Line Out - Comments on �Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind�

Comment by Kathy Fennessy

Kathy Fennessy — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:30:46 -0800

Great choices! It drives me nuts when people slag the Doors, as they're usually thinking of songs other than these--or they're so caught up in Morrison's antics that they aren't even thinking about the music. Sure, he/they could be irritating, but certainly not always.

Comment by segal

segal — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:47:40 -0800

Thanks.

I think you nailed it, Kathy. Hatred of Morrison's shamanic persona and his sometimes ill-conceived poetry deafen some people to the more nuanced and adventurous songs in the Doors' canon.

Comment by dj girth

dj girth — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 09:41:34 -0800

And the organ part mixes really well with Diamanda Galas' 'You Must Be Certain of the Devil'

Comment by MattyDread

MattyDread — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:52:12 -0800

Actually, it's the lyrical pretension of these kinds of songs that made me hate Jim Morrison and the Doors. It's like listening to a 15-year-old who's read a book or two and now thinks he's deep.

Just do a close analysis of your headline, lifted from the the (silly) middle part of Peace Frog. What does it mean for ghosts to crowd your mind? Isn't "young child" redundant? Why is that child's mind a fragile eggshell? Isn't "fragile eggshell" redundant? (Is there any other kind of eggshell?) I mean, what the fuck is he talking about? Does it actually mean anything, or is it just a bunch of deep-sounding words and two-word phrases strung together?

My favorite college cover band did that song, and simply skipped the cheesy poetry part. I do agree, the rest of the song's pretty tight.

But I always liked his dumb drinkin blues songs better, like Roadhouse Blues and the song that starts off with him yelling "I been down so goddamn long...that it looks like up to me." Now that's a rock song.

Comment by segal

segal — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:28:36 -0800

Yeah, that line bugs me, as an editor.
Heard in the context of the song, it's more tolerable. I genuinely think Morrison felt that it meant something to him.

"I been down so goddamn long...that it looks like up to me"--that's a paraphrase of a book title by Richard Fari�a. I'm not trying to be contrary, but I think the Doors were at their most pedestrian when attempting the blues.

You could pick apart Bob Dylan's lyrics, too, and find all sorts of nonsensical lines. Just sayin'.

Comment by Kathy Fennessy

Kathy Fennessy — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:40:20 -0800

I dig your last paragraph, MattyDread. I've always liked "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" myself. Maybe it helps to be a drunkard, but Morrison really nailed that one. As for the pretentiousness, it's so over-the-top it often dissolves into comedy, but Coppola turns it into a virtue in "Apocalypse Now."