50 Years Ago: The Doors Sparked Controversy On The Ed Sullivan Show When They Crossed The Line - The Infamous Performance That Infuriated Ed Sullivan!

The Ed Sullivan Show / YouTube

by Society of Rock: 

http://societyofrock.com/50-years-ago-the-doors-sparked-controversy-on-the-ed-sullivan-show-when-they-crossed-the-line/

Early into their career, legendary rock band The Doors broke onto the music scene in a massive way. Their hard hitting instrumentation and lyrical content made them a force to be reckoned with. They were provocative and controversial, to put it lightly. This was ever so evident when The Doorsappeared for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show.

If you’re unfamiliar with The Ed Sullivan Show, here’s what you need to know. If you were in a band and played as a musical guest on The Ed Sullivan Show, the next day, you were famous. It was that simple. Case in point… The Beatles!

Now here is where the controversy comes in. In 1967, The Doors were set to play on The Ed Sullivan Show. All seemed well until Ed Sullivan told the band that they have to alter the lyrics of the song they were playing, which was “Light My Fire”, due to the sexual implications. The Doors were scrambling trying to figure out what to do. Jim Morrison assured the band not to worry. As soon as they get on stage, Jim Morrison realizes that it’s live TV and proceeds to go with the original lyric, thus going against Ed’s wishes.

Soon after the performance, Ed Sullivan bursts into their dressing screaming and cursing them out – saying that they’ll never play The Ed Sullivan Show again. To which Jim Morrison said… “But we just did…”

VIDEOS: William S. Burroughs “Sings” R.E.M. and The Doors, Backed by the Original Bands

by Josh Jones, Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/william-s-burroughs-sings-r-e-m-and-the-doors-backed-by-the-original-bands.html

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness



The nineties saw a lot of alternative bands not only wear their influences on their sleeves, but also bring them up on stage and into the studio.

William S. Burroughs was one such luminary, appearing on Tom Waits’ 1993 The Black Rider, a collaboration with Kurt Cobain titled “Priest They Called Him,” and September Songs, a 1997 Kurt Weill tribute album featuring the likes of PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, and Lou Reed.

In 1996, Burroughs got together with R.E.M. for a cover of their “Star Me Kitten” from ‘92’s Automatic for the People. In the track above, hear Burroughs recite Michael Stipe’s lyrics over the band’s instrumentation.

The recording comes from an album called Songs in the Key of X: Music From and Inspired By the X-Files, which included Frank Black, Soul Coughing, Foo Fighters, and PM Dawn.

Burroughs introduces his rendition by citing a much more classical source for his cabaret approach to the song: Marlene Dietrich. “Not one of my favorite people,” he mumbles, dourly. See perhaps why.



Burroughs didn’t only work musically with contemporary alt bands in the ’90s, and he had a long, illustrious recording career several decades prior.

In a mash-up that brings together a band closer to Burroughs’ prime, hear the beat writer’s rhythmic deadpan of Jim Morrison’s “Is Everybody In?,” backed by the surviving Doors.

Despite the original players, it’s still a very ‘90s production (though released in 2000).

From a Doors tribute album called Stoned Immaculate, the song sits, somewhat uncomfortably, next to covers and interpretations by Stone Temple Pilots, The Cult, Creed, Smash Mouth, Days of the New, and Train, and a bit cozier next to stalwarts like John Lee Hooker, Exene Cervenka, and Bo Diddley.

Burroughs’ is the stand-out track among many that also feature the Doors as a backing band, although in an acid-jazz production - with samples of soul music and Morrison himself - that may sound a bit dated.

But Burroughs is as dry as ever, underlining the sheer creepiness of Morrison’s poetry in a tribute that also highlights the debt Morrison owed him.

VIDEO: Best Fall Song: “Indian Summer” by The Doors

by The Music Court: http://musiccourtblog.com/2013/10/04/best-fall-song-indian-summer-by-the-doors/

There is nothing quite like the long drawl of hazy hot day in New York … in October.

I wore a pair of blue jeans today, and my legs felt like they were covered in heating pads.

I’m certainly not complaining, as inevitably the icy grasp of winter will soon chill the air and my steering wheel, but I do find weather’s mercurial nature odd.

Since many others do as well, there is a term to describe a string of days like the one New York experienced today: Indian Summer.

In my brief search for best Fall song, I noticed that there are not many great Fall songs. Summer and Winter - the two polar extremes - dominate the music landscape. But seasonal songs are popular, and Fall does have a few good ones.

I listed some in the poll and have chosen one from that list as my personal favorite Fall song, which, as the above paragraph suggests, is “Indian Summer” by The Doors, a subdued track off of the 1970 album, Morrison Hotel. 

The song, like many songs by the Doors, is strange - much like a patch of Indian Summer. The lyric is punctuated by Jim Morrison’s sensual - almost uncomfortable - voice. It’s soothing in a creepy way. Typical Morrison! He sings:

I love you the best
Better than all the rest.
I love you the best
Better than all the rest.
That I meet in the summer.
Indian Summer.
That I meet in the summer.
Indian Summer.
I love you the best
Better than all the rest.

“Indian Summer” has the feel of a song that can drag on forever. It is hypnotizing. It has the feel of a hypnopompic hallucination.

The skilled percussion, plucked guitar, and understated keyboard wakes me up, but Morrison’s voice maintains a lulling quality. In that way, it is almost mystical and ethereal. It is metaphor for an Indian Summer - hazy, drowsy, and unexpected. Excellent stuff.

“The Lost Paris Tapes” Preserves Jim Morrison’s Final Poetry Recordings from 1971

by Josh Jones, Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/the-lost-paris-tapes-preserves-jim-morrisons-final-poetry-recordings-from-1971.html

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness


Billed and sold as the ninth and final studio album by The Doors, An American Prayer tends to divide Jim Morrison fans.

On the one hand, it’s a captivating document of the late singer reading his free-associative poetry: dark, weirdly beautiful psychedelic lyrical fugues.

On the other hand, it’s only a “Doors album” in that the three remaining members convened in 1978 to record original music over the deceased Morrison’s solo readings.

While the resulting product is both a haunting tribute and an immersive late-night listen, many have felt that the band’s rendering did violence to the departed singer’s original intentions (listen to and download it here for free).

An American Prayer‘s readings were recorded unaccompanied in March 1969 and December 1970. In 1971, Morrison joined his long-time lover Pamela Courson in Paris. That same year, Jim Morrison died, under some rather mysterious circumstances, at the age of 27.

Before his death, however, he made what is said to be his final studio recording, a poetry reading/ performance with a couple of unknown Parisian street musicians.

Although Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek allegedly dismissed this recording as “drunken gibberish,” Doors fans have circulated it since 1994 - combined with a 37-minute poetry reading from 1968 - as a bootleg called The Lost Paris Tapes.

While it’s true that An American Prayer is a powerful and haunting album, it’s also true that The Lost Paris Tapes represents the unadorned, unedited Morrison, in full control of how his voice sounds, and without his famous band.

I cannot help you find a copy of The Lost Paris Tapes, but many of the tracks are on Youtube, such as “Orange County Suite” (top), an affecting piece written for Pamela Courson.

Other excerpts from the bootleg, such as “Hitler Poem” (above) show Morrison in a very strange mood indeed, and show off his unsettling sense of humor.

While the work on The Lost Paris Tapes ranges in quality, all of it preserves the seductive voice and cryptic imagination that Jim Morrison never lost, even as he began to slip away into alcoholism. 

RAY MANZAREK DIED TODAY IN GERMANY AT AGE 74

by Andy Greene, ROLLING STONE, on RetroKimmer.com: http://www.retrokimmer.com/2013/05/ray-manzarek-died-today-in-germany-at.html

Doors co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek died today in Rosenheim, Germany after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74.

"I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," Doors guitarist Robby Krieger said in a statement.

"I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."

Manzarek grew up in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles in 1962 to study film at UCLA.

It was there he first met Doors singer Jim Morrison, though they didn't talk about forming a band until they bumped into each other on a beach in Venice, California in the summer of 1965 and Morrison told Manzarek that he had been working on some music.

"And there it was!" Manzarek wrote in his 1998 biography, Light My Fire. "It dropped quite simply, quite innocently from his lips, but it changed our collective destinies."

Read more:

VIDEO: Love Street by The Doors

"Love Street" is a 1968 song by The Doors which appears on their album Waiting For The Sun. The song is about the street in Laurel Canyon, California, where Jim Morrison lived with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. Love Street was one of the many songs Jim wrote for Pam.


Uploaded to YouTube by 1943Amalia

Lyrics

She lives on Love Street
Lingers long on Love Street
She has a house and garden
I would like to see what happens

She has robes and she has monkeys
Lazy diamond studded flunkies
She has wisdom and knows what to do
She has me and she has you

She has wisdom and knows what to do
She has me and she has you

I see you live on Love Street
There's this store where the creatures meet
I wonder what they do in there
Summer Sunday and a year
I guess I like it fine, so far

She lives on Love Street
Lingers long on Love Street
She has a house and garden
I would like to see what happens

VIDEO: Soul Kitchen by The Doors

Hi all,

Here's one of my favourites from the 1967 album, The Doors.

VIDEO: Interview with Jim Morrison's Father and Sister

Hi all,

Here is a fascinating insight of Jim Morrison through a series of interviews with two people who very close to Jim. This is from the "When You're Strange" DVD bonus material. Fascinating!


Uploaded to YouTube by Helge Nicholson

VIDEO: The Crystal Ship by The Doors

Hi all,

A classic from the Doors. The lyrics are below, enjoy!


Uploaded to YouTube by Anonymous343434

Before you slip into unconsciousness
I'd like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss

The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We'll meet again, we'll meet again

Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather cry, I'd rather fly

The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I'll drop a line