Born on December 8, 1943, Jim Morrison was the first rock star to be arrested on stage for having sex backstage. He died reportedly of a heart attack caused by drug abuse on July 3, 1971
TORONTO: “When I was back there in seminary school, There was a person there Who put forth the proposition, That you can petition the Lord with prayer Petition the lord with prayer, Petition the lord with prayer…..(significant pause) (loud vocals) YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!”
So go the immortal lyrics sung by Jim Morrison of The Doors on their song ‘The Soft Parade’ from the album of the same name. Most college kids in our dorm in the academic calendar year of 1969-1970 would be reciting it not just because it was cool but also reflected an atheistic ideal which was the rage in those days.
Also Jim Morrison was cool because he was the first rock star ever to be arrested on stage during a live performance in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1967 for berating the police and calling them names after they had fired mace on him earlier in the evening for having sex with a groupie backstage.
After that incident, he also allegedly pulled down his pants at a concert in Miami, Florida in 1969 and bared his butt (known as ‘shooting the moon’) for the audience to admire. He was subsequently arrested for indecent exposure.
However, he was considered über-cool because of his leather pants, concho belts and improvising poetry (the first-ever rock frontman to do so) at his concerts to go along with the music. For all this and more, he remains one of the most mythologized and romanticized figures in rock history. He went on to infuse poetry into many of his songs and recorded albums.
So revered were The Doors that all over the world tribute bands sprouted up. Even in India, there was a tribute band in Bombay headed by Gary Lawyer, who became known as the “Indian Lizard King’ (Jim was known as The Lizard King because of the way he moved on stage) who would perform at various venues, including the famous Rang Bhavan at St. Xavier’s College. Gary still performs some of The Doors legendary tunes like ‘Riders on The Storm’, ‘L.A. Woman’, ‘Light My Fire’ and ‘Roadhouse Blues’ among many others (till date there is a continental food restaurant in Pune called Roadhouse Blues which is popular among college students).
Even though Jim Morrison never was into Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (The Beatles’ guru), his three bandmates – Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore – attended the guru’s classes in the US but never visited India in those hirsute days of rock and roll.
The Doors had a short history of performing live together, maybe 4-5 years, before Jim Morrison was found dead in Paris in 1971, apparently of a heroin overdose.
Details surrounding his death still remain unclear. That he died at the age of 27, the same age as other legends like Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones) in 1969, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix in 1970, only added to his mystique.
Jim Morrison was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris alongside greats like Moliere, Chopin, Oscar Wilde and several members of the Tata family (yes, the famous pioneers of India’s industry).
A movie in his memory was also made with Val Kilmer as Jim and Meg Ryan as his long-time girlfriend Pamela Courson.
Jim Morrison was born on December 8, 1943, the day of the Immaculate Conception. Long before December 8 became synonymous with John Lennon’s death (he was shot in New York City on December 8, 1980), radio stations would play tributes to Jim by blaring out songs by The Doors. They would dedicate full hours on playing their music and some radio stations in the US still do.
Hats off to rock’s most poetic frontman! (This article first appeared in these columns on December 7, 2014)
READ ALSO: Freddie Mercury – the Indian Parsi who rocked the world!
