family died in a car accident which wasn’t true. He attended both Florida State University and UCLA. At UCLA he became interested in film and created a few shorts films.
One day a friend of his read this guy’s poem and said it was the greatest thing he’d ever read. He then asked him if he could sing and he talked him into singing the words/lyrics which when he did,
his best friend immediately said they had to form a band.
When the band got together and started singing in small clubs the crowds went wild not only because the songs were so different and their sound so unique but that the front man was strikingly good looking. Even though he was good looking he was shy when he first started singing because he had never done it before his friend asked him to sing. He even turned his back to the audience sometimes because he was so nervous. Of course this nervousness gave way eventually and he became one of the most exciting singers on stage at the time. Girls were constantly running up on stage to kiss him so there had to be a large police presence at each concert. The other band members became a little jealous of the girls going wild for him but they knew they’d become famous if they hung in there.
All of his songs and his poetry were a bit dark so their manager kept trying to get them to mix in some more upbeat songs like they Byrds and the Turtles were doing but he refused. The music industry was hearing something they’d never heard before which was a mix of Blues and Dark Rock and it was working as seen by the packed concert halls.
When one of his songs hit number one on the charts, Ed Sullivan asked his band to be on his show. The producer of the Ed Sullivan Show asked him to revise some of his lyrics because of television standards yet during the show he didn’t change them. After the show the producer
said his group would never be on the Sullivan Show again. This made his band members livid but they couldn’t do anything about it because he was their meal ticket.
He had a reputation for being an extreme partier and he slept with his groupies all the time (something his girl friend knew) which led to twenty paternity suits against him by the end of his career. He had both alcohol and drug problems from the beginning of his career; things his band mates tried to keep under wraps for public relations purposes. He would get stoned before going on stage and the band never knew what he was going to do. He often broke into sharing his poetry while the band did what they could to keep the background music going. His girl friend who was with before he became famous asked him several times to quit the band and focus instead on his poetry but he refused.
Unfortunately he kept falling deeper and deeper into drugs and alcohol and ended up being pulled off stage several times for indecent exposure and profane language; this led to numerous arrests and concert venues banning the group. In his last concert he began cussing at the fans which led to people booing and leaving the show. His band members were fed up but didn’t know what they could do to help because he wouldn’t accept their offers.
He always had a fascination with France because so many poets were from there so he moved to Paris to live with his girl friend. One night she found him in a bath tub dead from a drug overdose; he was 27 at the time. His career skyrocketed for six years when he ended it abruptly. His band members said he was always talking about death and that it was the only way he’d finally experience peace. They said his songs directly reflected who he was because they were so dark. He never discussed his family with them even though there was no evidence he had a difficult one. He did move around a lot because of his dad’s Navy career.
The people who got hurt the most by his overdose were his original band members who formed The Doors because when Jim Morrison died so did the band. We can never know what is in someone’s mind but it appears he didn’t feel like he deserved happiness. People who knew him said he always had a death wish and said he'd only find peace when he died. He passed away depressed feeling like he had nothing left to do with his life. What an awful way to leave this place. I hope that when I'm on my way out that I'll be more like a child on Christmas day; all excited and looking forward to seeing my gifts.
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