An American Poet - The Beat of Jim Morrison

"Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding

Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind.

[...]

Indian, Indian what did you die for?

Indian says,                  nothing at all."

An American Poet - The Beat of Jim Morrison




 Few artists have achieved a more legendary status than Jim Morrison. In his short life (1944-1971) he managed to become a musical superstar and a sex symbol, and the success and popularity of his band, The Doors, rivaled that of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. To the iconic lead singer, however, his success was somewhat bitter sweet as he considered himself a poet first and foremost. From an early age Morrison displayed a keen intellectual sense and an interest in and understanding of classical poetry. His poetic inspiration is noticeable throughout the entire Doors repertoire, but was also expressed in a more traditional sense.  Growing up in the time and place that he did, the sixties in California, it would have almost been impossible for Jim Morrison not to be influenced by the leading artistic figures around him. It is often said that Jack Kerouac’s On The Road had a tremendous influence on the young Jim, and that he longed to emulate the lifestyle that Kerouac described. Poets like Allen Ginsberg and Michael McClure also played a part in his development as a poet, with the latter becoming somewhat of a mentor and friend to Morrison.  

In this paper I would like to argue that Jim Morrison’s work, both in poetry and music was very much an exponent of the Beat Generation. To investigate this matter I will observe the manner in which Jim Morrison was influenced by both the writers and the poets of the Beat Generation. I will do this by looking at the general themes of both the Beat Generation and Morrison’s work. Furthermore I will look at several personal aspects of Morrison in order to analyze whether his music and his poetry can be considered “typical” Beat writing.

To come to a comparison between Morrison’s work and the Beat Generation it would probably be necessary to delve deeper into both topics. To find a definition of the Beat Generation, however, is no easy task, as most of the Beats themselves did not agree with each other on what Beat exactly was (or if there even should be a definition). Edward Foster tries to find a compromise between the numerous opinions on what Beat was.  Initially, according to Jack Kerouac, Beat meant “mind-your-own-business,” as in “beat it.” Beat culture was “poor, down and out, deadbeat, sad sleeping in subways.”[1] John Clellon Holmes described it as “more than mere weariness, (implying) the feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself.”[2] Later on, Kerouac also mentioned that Beat was derived from the Latin word “beatific.”[3]

The Beat Generation, as foster writes, was “the only rebellion around” and a genre of writing that was responsible for most powerful writing in American at that time. There were four major Beat writers, namely Williams S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Attached to those four there were many Beat associated or Beat affected authors, such as Neal Cassidy, Herbert Huncke, Carl Solomon and John Clellon Holmes, who dealt with similar material and ideas but in a more conservative style.[4] The Beat scene, as it developed, strongly encouraged and influenced each other aesthetically. Most of the writers and poets shared a particular attitude, which was largely urban and Eastern in origin, and ideas about what they felt had gone wrong with America.[5]

And indeed, as Foster continues, one of the main reasons for the Beat genre to come into existence was that it was a reaction to the materialistic and conformist way of life in America in the 1940s. Foster explains that this way of life was an understandable response to economic depression, but also an atmosphere that felt very repressive to a lot of people.[6] According to Jack Kerouac, America had lost its Frontier spirit. American society no longer accepted the “excitable, intense, independent personalities,” which, according to him, were exemplified by frontier America. This decline of the Frontier Myth made the image of the traditional American hero into a juvenile delinquent and had eradicated Kerouac’s idea of America as “…invested with wild self-believing individuality.” With the rise of the Beats, however, Kerouac felt that the traditional America he valued was starting to emerge again.[7] It was because of this fight against the conformist nature of American society at that time that a person like Neil Cassidy served as a catalyst for Ginsberg and Kerouac. It was his distrust for convention, and his “wild self-believing individuality,” that Kerouac saw as American value and which later were turned into the character of Dean Moriarty in On The Road.[8]

            Now, after identifying the groundwork of the Beat Generation it would be necessary to look at the background of Jim Morrison and The Doors. Jim Morrison was born in 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, and was the son of a naval officer. Throughout his youth he moved from California, to Virginia, to Florida, and attended a variety of schools and colleges. Morrison is often described as a student of high intelligence and keen artistic and poetic sense. His strict upbringing and the fact that the family never really settled anywhere are often seen as the seeds for Morrison’s future spirit or rebellion and detachment from society.[9] In 1964 he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he completed the undergraduate program at the University of California Los Angeles’ film school. After graduating UCLA in 1965, Morrison lived at Venice Beach and it was in this period that he formed The Doors, with Ray Manzarak, John Densmore and Robby Krieger.[10]

            The Doors experienced a meteoric rise to popularity and mainstream success. Their 1967 debut album “The Doors” featured classics such as “Light My Fire,” “Break on Trough” and “The End,” and landed the number one spot in the charts. Morrison’s rock and roll behavior played a large part in the bands image. His excessive drinking and drug use, which only increased over the years, made him unpredictable, both on stage and in real life. Doors concerts often were very chaotic and Morrison seemed to take pleasure in trying to start riots and provoking the security and police officers present, both goals in which he succeeded several times. Morrison’s death in 1971, still unexplained but most likely due to a deadly combination of alcohol and heroin, has probably only cemented The Doors legendary status.[11]

In the article "Notes on the Enduring Popularity of a Signature Doors Song" Paul S. Wolfe explains the literary appeal of The Doors as a band and of their break out hit single "Break on Through." One aspect of the music of The Doors that set them apart from other popular bands with the same kind of commercial success, Wolfe explains, was the fact that they were considered to be a truly artistic band. Jim Morrison had often told people that he considered himself a poet first and foremost, and that The Doors was his way to get his poetic message across to people. The name The Doors, which was coined by Morrison, is a reference to a William Blake poem: “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is, infinite.” The Doors of Perception was also the title of a study endorsing the use of drugs, which was written by writer and poet Aldous Huxley.[12] Morrison’s other artistic inspirations included several classic writers and philosophers, such as Nietzsche, Rimbaud, and Baudelaire.[13] This shows that, in essence, the band was something more than a typical commercial rock band. Next to the literary aspect there were also the themes of The Doors’ music that set them apart from other popular bands in their era. While The Doors are often associated with hippie culture and the peace and love movement, thematically they were actually quite the opposite of the typical sixties bands. And while The Doors was indeed a band that thrived on rebellion, theirs was not a peaceful one, but one of chaos and wild, expressive individuality. In fact, several facets of The Doors were more in tune with the Beat Generation and Kerouac’s aforementioned ideas of traditional American values.

One theme that is very present in both Kerouac’s and Morrison’s writings is death, and its implications. In his book Naked Angels, John Tytell attributes Kerouac’s fascination with death to the death of his brother Gerard, who had died at age of four from a rheumatic heart condition. Gerard’s sickbed had been long and painful, and had a traumatic effect on the young Jack. Tytell notes that there is an unusual stress on morality in Kerouac’s fiction, which may stem to some extend from the impact of Gerard’s illness and which reinforced both the religious strain in Kerouac’s character and the bond between him and his mother. [14] Often, Tytell continues, the resolution in Kerouac’s work, as in Burroughs’ and less obviously in Ginsberg’s, is a drive for annihilation and death where traumatic ecstasies of birth will be finally recreated. One example of this can be found in the poem “Hymn:”

                        “Hymn” (appeal to God)

So whatever plan you have for me

                               Splitter of majesty

                               Make it short

                                               brief

                               Make it snappy

                                               bring me home to the Eternal Mother

                                               today

                               At your service anyway,

                                               (and until) [15]

Another example comes from Kerouac’s novel Big Sur, in which the character Duluoz cries out:

“O the sad music of it all, I’ve done it all, seen it all, done everything with everybody’ I say phone in hand ‘the whole world’s coming on like a high school sophomore eager to learn what he calls New things, mind you the same old sing-song truth of death…because the reason I yell death so much is because I’m really yelling life, because you can’t have death without life…” [16]

Death was also a distinct recurring theme in the lyrics of Jim Morrison. Rolling Stone critic Mikal Gilmore wrote that “Morrison seemed to understand that any generation so intent on giving itself permission to go as far as it could [with respect to drug use and sex, for instance] was also giving itself a license for destruction, and he seemed to gain both delight and affirmation from that understanding.”[17] The Doors’ drummer John Densmore notes the difference between Morrison’s lyrics and other contemporary bands: “while many of the [1960’s groups) such as… The Beatles and The Rolling Stones sang about peace and love, [Morrison] sang about life and death.”[18]

            Another very atypical topic in popular music that is very present in The Doors repertoire is that of the relation with parents, and more particular the story of Oedipus Rex. One of the most recognized Doors songs, “The End,” tells of the transformation of Jim Morrison into Oedipus Rex:

“The killer awoke before dawn, He put his boots on

He took a face from the ancient gallery, And walked on down the hall

He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he

Paid a visit to his brother, and then he

Walked on down the hall

And he came to a door, And he looked inside

Father?

Yes son?

I want to kill you

Mother?

I want to [fuck you]” [19]

Jim Morrison, in real life, also had a troubled relation with his parents. After his graduation at UCLA he broke off the contact with his family and was actually claiming for a long time in interviews that he was an orphan.[20] The Oedipus subject is also very important in Kerouac’s work and his life. In Naked Angels much is made of Kerouac’s rather distorted relation with his overbearing mother, Gabrielle Ange Kerouac. It is generally assumed that she dominated her son, and that much of his need for privacy and his suspicion of institutions can be traced to her influence. According to Tytell the tie between the two became extreme close after father Leo Kerouac died. Kerouac had “internalized an obligation to replace his father as provider and felt immense guilt about not being able to do so.”[21] Throughout his novels it becomes clear that Kerouac was indeed aware of the dysfunctional family relation and the influence his mother had over him. In his novel The Subterraneans, Leo Percipied, after losing Mardou Fox, has a vision of his mother protecting him:

“I saw bending over me the visage of my mother, with impenetrable eyes and moveless lips and round cheekbones and glasses that glinted and hid major parts of her expression which at first I thought was a vision of horror that I might shudder at, but it didn’t make me shudder--“ [22]

In Tristessa he writes:

“I’ve screwed everything up with the mama again, Oedipus Rex, I’ll tear out my eyes in the morning – San Francisco, New York, Padici, Medu, Mantua or anywhere, I’m always the King Sucker, who was made out to be the positional son in woman and man relationships, Ahh-gaaaaa—(Indian howl in the night, to campo-country sweet musica)—“King, bing, I’m aways in the way for momma and poppa—When am I gonna be poppa?”[23]

            A third thematic connection between Jim Morrison and the Beat Generation was their idolization of nature and the wild frontier in general and Native American cultures as shining examples of this. In several Beat (related) works we can find this reference of more traditional lifestyles. In novels like On The Road and Holmes’ Go, the character often talk about traveling to Mexico, and in Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest Chief Bromden’s Native American background plays a large role in the story. The idea mostly seems to boil down to a form of the “Noble Savage” idea, respect for traditional ways of life that are closer to nature than we will ever be. Allen Ginsberg, in his article “A Definition of the Beat Generation,” mentions that “respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures” are a typical Beat characteristic. “As proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from On The Road: “The Earth is an Indian thing.””[24] Native American culture also plays a large part in Morrison’s work. One story he often told, and which was made into the song “Dawn’s Highway,” tells of how he believes he has a Native American soul inside him.

“Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding. Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind. Me and my -ah- mother and father - and a grandmother and a grandfather - were driving through the desert, at dawn, and a truck load of Indian workers had either hit another car, or just - I don't know what happened - but there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. So the car pulls up and stops. That was the first time I tasted fear. I musta' been about four - like a child is like a flower, his head is just floating in the breeze, man. The reaction I get now thinking about it, looking back - is that the souls of the ghosts of those dead Indians...maybe one or two of 'em...were just running around freaking out, and just leaped into my
soul. And they're still in there.” [25]

Morrison often referred to himself a shaman, and his onstage performance would include shamanistic dances used to induce himself and the public into a state of trance (with the help of drugs). This persona Morrison called the “Lizard King.”

“I am the Lizard King

I can do anything

For seven years I dwelt

In the loose palace of exile

Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth” [26]

The desert had an important place in this image, as this was the place of exile, where one could find himself and attain higher states of awareness.[27]

In his Lizard King persona Morrison seemed to resemble Jack Kerouac on a personal level too. Tytell describes Kerouac as a figure of antithesis and contradiction, much like the both rebellious and poetic image Morrison created for himself. Kerouac fled west searching for the freedom and innocence of the lost frontier and to Mexico, a place distant and different from own culture, in much the same way the Lizard King used the dessert.[28] In several biographies it is noted that Kerouac’s On The Road was one of Morrison’s favorite books and Morrison identified himself strongly with the character of Dean Moriarty. Morrison was often heard citing the books last line: “I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found.” [29] Even in death Kerouac and Morrison seem to resemble each other. It was John Clellon Holmes who, in “The Great Rememberer” wrote: “And suddenly I felt, with a shiver, that Kerouac would not live much beyond forty. Such voracious appetites, such psychic vulnerability, such singleness of purpose, must ream a man out at the end, and the Kerouac I knew was as incapable of turning away from his own consuming consciousness, as he was of living for long once he had been burned out by it.”[30] This sentiment has been echoed by many of those close to Morrison. Michael McClure, for example, wrote: “Jim was a person who lived very intensely, so he was very happy and very unhappy from minute to minute. Just as they say love and hate go together, I would say life and death go together. I mean, accompanying a great awareness of death always goes a great sense of life. I know from talking to him that he never expected to live very long. He never said so directly, but I know those were his feelings.”[31]

When returning to the Ginsberg article mentioned before, “A Definition of the Beat Generation,” we can find a definite link between the characteristics of the Beats and the lyrics of Morrison. Next to the Native American theme, Ginsberg mentions the “liberation of the word from censorship,” a battle that The Doors definitely fought when defending the many allusions to drug use and, for example, the Oedipus part in “The End.” Furthermore, Ginsberg writes of the “evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form as evidenced by (…) popular musicians influenced in the late fifties and sixties by Beat generation poets’ and writers’ work.” “Spiritual liberation” was also definitely a theme in Morrison’s music, though “women’s liberation” and “black liberation” probably not so much. In fact, several sources claim that Morrison was somewhat of a “casual” racist, a characteristic that may be traced to his southern roots.[32] Finally, there is the “opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization.” Morrison, probably in a way acting out against his own strict naval officer father, thrived on shocking the establishment.[33] Considering Ginsberg’s opinion on what made the Beat Generation, one can definitely see how Jim Morrison fits into this picture.

 Next to all the thematic similarities, probably both a matter of Morrison being inspired by Kerouac and others and coincidence, there was an actual real life connection between the Beats and Jim Morrison. Morrison befriended author and poet Michael McClure, a prominent member of the Beat Generation. Initially, McClure intended Morrison to be lead in a film adaptation of his controversial play “The Beard.” It was McClure that became interested in Morrison as a poet, and helped him get some of his poems published. Morrison had always strived towards being a poet.[34] McClure mentions: “Jim was very serious about being a poet, and he didn’t want to come in on top of being Jim-Morrison-the-big-rock-singer.” McClure, however, is adamant about the fact that Morrison already was an accomplished poet before McClure got involved with him, and that their relationship was not one of a teacher and student, but of equals. “I think that any two people who know each other closely probably influence each other. If I influenced him, he influenced me as well. It's hard to have a friend whose work you like where there's not some kind of mutual feedback.
It's perfectly obvious in reading this book that Jim already had his own style and that he was already his own person. As to his potential for growth - well, he started out so good that I don't know how much better he could've gotten. He started off like a heavyweight.”[35] When comparing some of both men’s work, one could indeed see that their styles complemented each other. McClure’s focus on nature and the animalistic tendencies in people, like the “animal poems” in the Ghost Tantras, resembles the idea of the Lizard King’s shamanistic performances or the way in which he would often roar out his lyrics or poems. The poem in which McClure describes a peyote trip is also very reminiscent of Morrison’s own drug experimentations and writing style. In the “Peyote Poem” he talks about the drug, form of mescaline that can be found in the Californian desert, and which Jim Morrison also used as a way to expand his mind.

“Clear — the senses bright — sitting in the black chair — Rocker –
the white walls reflecting the color of clouds
moving over the sun. Intimacies! The rooms
not important — but like divisions of all space
of all hideousness and beauty. I hear
the music of myself and write it down
for no one to read. I pass fantasies as they
sing to me with Circe-Voices. I visit
among the peoples of myself and know all
I need to know
I KNOW EVERYTHING! I PASS INTO THE ROOM”[36]

Morrison’s style definitely resembles McClure’s, especially in this case, as Morrison also tackles the subject of drug use:

“I'll tell you this... No eternal reward will forgive us now For wasting the dawn. Back in those days everything was simpler and more confused One summer night, going to the pier I ran into two young girls The blonde one was called Freedom The dark one, Enterprise We talked and they told me this story Now listen to this... I'll tell you about Texas radio and the big beat Soft driven, slow and mad Like some new language Reaching your head with the cold, sudden fury of a divine messenger Let me tell you about heartache and the loss of god Wandering, wandering in hopeless night Out here in the perimeter there are no stars Out here we is stoned Immaculate.”[37]

           

In closing, I believe that there is a definite connection between Jim Morrison and the Beat Generation. Looking at other popular bands in their era, The Doors were certainly in a genre of their own. They were not part of the hippie movement and with unconventional themes in pop music, such as death, Oedipus Rex, and idolization of Native American culture and the desert, they are an exponent of the Beat Generation, and especially of Kerouac’s writing. Like the Beat Generation, The Doors were about rebellion. Jim Morrison represented the wild self-believing individuality of what Kerouac felt was the true American spirit.  And also, when seen through Allen Ginsberg’s ideas on what exactly the Beats were, The Doors are very much part of that genre, with a focus on fighting against censorship, the military complex, and for spiritual liberation and reference of native cultures. Jim Morrison as a person also had several remarkable traits on common with Kerouac, although it of course always remains to be seen how much of this was actually real and how much of it was a constructed image. Morrison for one, has shown to be a master of crafting images for himself (the story about the dead Native Americans on the high way, for example, is considered to be highly embellished by Morrison) and talked about being a fan of On The Road often. There is little denying, however that his drunken, wild man, riot inciting rock star persona had some “Dean Moriarty” to it. And the fact remains that there was a very direct line to the Beat Generation, in the form of friendship with Michael McClure. McClure himself mentions that Morrison already was an accomplished poet before the two met, and that the two had styles which complemented each other.

Bibliography

Davis, Stephen. Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend. Gotham, New York. 2005.

Doors, The. Absolutely Live. Elektra, July 1970.

Doors, The. The Doors. Elektra, January 1967.

Foster, Edward Halsey. Understanding The Beats. University of South Carolina Press, 1992.

Fowlie, Wallace. Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet. Duke University Press, 1994.

Ginsberg, Allen. “A Definition of the Beat Generation” in Friction, 1 (Winter 1982), p. 50-52.

McClure, Michael. “Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend” in Rolling Stone (Issue no. 88, August 5, 1971).

McClure, Michael. Peyote Poem. San Francisco: Wallace Berman. 1958.

Morrison, Jim & The Doors.  An American Prayer. Elektra, November 1978.[38]

Tytell, John. Naked Angels: the lives and literature of the Beat Generation. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1976.

Wolfe, Arnold S. “Notes on the Enduring Popularity of a Signature Doors Song” in The Journal of Communication Inquiry, 1999 vol:23 iss:1 p. 37-62.

---

[1] Edward Halsey Foster, Understanding The Beats, University of South Carolina Press, 1992, p.7-8.

[2]Ibid., p.7-8.

[3]Ibid.

[4]Ibid, p. 1.

[5]Foster, Understanding The Beats, p.4-5.

[6]Ibid, p. 2.

[7]Ibid, p. 8-9.

[8]Foster, Understanding The Beats, p. 11.

[9] Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, Gotham, New York. 2005, p. 10-11.

[10] Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend. p. 57.

[11] Ibid. p. 99-125.

[12]Arnold S. Wolfe “Notes on the Enduring Popularity of a Signature Doors Song” in The Journal of Communication Inquiry,( 1999 vol:23 iss:1 p. 37-62) p. 56-57.

[13] Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, p. 57-60.

[14]John Tytell. Naked Angels: the lives and literature of the Beat Generation. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1976, p. 55.

[15] Ibid., p. 206.

[16] Tytell, Naked Angels, p. 206.

[17] Arnold S. Wolfe “Notes on the Enduring Popularity of a Signature Doors Song,” p. 47.

[18] Ibid, p. 47.

[19] The Doors, “The End” on The Doors (Elektra, January 1967).

[20]Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, p. 34-35.

[21]Tytell, Naked Angels, p. 54-55.

[22]Ibid, p. 204.

[23]Tytell, Naked Angels,, p. 204.

[24] Allen Ginsberg, “A Definition of the Beat Generation” in Friction, 1 (Winter 1982), p. 50-52.

[25] Jim Morrison & The Doors, “Dawn’s Highway” on An American Prayer (Elektra, November 1978).

[26] The Doors, “The Celebration of the Lizard” on Absolutely Live (Elektra, July 1970).

[27]Wallace Fowlie. Rimbaud and Jim Morrison: The Rebel as Poet. Duke University Press, 1994, p. 84-85.

[28] Tytell, Naked Angels, p. 52-53.

[29] Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, p. 89.

[30] Tytell, Naked Angels, p. 206.

[31]Michael McClure. “Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend” in Rolling Stone (Issue no. 88, August 5, 1971).

[32] Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, p. 145-146.

[33] Ginsberg, “A Definition of the Beat Generation,” p. 50-52

[34] McClure. “Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend.”

[35] McClure. “Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend.”

[36] Michael McClure, Peyote Poem (San Francisco, Wallace Berman, 1958).

[37] Morrison “Stoned Immaculate” on An American Prayer.

[38] An American Prayer was originally just a work of poetry by Jim Morrison. The Audio version that I used was released several years later and included several songs and instrumental background music by The Doors. All original poems remained intact and are present on the audio version.