"Yeah, back of the Roadhouse
They've got some bungalows
Yeah, now back of the Roadhouse
They've got some bungalows
And that's for the people
Who like to go down slow."
The attempt here is to turn the Roadhouse into a way of life, and not just a place to drink. At the Roadhouse, you can drink to your heart's content and not have to worry about driving afterward. If you want to "go down slow," the bungalows are for you. But these thoughts are secondary, the Party is primary. Everything and everyone derives its relevance from how they relate to the Party. The Party appears as technicolor excitement - real life appears as monochromatic tedium.
"Roadhouse Blues" is an alcoholic's hymn, and Morrison sings it as such. Morrison's voicing of "Let it roll, baby, roll," in the chorus, nearly explodes out of his face. After a musical and scat singing interlude, the passion returns. Morrison rouses himself out of his beery reverie.
"Save our city!
Save our city,
Ah right now."
Morrison feels a threat from the outside. His city of the Roadhouse is always under siege from the sham forces of morality: those who would deprive him of his freedom to escape, those who would force his attention upon reality. They must be thwarted! We must be allowed the freedom to self-destruct. This is our inalienable right.
"I woke up this morning
And got myself a beer
I woke up this morning
And got myself a beer
The future's uncertain
And the end is always near."
This verse is the greatest celebration of the self-destructive glory of the intellect over common sense and traditional values in the history of pop music. Rationalization is a tricky and treacherous path around the steep and unyielding mountain of the instinct to self-preservation. Great efforts of the mind are required to rationalize actions that are obviously contrary to fundamental biological imperatives. Only man, with his big gray brain, can choose to live his life so contrary to instinct. There is a frisson that accompanies this realization. Only man can appreciate his own cleverness and self-deception.
So Jim and the boys go to the Roadhouse - they have a real good time. They eventually pass out in the bungalows with some honky tonk angels. What does a real man do the next morning? Does he feel regret and think, "I can't go on like this, I'm killing myself"? Hell no - wouldn't be manly. Jim strove to be nothing if not manly. The real man gets up and pounds back a cold one to take the edge off. "You know what the best cure for a hangover is? Well? Do ya? Huh, huh, stay drunk!"
Article comments
1 - Denyse Gattorna
I'd like to hear an analysis of "The End", specifically regarding the intense imagery and graphic symbolism he used (i.e.: Roman wilderness of pain, weird scenes inside the gold mine, riding the blue bus, the 7 mile long snake, the ancient lake and the reference to the Oedipus complex).
2 - Shark
yea, c'mon.
huah.
Great music and nice analysis, Eric.
It sounds ridiculous, but Morrison was probably the biggest influence in my young life. Sent me off on a trail of exploration that wound through Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Maldoror, Breton, Tzara, Dali, Duchamp, the Beats, writing, filmmaking, art, performance, theatre, music, oh--- and sex drugs and rock and roll.
I probably owe the first step on that long literary and art-strewn path to a song I heard in the summer of 67: Break on Through. Heady times.
I'm lucky I survived, too.
Oh, and I saw the Doors live three times. Pre fame, height of fame, and post-fame. Whew.
3 - JR
The Doors didn't have anywhere near the impact on me that The Monkees did. It was their TV show that got me into music, sending me off on a trail of... uh, listening to more music.
4 - Shark
JR, I knew I'd be mocked for that. As I typed it, a voice in my head said, "Please don't tell, please, please."
Like a fool, I ignored it. Wonder if I can get BB to petition management to delete that comment?
re: Monkees trail - I heard it leads directly to Menudo. And don't step in the Medoodoo.
5 - Josh
An analysis of "The End" would indeed be interesting. I happen to know that Greek legend is used throughout the song, first describing the ancient gallery of masks ("He took a face from the ancient gallery...") and then in the legendary Oedipus section. As far as the 'Roman wilderness of pain' and things like that are concerned, I'm almost positive that it had something to do with literature and/or philosophy, since Jim was such a devoted intellectual and an absolute EXPERT on these things.
Anyway, The Doors are the best and Morrison is the man. Nobody had more charisma, charm or uniqueness. Nobody.
6 - JR
Actually Shark, I didn't mean to mock you. I was more making a reference to a little controversy somewhere else around here. You'll never guess who started it.
And seeing The Doors live is very impressive. On another post around here was a thread on first concerts. You'd rank pretty high, but the woman who saw the Stones in '65 probably has you beat.
7 - Eric Olsen
Denyse, I don't talk a whole lot about "The End" specifically, but I do talk a lot about thefirst album in general here.
Thanks Shark, and I'd love to see a discussion those shows - I never saw them live, was a little too young. I can't imagine what you would be ashemed on in that comment.
And Josh, I agree, as we have seen here where JR links and elsewhere, Morrison and the Doors are still underrated.
8 - Shark
JR, re. Mocking - hey, I deserved it! Feel free to mock anytime ya want.
Thanks for the link to "The Great Monkees Controversy" -- Big Al sure knows how to hurt,don't he!?
I don't think music history will have much to say about the Monkees, but their film, "HEAD" is a treasured part of my DVD library.
re: Stones 65 -
I can't top that, but my wife can: Beatles in 1964.
She couldn't hear them, but she did get a good look.
*Better yet, she kept her Beatle dolls in the unopened boxes. (our retirement, post-Enron)
9 - Steph
Best article/review I've read on that complex, beautiful, crazy, disturbed man. I will be looking into more of your writing!
10 - Eric Berlin
Great stuff, EO, glad I came across this classic from BC's past.
Growing up I was immensely attracted to dark, romantic, self-destructive creative forces such as Morrison and Jack Kerouac and Kurt Cobain.
Weird anecdote: For the entire three hours that I spent taking the SATs in the 11th grade, the "Woke up this morning / got myself a beer" verse blared and taunted in my head. Perhaps it was my own self-conscious trying to drive me into some kind of unknown and vaguely perceived future.
I love your description of existentialism and where Morrison himself sat in terms of morality. I think many of The Doors' best known songs play with this theme of boundaries, of escaping morality and hurling through the darkness to explode in a cacophony of life force, destructive force: Break On Through, End of the Night, Light My Fire, The End, and Roadhouse and Riders as you've illustrated here.
As I've gotten older I've become more attracted to lesser known Doors' tracks, where a more wistful (wiser?) Morrison at times emerges. Soul Kitchen is certainly a powerhouse, perhaps because the poetry is set to imagery set in the real.
Lighting another cigarette in the soul's kitchen, learning to forget, yearning to forget, is for me a much more powerful image than some kind of fool's journey to the fatalistic beyond, you know?
11 - Angela
Jim Morrison is a rock ledgend that will live with people today and many more to come. he has inspired me and made me think about alot. thank you Jim Morrison!
12 - rider
I can't believe that I read this.
As I was reading, I kept saying "yes, that's right".
Until now I thought that I am the only one that is depressed, disturbed, violent, and intelligent enough to understand the lyrics of "Riders on the storm".
So it seems I was wrong.
And the analysis of "Roadhouse blues" - wow!
Thanks, Eric
13 - steven ufkes
Very impressive, this gave me a lot of understanding about some of the strange things that Jim Morrison wrote.