Jim Morrison: oddities from the musician's biography

He lived a bright and eventful life. Fate measured him only 27 years, which Jim Morrison sought to live, not exist.

strange boy

The musician was born in 1943 in Melbourne (not to be confused with Melbourne, Australia) in the American state of Florida. Morrison had Irish, Scottish blood in his veins, though he grew up in the United States in a military family that later became an admiral. The young Morrison began writing poetry in high school, but he never tried to sing.

From an early age he knew how to dispose of himself, and people believed him, although Morrison often liked to lie. He had incredible charisma.

Young Morrison's favorite pastime was reading. He read voraciously, often from books not meant for his age. The poet, singer and frontman of The Doors got acquainted early with the work of A. Rimbaud, the philosophy of F. Nietzsche, his discussions about the Dionysian and Apollonian principles in art. The teachers at the school where Morrison studied were surprised at his choice of books to read, some of which they themselves had not even heard of.

He had a very high IQ. While the average IQ is 110-119, his numbers were 149.

As a kid, his favorite joke was to frighten people around him by supposedly fainting on the school stairs. He liked to create panic and commotion around him, to watch the horror in the eyes of the teachers.

All his hobbies were strange - for example, the love of snakes. As a child, he lived on the border with the desert, often observed and hunted reptiles. Lizards aroused admiration in him, he considered them his deity.

It is said that as a student Morrison met Carlos Castaneda, the famous writer and ethnographer, anthropologist and mystic, bestselling author of The Teachings of Don Juan: The Way of Yaqui Indian Knowledge. His book, in which he recounted his personal acquaintance with the Indians who introduced him to shamanism, had a great influence on him, who, influenced by Castaneda's book or on his own, was also fascinated by shamanism.

Poet's success

During his 27 years of life Jim Morrison managed to show his talent. He was a charismatic and gifted rock musician who became a legend, passing from mouth to mouth for more than half a century. The Doors band he created is one of the most iconic in music history. He told us that one event greatly influenced him as a child: a truck crash with Indians happened before his eyes, and the four-year-old Jim remembered the bloodied corpses lying in strange poses on the road all his life. He was sure that at that moment their souls had possessed him.

The military family frequently changed places of residence, and Morrison got used to moving around. Afterwards it was easy for him. At 19, he enrolled at the University of Florida in Tallahassee. During his studies he read a lot, studied art history.

But active Morrison did not like studying in Tallahassee, and he decided to go to Los Angeles, enter the prestigious UCLA University at the Faculty of Cinematography. Francis Ford Coppola studied there at the time.

Studying Morrison did not bother himself. His brain was very well savvy, a high level of intelligence allowed him not to delve deeply into science. He led a wild life, addicted to alcohol and drugs.

How these hobbies were connected with Morrison's decision to create his own rock band is unclear, but it was during this period that he shared his idea with his father, who did not take his son's hobby seriously. Since that time there was a rift in the family - the musician told everyone that his parents were dead, and his parents even after his death did not give any interviews, no one shared stories about the life and work of his son.

In the fact that he was waiting for a successful career as a filmmaker, no one believed. Even his graduate work after graduation was so uninteresting and of no artistic value, that Jim wanted to quit school when he was less than a month away from graduation.

But the most striking event of student life was the acquaintance and friendship of the musician with Ray Manzarek, with whom they organized the successful band The Doors.

The meaning of the name and the success of the group

The Doors' name is not accidental - the musician put a lot of meaning into the name. He borrowed it from the title of the book "The Doors of Perception". The musician wanted to become such a "door" for his listeners.

Ray and Jim, the founders of the band, were soon joined by Robbie Krieger (guitarist) and John Densmore (drummer). The band was not immediately successful - the musicians had neither stage experience, nor confidence in their abilities. The musician's use of drugs and alcohol also had its effect.

But Morrison's charm and charisma did not let him down, and soon Jim, modest on stage with a charming voice, was surrounded by an army of female fans. A little later Paul Rothschild offered to sign the band to release an album, which was released in 1967. The songs from the record - "Alabama Song", "Light My Fire" immediately became famous and climbed high in the music charts. After this success he bought himself a black-and-blue Ford Mustang and often drove around the canyons drunk, scaring his passengers.

In Jim's life, everything was not so successful - drinking, breakdowns and fights dragged the musician to the bottom. It got to the point that at the concert he fell off the stage, he was arrested right at the concert. He stopped writing songs, and Robbie Krieger had to do all the organizational and creative work.

He was still surrounded by fans, but he only maintained a serious relationship with Patricia Kennelly. She was a practicing witch.

As a result, he decided to connect his life with her and they got married in 1970. After that, strange things began to happen in his life, his life began to decline. Alcohol, drugs, bad performances, arrests... In 1971, Jim went to Europe with his girlfriend Pamela Courson, where he planned to finish his collection of poems.

Whether it was the combination of alcohol and heroin in the evening or a different cause of death, in the early hours of July 3 his girlfriend found the musician's lifeless body in the bathroom.

Ray Manzarek said he had a dream: a rested Jim returned to America. A friend asked him if there would be new material, and at that moment he woke up. Ray later learned that Robbie Krieger had the same dream...