Worksheet for Lyrics by Jim Morrison
Aims: to practice close reading and gain understanding of surrealist and psychedelic
modes.
For all of the questions below, keep in mind the social context and backdrop for the Doors'
lyrics: social upheaval, dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War, widespread use of mind-altering
drugs, resurgence of interest in surrealism, and new interest in Eastern philosophy.
1) Jim Morrison's lyrics are usually intensely metaphoric and symbolic. That is, they not only
include frequent figurative language, but their settings themselves are often figurative. (The
settings aren't always literal places, but rather states of mind or being.) Sometimes he uses a
relatively obvious, simple metaphor such as "neon groves" (for city streets at night). But many of
his constructions aren't so easily reduced to some tidy correlative.
Select any 2 of the quoted lyrics below, and write up a paragraph response to each. Read the full
lyrics they are quoted from (see your printout of Doors lyrics) , then explain what feelings
and ideas the language evokes in you. I.e, how does each passage make you feel and what does
it make you think of? Also paraphrase the quoted passages, which means that you should re-state
them in your own way. (In other words, provide another, more literal way to say what the
speaker of each passage is saying. No paraphrase is as interesting or good as the original item,
but give it a shot.)
from "The End":
"Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane."
from "The End":
"Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake."
1
from "The Unknown Soldier":
"Breakfast where the news is read,
Television children fed,
Unborn living, living dead,
Bullet strikes the helmet's head."
from "Soul Kitchen":
"The cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes.
Street lights share their hollow glow.
Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise.
Still one place to go."
from "The Soft Parade":
"There's only four ways to get unraveled.
One is to sleep and the other is travel, da da.
One is a bandit up in the hills.
One is to love your neighbor 'till
His wife gets home."
2
from "The Soft Parade":
"…it's getting harder
To describe sailors
To the underfed."
from "The Soft Parade":
"When all else fails
We can whip the horse's eyes
And make them sleep
And cry."
2) Write a brief paragraph response to the following quote, linking the ideas in this passage to
those we've recently discussed in class.
"All our lives we sweat and save,
Building for a shallow grave.
Must be something else we say,
Somehow to defend this place."
3) Much of Morrison's work is full of motifs, which are images, symbols, events, themes, or
ideas that tend to recur obsessively over and over. Make a list the primary motifs you notice in
our selection of Doors' lyrics. You should be able to find at least 3.
4) Select one of the motifs you listed above, and discuss it in a well-developed paragraph or two.
What seems to be the importance of that image, symbol, event, or idea in Morrison's work? Why
do you suppose it occurs so often in his songs? How does it fit with what you believe to be his
overall vision of life, love, culture, etc.?
3
5) How were Freud's theories important to the surrealists in mid-century? (If you don't know the
answer, do a little research on Freud and surrealism.)
What classic Freudian conflict is alluded to in "The End"?
6) With Jim Morrison's lyric "Horse Latitudes," we've come quite a ways from the themes and
forms of blues and early rock lyrics. Discuss, in a paragraph, how this lyric differs from many of
the early lyrics we read for class. Consider comparisons of diction (vocabulary), theme, setting,
speaker, tone, form, and mode.
7) Locate one or more allusions in these songs to work by the visionary Romantic poet William
Blake. Explain the allusion or allusions a bit in a very brief paragraph.
4