When will the Archspire - Golden Mouth Of Ruin happen. Cause I want to see you surprised. Even Tank doesnt know how to headbang to this band, they are playing too fast. They have been described as: a couple of machine guns having a domestic disspute, a catastrophic seismic event, unfriendly aliens testing out sonic weaponry and a pterodactyle attempting mongolian throat singing on fast forward but it strangely combines into something beautiful.
Morrison's bizarre poetry and imagery aside, guitarist Robbie Krieger deserves a ton of credit for creating the musical atmosphere of this song. He's amazingly good in this band.
Summer of 1967 and I am 21 years old, just returned from my Vietnam combat cruise aboard USS Waddell, DDG-24, hanging out at a fellow sailor's home in Glendale, listening to my vinyl copy of this record over and over again, especially this song, "THE END!" All of the amazing music of that year, Sgt. Pepper, The Chambers Brothers, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and so much more, is BURNED into my memory and provided a young man coming of age with the best life soundtrack I could have asked for, providing both relief and context for the chaos of the times and my efforts to navigate the turmoil. Thank you, Elizabeth, for looking into this landmark creation which emerged from one of the most turbulent and creative periods of the history of popular music. Whenever you look into a song that I love, your insights help me appreciate it even more.
“Perfection? Nah. Get that in the bin. I want to hear what the singer FEELS and what that means in the context of this song” this should be how music is made.
The Doors is what happens when you take a classically trained pianist, a jazz drummer and a flamenco guitarist - then add in a poet as singer/songwriter. It is a sound like no other band before or since. Truly one of a kind.
@@letsgomets002 but you can tell how someone has first learnt a instrument. Like when a drummer for example has been taught jazz, blues or rock style originally. They learn different techniques and they stay with them even after they have learnt others.
@@letsgomets002 A "real" guitarist is such a stupid term, regardless of what genre. If you're playing the notes on the guitar and they sound right and the music sounds good, then you're a "real" guitarist. Whatever the fuck that stupid shit means...
The part beginning with "The killer awoke before dawn" is basically "Oedipus Rex," an Athenian play by Sophocles. The "took a face from the ancient gallery" is referring to a death mask, like families used to have of their dead ancestors. The Greeks cast them in metal, and I think the Romans used wax. So he's wearing the face of one of his ancestors. There was a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but he's unaware that he doesn't know who they actually are. He deposes the previous king without knowing it was his father, and takes his mother as his queen. When they learn the truth, his mother hangs herself, and he puts out his own eyes. The song states it like Oedipus knew, but that's Morrison and artistic license at work:) The use of this in 'Apocalypse Now' never fails to give me the chills.
I've read that same thing before. I remember an interview of Morrison recounting a time where they performed this song and when they got to the Oedipus myth part Morrison said the words "Mother, I want to **** you!" This apparently outraged the owner of the venue saying to them, "You don't sing about your mother like that!" He then told them that they're never playing at his venue again and Morrison asked, "Do we still have a tab?"
When I was 18, not long before my Dad died, he put this cassette tape into his truck's radio and told me to listen to it. After, he asked me to play this song at the end of his funeral. Little did I know I'd lose him about a week later. I honored his wishes. I still listen to this song today. It's a masterpiece.
Keep the memories, lessons and words fresh. I learned my dad was right, I'm finding what he was telling me is still correct. No matter how much I didn't want to hear it. We keep them in our lives by doing the best we can everyday to honor their efforts for us.
Ray Manzarek, the former keyboard player of the Doors, explained: He was giving voice in a rock 'n' roll setting to the Oedipus complex, at the time a widely discussed tendency in Freudian psychology. He wasn't saying he wanted to do that to his own mom and dad. He was re-enacting a bit of Greek drama. It was a theater!
@denis.petritti That's the interpretation that I'd always thought it was about. The killer put his boots on and did in the whole family: the mom being last- and after a little torture. It's a work of genius and serious madness- looking into the mind of a killer.
@@BettyBrancato: I mean, he makes it pretty explicit, at least live. They had to tone down the part about effing his mother for the studio version (they just turned it into a wordless scream), but the father-killing is still there.
Oedipus didn't even want to do his own mom and dad, that is why when he heard the oracles prediction, he fled them, not realizing they were his adopted parents, and he would unknowingly meet his real parents on his journey.
Okay. So I had in my prep document that the full song was played in the intro of Apocalypse Now... but I've never heard of that movie so I really had no reference point for it. Sorry if I offended anyone by not mentioning it in this analysis! ♥
Unless you don't care for war film based conflict and deep psychological musings on the dark side of the human mind and nature, Apocalypse Now is a must see, Elizabeth. I recommend watching the original theatrical release; the extended version doesn't add much to the original and really detracts from it (my humble opinion). Apocalypse Now is inspired by the classic novella by Joseph Conrad called Heart Of Darkness.
We’ll forgive you this time, but don’t let it happen again young lady 😜. This is one of those songs where you put on your headphones, turn down the lights and get into the whole atmosphere of the entire song.
She said “Some sort of weird dreamland. Where rules don’t necessarily apply”. That’s exactly where Jim lived! Love your breakdowns. Love The Doors. 🤘🏽🤘🏽
@@joenobody5631Heroin. Jim was a junkie. That's probably too limiting a definition, he took EVERYTHING. ... including whatever any stranger may give him. He was a very flawed human, but a perfect artist.
@user-eq9bx7qh4t Possibly, but the dreamlike quality reminds me of peyote. The tension and waves of perspective in Soft Parade sounds more LSD. To me. Your mileage may vary.
@@inspectre27 LOL. Here in Japan for 41 years, remembering undergrad days back in the states. Now my choices for mind altering substances are limited to an extra spoon of instant coffee or one more beer. 🙃
This song will forever be associated with Apocalypse Now. Elizabeth picks up on the feeling…exotic, psychedelic, then unhinged…insanity. Absolutely fitting for the film.
Yep. I share those sentiments. Although of course I'd heard it a number of times before, but not like that. Ever since I've associated it with apocalypse now. An epic song in an epic movie
One thing to remember is that this band is different. This isn't a 70s rock band. It is 3 classically trained musicians and a poet. It's not like anything else. I like to say that The Doors are still ahead of their time, even now.
Yeah, I was going to say that the thing to remember about Jim Morrison is that he isn't a singer who wrote lyrics. He's a poet who through circumstance wound up singing his poetry. And John Densmore was a jazz drummer who through circumstance wound up in a rock band.
Must have had to be there because I don't hear any of that. Jim Morrison strikes me as someone who wrote things that were vague and weird enough that people made more of them than they were and he got away with it because he was charismatic. These guys are an adequate blues band that went psychedelic. The musicians carried the whole thing. Morrison's writing is IMO just not particularly interesting.
The only band member who could be said to be "classically trained" is John Densmore, who, while he was at CSU in Northridge, studied ethnic music. None of the other band member had any sort of formal music training.
This haunting song mixed with Helicopter rotor sounds in the opening scene of Apocalypse Now sets the tone for the whole movie and really highlights Martin Sheen's character being internally torn up and the effect and toll the war has taken on him.
Is it also used in the Film dawn to dusk ruclips.net/video/Naq2DF5aRdM/видео.htmlsi=VZzzw453TmZ3kB0V Zombie ,Vampires ...and plenty of snakes 😂 Definitely not for children ..
I've long thought of Jim Morrison as one of the most unique rock singers of his generation. When others were going for the high pitch, Jim crooned in a smooth, silky baritone or barked and howled like a wolf. His was one of the most conspicuously masculine voices of the period.
Love when you said it almost makes you feel "drunk". I believe the correct terminology is "tripping". Explains the journey you were taking in your mind. Great reactions! You have earned some beads to wear and a flower for your hair! ☮
As a 55 year old lifelong Doors fan I’ve listened to this song thousands of times. You did an amazing job of breaking this song down, absolutely amazing. I enjoyed that so much. You nailed it….The Doors are the most unique band to me, jazz, rock, poetry and everything else. It’s like a magic music box you open up. Go listen to all the albums and get lost. Great content
They don't make music like that anymore. I'm 56 and while there are still modern bands I like it's not the same. You could hardly call this commercial.
yeah you have started, appropriately, at The End from their 1st album ...now check out the last album recorded while Jim was alive "LA Woman" ruclips.net/p/PLrv5a_5drVgSfiGF8H96g9_drlm6pvbRR 🤗
"The Doors are like a box of chocolate. Ya never know what you're gonna get." lol I'm 70. They've been, by far, my favorite band since I heard Light my Fire for the first time. Summer of '67.
Elizabeth first The Doors song and she started at "The End"? 🤔🤣 Recommend: Riders on the Storm, Light My Fire, L.A. Woman, Break on Through, People are Strange Roadhouse Blues.
To those who enjoyed this, please watch the live performance of The Doors at the Hollywood Bowl. Oh, my gosh. This song, uncensored, is even better. I am 58 years old (Gen X) and I grew up listening to the greatest music ever made. So many of these musicians died young, and it just makes their music that much more precious to me. To the younger folks, music lovers, please take some time to listen to the albums made from 1964 through 1979. Start at the beginning, listen to the bands in chronological order and see how they grow and mature. Like many people, I had an unhappy childhood, and that music was my first love. It got me through the pain, and I survived, and took Jim’s advice and went to LA. The West is the best. Get here and we’ll do the rest. 💜💜💜
I LOL'd when she said "slightly inebriated". I don't think he was ever "slightly inebriated". Tripping, trashed, stoned? Sure, but "slightly inebriated"? Nah.
In a 1969 interview with Rolling Stone, Morrison said the song means something different every time he listened to it: "It started out as a simple good-bye song… Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don’t know. I think it’s sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be."
The thoughts of a true artist. It doesn't necessarily matter what the artist thought or intended it only matters what it means to the person who experiences it.
A musical journey rather than a song. Imagine being a student in the mid 60's and all of a sudden being drafted to go fight some foreign war you know little about. Plucked from your home, school and friends and possibly never coming back. This song symbolizes that stress for me.
eeblatter….as a 17 year old kid I listened to this album a million times the summer before I went into the Marines. I wasn’t drafted. I enlisted. …….signed up voluntarily……my parents had to sign permission documents due to my young age. I wanted honor and adventure like some young males do. I got both. After boot training, combat training and tech training, all of which consumed my first year, I volunteered for Vietnam. I served in Nam 19 months. This music was in the background when music was available. Listening now brings tears. Lots of emotion back then. I left my beloved behind. I was all in as a Marine and did intelligence gathering ….intercepting enemy field radio communication. Critical, challenging, frustrating. I arrived as a Lance Corporal and left a Sgt. The Corps and the war are in my thoughts several times daily. After I signed up I told my best friend. He joined. 2 other high school friends ditto. We all did our time in the war. That’s what Marines do. We are still the closest of friends this 57 years later. One guy, Bill W. was shot up bad his 3rd month there. He spent 6 months recovering in a Naval hospital. He still has night terrors . He has had cancer twice. He is a bad ass and I love him. Denny J. humped a radio on patrols and became the radio man in the command tent on hill 55. He is reclusive and lives in an old farm house, surrounded by trees and relishes his solitude. Another bad ass. Bill E. humped m-60 machine gun ammo . He was the big boy of our circle in high school. He was a good Catholic boy. He has ptsd and also likes solitude. I take pills for depression. We all paid a price for our participation. I would do it all again. Serving with Marines is heady stuff. The average age of Marines in Vietnam was 19. I landed in Danang on my 19 th birthday. Those experiences taught me that I could endure anything. Despite the after effects I described above, all these guys got education, had productive successful careers, married, had kids, invested and all are retired excepting me. ( all also divorced but I’m still married)The war demons contributed to those divorces. These guys are hard and intolerant of bullshit. I’m 74, still working full time as a building contractor. My life is better than I ever imagined it could be. I’m a blessed man. Truly blessed. I give my Marine training much of the credit for instilling discipline and resolve into my character. I still lift at a gym. I push and push. But……this music brings tears. Dave Heitman Sgt., USMC 1967-1970 Semper Fidelis
Outstanding review. You hit it perfectly. Very sad song showing his inner demons. However work of art. Jim Morrison wore his heart on his sleeve and held nothing back one of the greatest singer sing writers. He was years ahead of his time. Inspirational! Jim Morrison lives on!? Thanks again for review. Would like to see you review U2 and your thoughts.
omg, watching you go from gleefully enjoying the sonic experience to slowly realizing you are in a horror movie was precious. this all happened to us once, a long time ago. thanks so much for letting us remember again.
As soon as I saw "The End" by The Doors pop up in your video list, I knew I had to watch-there’s something electric about seeing someone experience this song for the first time, especially someone with your depth of knowledge and expressive insight. When Morrison croons, “Walk on down the hall,” leading to that infamous "mother" section, I was on the edge of my seat, eager to see how you'd navigate that raw intensity. And you nailed it-capturing the unease, the tension, the unraveling. It’s like watching a master painter discover new colors on a well-worn canvas. Your reaction wasn’t just about the technicalities, but about feeling the song-something I, like many others, probably felt in the marrow of our bones when we first heard it but never had the words to articulate. You brought those feelings to life with a clarity that’s both captivating and relatable. If you’re planning to dive deeper into The Doors, I suspect you’d enjoy watching the film starring Val Kilmer. It’s a wild ride-equal parts myth and madness-and I think hearing your take on it would be fascinating. Thanks for keeping your content so consistently rich and thought-provoking. Watching your videos is like rediscovering the music all over again. Keep it up!
Very well put! This was hands down the best reaction I've seen to this song. Her description of it as being "unhinged" was spot on and I too was anxiously waiting for her to get to the "mother" part. I also agree about the movie. Val absolutely nailed that part! I saw it completely sober and walked out of the theater feeling like I was on something 🤪
@@memorywhole366 Huge fan since my teenage years in the 70s. Have 19 live albums including the 1968 Hollywood Bowl concert. It is one of the best performances of The End. You never knew what kind of show you would get until the concert got underway and The End was often performed with a mix of Jim's poetry.
"The End" Always felt like waves to me. Rolling and crashing, some are bigger, some smaller, some crash faster, some take their time and turn into tubes. They roll in from calm seas. And unbeknownst to the surfer, under the water lurks something dark and sinister. It slithers and darts under the waves. Watching. Waiting. Leaving the listener with a vague sense of unease to the swirling euphoria of the upper layers of the song.
“Accepted regret” I can’t believe how perfectly you nailed that. Ive tried for YEARS to put into words what this song makes me feel. And you just said it, on your first listen. Holy cow, you are good.
THE BLUE BUS: Jim lived mostly in Venice (spitting distance from Santa Monica) and The Big Blue Bus is a bus service founded in 1928 and operated by the city of Santa Monica in and around that area. Given that much of that part of "The End" is referencing "the West," I think he was just using the blue busses he was familiar with as a metaphor (remember, Jim was a writer and poet before he was a rock star). A metaphor for what? Well, here's what Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for the Doors) had to say about the "blue bus" reference in the song: "[It was] Jim’s version of the Egyptian solar boat… it is the boat that the pharaohs and everyone, everyone else rides on through infinity, through eternity, and 'the blue bus' was, for me, a vehicle that would take you on a voyage into magical places." Speaking of which... RIDE THE HIGHWAY WEST, BABY: I do think Jim was referencing being on the West coast but, also, as he did a lot with his poetry, there were layers of meaning. When he's talking about riding the King's Highway west, it could be interpreted as simply an invitation to come out to the West coast where everything is sunny and golden, the counter-culture was taking hold and challenging the establishment, etc. But, given how much of the song talks about death and change and whatnot, the "King's Highway" might also be a metaphor for the Egyptian cycle of the sun god Ra in his path across the sky. The ancient Egyptian word for death was "Westing." They believed that when you die, you join Ra on his journey west through the underworld. "Ride the highway west." He might also be referencing the historical King's Highway. Mentioned in the Old Testament, it was an important trade route connecting Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, the Red Sea and Egypt. Caravans transporting incense and spices from Arabia took this road on their way to the thriving Nabataean capital of Petra. THE KILLER/OEDIPAL SECTION: This is obviously a reference to Oedipus Rex, the Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, but is also tied in to Freud's Oedipal theory which was popular in pop psychology at the time "The End" was evolving. He was using it partially as a metaphor for the shift that was happening in society during the 60s. It was the idea of "kill the father," i.e. the authority, the patriarchy, the old way of doing things, and "F the mother," i.e. return to nature, embrace the real, a more natural way of existing. In his autobiography, John Densmore (drummer for the Doors) talks about the night they recorded "The End" and specifically his discussion with Jim about the Oedipal section. He says: "At one point Jim said to me during the recording session, and he was tearful, and he shouted in the studio, 'Does anybody understand me?' And I said yes, I do, and right then and there we got into a long discussion and Jim just kept saying over and over kill the father, fuck the mother, and it essentially boils down to this, kill all those things in yourself which are instilled in you and are not of yourself, they are alien concepts which are not yours, they must die. Fuck the mother is very basic, and it means get back to essence, what is reality, what is, fuck the mother is very basically mother, mother-birth, real, you can touch it, it's nature, it can't lie to you. So what Jim says at the end of the Oedipus section, which is essentially the same thing that the classic says, kill the alien concepts, get back to reality, the end of alien concepts, the beginning of personal concepts." Personally, I don't agree with Densmore that that's what Sophocles was saying with his play, but that's what Jim was thinking about when he wrote that section. RIDE THE SNAKE: I don't have any quotes to back this one up, but I know from his music and poetry (and life) that Jim often referenced Eastern philosophies and mythology in his poetry and lyrics. In Hindu mythology, the God Vishnu is a cosmic entity which dwells In a dimension of an infinite sea. He sleeps on the back of Ananta, a 100 headed cobra which swims through the waters. Ananta means "Infinity." Thus to ride the snake to the ancient lake means to connect with the cosmic dreamer. The source of inspiration and soul. This ties in to the theme of getting back to the source that you see in a lot of the rest of the song (the insane Roman children, stripped of their natural ways by the civilization founded by the Roman empire and driven mad by that civilization, "waiting for the summer rain" - natural, cleansing - to heal them, e.g.). THE OVERALL MEANING: It's interesting that you say that the song sounds improvised, Elizabeth, because it's a song that evolved over time with many bits of improv poetry woven in over different performances. When they performed the song, it was constantly changing. You can see a very different version in the "Doors Live At The Hollywood Bowl" video, with completely different bits of poetry (and Jim being a little more light-hearted and silly with it at parts, including an "ode to a moth" that he sees on the stage at one point). Overall, though, the song started as a breakup song for a girl Jim had split with but evolved into a song more about endings and beginnings, life and loss, change, leaving behind what we're told is real in favor of returning to the source, etc. The "musical mattress" that the band laid down for Jim to "rest his words on" (as John Densmore once described their music) was this open place for him to sing and recite bits of poetry around these themes.
I agree with this, though I'd add I believe the buses used to take new recruits to basic training were also blue, and there's the local bus colour too that's at play here. One of great things about this song is how flexible it is, both with what it contains and what you can find in it. There's a lot of Vietnam undertones in here, the farewell to a friend could also be to a brother in arms, or one friend going to war, the other not.
King's Hwy... Santa Monica to San Francisco via "Camino Real" or Royal Highway of the King connecting the Missions by order of the Spanish Crown...layers to peel from 'jimmrs oniom'
This may be one of the most hilarious analyses that Elizabeth has done... seeing her shock and surprise and trying to explain the possibly LSD laced lyrics like there must be some sort of rationality to it, and then making the F word musical!!! LMAO!!!
Whenever I hear this song I think of the movie Apocalypse now. They played the uncensored version of The End. Light my fire is another awesome doors song. The first album and waiting for the Sun on my two favorite doors albums.
If you can’t bring yourself to appreciating one Doors song, it’s so very easy to find something in another. They created so many different sounds in such a little time. Spanish Caravan, Roadhouse Blues, Peacefrog, The End, Love Me Two Times. Their depth is truly incredible. Again, in such an unbelievably short time. They steamrolled the scene and bursted into a supernova. I wish Jim would’ve stuck around longer. To see the growth that man was destined to.
Jim was the short fuse on explosives. Destined to run hot and fast and then cause a massive explosion. He was never destined to be with us for a long time.
@@dramoth64 Exactly.... the thing about rock stars is tht a lot of the time, their longevity often undermines their relevance. Not saying I enjoy seeing my heroes die, just saying that there are a lot of instances of musicians bursting on the scene in a ball of fire, forever changing the landscape, only to gradually age and fizzle away, sometimes completely tainting their legacy in the process. I'd rather see my heroes die than watch them grow old, comfortable, and complacent, selling themselves out in the process. Jim had a mission in this realm, and he left it precisely at the right time.
Recorded live in the studio start to finish. No overdubs at all. They played it twice. The second recording was the one they put on their album. A true masterpiece in every way. All amazing musicians and Morrison is the icing on the cake. He wasn't a song writer. He was a poet. I hope you analyze more of their songs.
Actually, the first half of the song is from take 1, and the second half of the song is from take 2. If you listen carefully, you can hear the cut right before Morrison says, "The killer awoke before dawn."
I am one of the many who has laid flowers at the Parisian grave of this man, Jim Morrison. I grew up listening to The Doors and still listen to their music today. Incredible music from incredible musicians, at the very top of their game in every aspect.
I visited his grave in the 90s, too. It was surprising because you were picking through this insanely packed cemetery and then suddenly (at the time) a humble grave marker covered in lipstick.
Jim Morrison shaped his voice from his three favorite singers: the crooning of Elvis, the swing of Sinatra, the blues of Eric Burdon. His talent at mixing those three different influences, made him unique.
I would not have picked the End as your first Doors reaction. It is very macabre. I think L.A Woman, Moonlight Drive, People are Strange or Roadhouse Blues would have been better.
Now I've seen the whole video, I think I can honestly say that that was the best interpretation of that song i have ever heard, no simp. You touched on every keyword necessary and offered some interpretations i hadn't thought of, but now you mention it... And you managed to do it without using the overused cliché word that everyone tends to use when speaking about this song, even me: peyote (or LSD a close second). There were a couple of times I liked wherein you "hit it without knowing you hit it," and those were the times when you said that the song feels like going insane. Absolutely spot on. The End sounds very much like going insane. And ingesting hallucinogens also feels very much like going insane. I have been told (possibly apocraphally (sp?)) that Jim was on hallucinogens of some sort during the recording, though it's odd no one mentions the rest of the band's state. Anyway, the songs feels very similar to peyote, in my experience. My recommendation for another Doors song to analyze is Soft Parade, which in my opinion sounds a little more like LSD. 😊
Elizabeth - "The End" by the Doors was used in one of the most brilliant cinematic intro's in film history in the 1979 film "Apocalypse Now" by Director Francis Ford Coppola. The narrative of the film is based on Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" set in Vietnam. The integration of the song with the visuals and editing is stunning! Cheers! Dave
Elizabeth. The Doors started in the mid 60s. Jim died in 71. If there's a Vietnam movie made, you'll probably hear at least one Doors song in the soundtrack. There are so many hits for you to enjoy. You'll hear a lot of Indian musical influence in several songs from the late 60s. Ravi Shankar made the sitar an instrument to be played or simulated. I think he taught George Harrison. In The End, the keyboard has some Light My Fire sound to it. Val Kilmer at 31 portrayed Jim in the biopic THE DOORS and does his own singing. It's a movie that I think is worth seeing. I have loved seeing your horizon broaden in the last few years. Please continue the trip.
That “wind chime” sound at the beginning is played on the guitar. Robbie strummed the strings at the top part of the neck of the guitar that is between the tuner keys and the neck bridge.
Exactly! Not the first song I’d recommend for a new Doors listener, but a great song nonetheless. Why her peeps thought this was the best starting point is beyond me.
I think the point is he's kind of reenacting the story of oedipus, as if it was some kind of Greek poetic recital or chorus. I don't think he's necessarily singing about his own mother... I do like the percussive use of the word "fuck", it works beautifully
Out of all the songs The Doors did; The End is probably the most difficult to psycho-analyze as there are many different moods and places that one could go to. Great Job !!
The Doors are one of a kind. Robbie Kreiger’s flamingo style of playing, John Densmore’s jazz drumming, Ray Manzerick’s hypnotic keyboards and Jim Morrison’s vocal abilities are all amazing! You said this was “art” and I believe all the members of The Doors would be appreciative of that description.
Jim Morrison was a pagan and heavily into ancient European and Native American spirituality, which is why his lyrics are quite abstract and esoteric. His sexualized song themes was also to rebel against the Christian puritanism of American society. He also heavily inspired the punk movement through Iggy Pop who wanted to become a singer after attending a Doors concert in 1967.
Never , ever , ever forget, that Jim never wanted to be a rock star ( of course enjoyed the excess) but Jim was and is today a poet, surrounded by an amazing group of musicians.
Fun fact. Before 1999, the public never heard this version of the song. The vocals towards the end with Jim going full on lizard king were buried in the mix prior to the Doors complete studio recordings box set.
Thank you, I thought I was having a senior moment. I still have the CD I bought of the album in the early 90s and never heard the "fuck you" section. Was this the rerelease that the unabridged version of Break On Through was released on too?
John Densmore is a jazz drummer and it really shows in this song specifically, Robby Krieger is trained as a flamenco guitarist and I think it really shows in his rambling runs that seem to go on a little longer than you expect them to, and Ray Manzarek usually recorded on a Hammond c-3 and b-3 organ, but generally used Gibson G-101 with a Feder Rhodes Piano bass resting on top of it for live shows and tours. But he's also pictured in a few shows using a Vox Continental and an RMI electric piano/harpsichord. Manzarek might be the most underrated musician of the era. It was hard for anyone to get credit when around Jim. He was just such a glowing superstar that he vacuumed up all the attention.
This is THE BEST and most thorough analysis that I’ve ever seen. Elizabeth actually breaks down and analyzes the word F*CK in this song for us. It was so much more complex than I ever realized. Exceptional analysis.🙌
FYI: Harrison Ford was a roadie for the Doors. When this album was released on 1/67, it rocked the world of my friends and I. Difficult to put into words how it changed our lives that led us down the path of exploration of new sounds/bands and individual discovery. There was/is something about hearing this classic rock music the first time when it was initially released because it was fresh, unknown and breaking barriers with sounds, lyrics and creativity that had never been created or exposed in that time period. Thanks for doing the review. You're so good at what you do and I am always impressed by your analysis and enthusiasm. "Ride The Snake!"
Ray Manzarek is responsible for the sound of the Doors...he plays the bass parts with one hand on keyboards and the keyboard parts with the other hand simultaneously
While that was true in live shows, in the studio the Doors often used outside bassists including Larry Knechtel of the Wrecking Crew. However, on this song, it was apparently all Ray Manzarek.
@@stpnwlf9according to interviews with the band, the whole song was recorded live in the studio in two takes with no overdubs and by candlelight. I couldn't imagine being there seeing that
When I was younger, I was obsessed with The Doors and still love them today. And about 30 years ago, a friend of my mother told me that in 1967, she saw The Doors play live at a club in NYC. She said she had never heard of them at the time. And I specifically remember she said she wasn't impressed with the band because the lead singer (Jim Morrison) appeared to be drunk and was stumbling around on stage.
This was hands-down your best reaction, Elizabeth. This is one of the most complex songs. There's violence on the surface, with the Oedipus motiff buried within. And deeper still is Jim's life philosophy.....kill off knowledge - what you've been told (father) and embrace (mother) nature - your natural self, unburdened by the stains of human existence. The message is relayed in both the lyrics and the music. Perfect in its rawness.
I love how in the outro she simply stated: This is a work of art. Because The End is exactly that. I could not hear it for a year or two and upon hearing it again still be shocked how truly amazing it is.
I was 14 the year this came out. It changed my whole worldview. There was so much great music that arrived that year. But this grabbed me and even now in my 70s, has a place in my mind. Imagine listening to this as a 14-year-old. Will anything ever be the same?
The Doors changed my life, definitely for the better. Thank you so much for giving to all of us again what I (and probably so many others) experienced when we first discovered Jim!
The Doors' "The End" is where music exponentially meets very fine art. 😻 It is pure psychedelic theater of the mind and one of the most compelling examples of James Douglas Morrison's vocal poetic genius and his backing musicians' brilliance. 😻 "The blue bus is calling us..." 🎤🎸🎹🥁
Ah, the only thing better than enjoying some of my favorite songs of all time is watching Elizabeth experience them and share her inspiring interpretations and analyses with us. None have been better than her review of The End. Thank you, Elizabeth, once again!
I believe the name of the band was based on Aldous Huxley's essay "The Doors of Perception". Jim wanted to be a door, opening people's minds to a reality which they might not be able to experience otherwise.
@@jcporter8206 I read the No One Here Gets Out Alive biography way back in the 80's, as well as Huxley's book. Never saw the movie, I'm not a fan of biopics.
@@laurahardgrove955 yeah I remember Huxley writing about the importance of mescaline in Hopi rituals. Many shamanistic references in Doors lyrics for sure
@@marcduhamel-guitar1985It wasn't just references to those experiences. A shaman, or similar person is a door or bridge between the normal world and that state. They usually take it pretty far, but leave the door open some- so others can at least glimpse the other side. He had those talents but it takes self control to do it safely. Getting help could have helped him use less and maybe live much longer. He said one of the people that died in that crash was a medicine man that influenced him. He had a big interest in native American spiritually and the southwest. I think if he lived, he would have eventually calmed down and learned more of their ways.
@@jackiewilliams4854 yeah I would have to agree with that,an unwilling insane blues singer,the story of how the end came about where they had went on stage at the London fog or the whiskey (I haven't read these books since gradeschool in the 80s,so I know it was one if them) and Jim was a no show during a break they went to find him and he was in his apartment on a massive amount of Lysergic Diethylamide,any way they get him back to the bar and the end was a short jam before then,but Jim had something new in store...the rest is really rock and roll history!
I always appreciate how objectively and professionally she approaches all types of music. Whether its death metal or Jim Morisson saying FUCK a hundred times. She literally just analyzes the vocals. Love this channel 🙌
Roadhouse Blues, Peace Frog, Light My Fire, Touch Me. There is no way to go wrong with The Doors. Jim Morrison had one hell of an imagination with lyrics and voice inflection given his very low overall tone but he had the ability to hit some crazy notes.
I seem to recall Ray Manzarek (the organist) saying that his background was classical piano, the guitarist had been playing flamenco, and the drummer was playing improv jazz. They came together with an amazing chemistry. Mr. Morisson was studying filmmaking and I believe didn't have any vocal training. He wrote a ton of poetry and learned to sing as he went. The story goes that at the start, he would deal with nerves by singing with his eyes closed and his back to the audience.
I know I said I wouldn't post again four posts ago. But we're here, at minute 38 and a boy who's managed to return physically alive is almost breaking me while we're dancing. These, us, children were broken by Vietnam. Morrison is casually brilliant and continually violently troubled.
Listening to The Doors and Jim Morrison's poems are almost like a spiritual trip. It's so bizarre and calm. Also, this was a perfect song for the scenes it was picked for in the film "Apocalypse Now".
Sitting in a bar in Kranj, Slovenia, in October '91, reading about the horrific battle of Vukovar between Serbia and Croatia, the neighbouring country, which was raging at that moment and this came on. I'll remember it 'til the day I die.
Jim was a poet in the truest sense, his most commonly used themes were built around a passionate hedonism, that he felt was buried in all of humanity. He saw the brutality of humanity being disguised by polite society and politics, and was compelled to expose the seams. Even in his own behavior, he preferred to be honest to his hedonistic ego, sometimes to the point of alienating others. Burning bright and briefly was the only way it could ever go for a soul like that, especially in that time. He taught me poetry, he taught me Greek tragedy, and he taught me that we’re all so very different in exactly the same way. Jim’s vivid lyrical phrasing was inspired heavily by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, who wrote all of his poetry before the age of 21, and yet is regarded as being among the most influential French poets even today. As for the bold use of unique sounds in the instrumentation, there is a ton of that in their music, but you absolutely must listen to “Not to Touch the Earth”, “End of the Night”, and “The Soft Parade”. Long live Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore, and Jim Morrison! Gods, thank you for listening to this, I would watch you analyze every song ever released by The Doors, so thank you again!🖤🖤🖤
Exactly Right and the reason Jim quit music quit mk ultra quit the Cabal faked his death became right wing political activist and later tv talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Be sure to google such hit images view hands smoking they do not like!
I honestly expected that Elizabeth would react unfavorably to the mad poet Jim Morrison’s lyrical psychedelic Oedipal LSD voyage… but I was pleasantly surprised by how she not only totally got it but also went with it and felt it. Kudos to you, madam.
@@risenfromyoutubesashesagai6302 Because I’ve watched her react very literally to lyrics at face value in the past and not always get what they were actually trying to convey. Your comment seems to be implying that I denigrated the Doors. I did not. I’ve loved the Doors for decades.
My father used to love this song. Of course it has the oedipus complex themes. A lot of the other themes are about the Vietnam era in the US. The snake is a reference to a river in Vietnam but also can be considered “give an inch they take a mile” if regards to serving your country. The blue bus is referencing the bus you would take to go to bootcamp. It’s about propaganda too “the west is the best”. There is a lot to unpack in this song. Morrison was a poet first and singer second.
My only friend, the End. This song and The Doors were my companions that helped me through my high school years. Mom got a bit pissed off that I stole "her" music but in the end when she realised how much it helped me she was happy. Jimmy, long dead, was on my side and kept me thinking straight when for a moment I thought I didn't want to live.
The blue bus is a reference to the buses that took soldiers to the Vietnam war... the buses were blue that transported the soldiers to the planes to fly them over.
There're a few other meanings. One is that the bus that went through Santa Monica at that time was blue. Ray being Ray suggested it was a spiritual bus, possibly Egyptian, to death and the underworld.
Didn't know that! I thought it was one of Morrison's references to making the ultimate journey after death (his favourite subject!). Perhaps it is both?
Some interesting things about Morrison: He was actually shy, his favorite singer was Frank Sinatra, and when he died he became a member of the infamous "27 Club" which included Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin. After they died, it was reported that Morrison told his friends at a bar "that you're drinking with number 3".
That's sad. His life was a bender. That story reminds me, Marc Bolan also predicted his demise being prior to 30. He also avoided driving. He died in a crash in his girlfriend's car at 29 (I think)
You can hear it without a doubt in Yes, The River Knows that Frank Sinatra was a big inspiration for Jim. One of the best and underrated song by The Doors in my opinion...
He was also powerfully influenced by Chet baker. Listen to you don’t know what love is or my funny valentine or any of bakers sad minor key performances.
Yes! I think The End is a magnificent start! 😆 I've been eager for you to dive into The Doors, one of the most unique rock bands, and certainly a very charismatic voice. I highly recommend including WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER live from the Hollywood Bowl to your list for a future video. It shows off so much of The Doors magic, especially their live performance magic.
I loved watching you experience this song and share your insights. It was a journey. :) I always felt like the fricative "f" and plosive "k" near the end of the song as the music built and become more frantic mimicked the breathing one might be doing at the back of the blue bus. The noises were more the point than the actual word itself, which is why he didn't sustain the vowel. Great song.
Elizabeth, Please do not miss the gargantuan ironies in the Jim Morrison story! Jim’s father, Admiral Morrison, played his - crucial - part in Lyndon Johnson’s fabricated Tonkin Gulf incident which provided the pretext for the American Invasion of Vietnam. Jim Morrison is portrayed as being “from a military family”, but WHICH military family makes all the difference! Papa Morrison wasn’t a supply Chief at a PX by any means. Second irony: this song was used in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”, which was an antiwar blockbuster. P.S. we could go deeper with the many theories/alternative histories of Laurel Canyon - of which Jim Morrison was a part. Cheers!
his father didnt do what you claim.... thats an internet bs false conspiracy story... his father wasnt an admiral at the time of tonkin. he didnt have control of the flagship. his secondary ship was in japan. thus he didnt manipulate nor was he involved in the tonkin maniupulation.... his ship was part of the greater armada, but again, he wasnt in tonkin when that happend. that can all be verified by official records.... your promulgating a rumor that is inaccurate & not fair to his family. dont believe everything you read on the net. seek primary sources.
The film "Apocalypse Now (1979)" brought me here. "Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another."
I recited this while on a river boat in Cambodia winding through the jungle a few years ago... laughing my ass off the whole time. It was a super awesome trip and I recommend to everyone to visit Cambodia... I couldn't help but quote Apocalypse Now many times while exploring Cambodia for real. 😛
"We're going about 75 clicks above the DoLong Bridge. That's Cambodia Captain. That's classified. We're not supposed to be in Cambodia but that's where I'm going...."
You should have followed his political views when he became tv talk show host Rush Limbaugh after being influenced by French Poet Arthur Rimbaud and quiting music faking his death.
As stated, here's a link to my courses that are coming up, and those that are released: thecharismaticvoice.mykajabi.com/store
Best reaction
And reppin PNW
The Oedipus complex reference was quite controversial in the day.
When will the Archspire - Golden Mouth Of Ruin happen. Cause I want to see you surprised. Even Tank doesnt know how to headbang to this band, they are playing too fast. They have been described as: a couple of machine guns having a domestic disspute, a catastrophic seismic event, unfriendly aliens testing out sonic weaponry and a pterodactyle attempting mongolian throat singing on fast forward but it strangely combines into something beautiful.
I think you should check out the band "Unto Others." The songs "Jackie" or "No Children Laughing Now."
Google "27 club". Also for the Doors the songs you need are "Riders on the storm" (for the integration of nature) and "Crystal Ship".
Morrison's bizarre poetry and imagery aside, guitarist Robbie Krieger deserves a ton of credit for creating the musical atmosphere of this song. He's amazingly good in this band.
Truth!
RIP
They all are, equally
Definitely, the two are talking to, matching and responding to each other throughout. It really is a singer and guitarist in total togetherness.
Ray Manzerak's keyboards were pretty awesome too.
Summer of 1967 and I am 21 years old, just returned from my Vietnam combat cruise aboard USS Waddell, DDG-24, hanging out at a fellow sailor's home in Glendale, listening to my vinyl copy of this record over and over again, especially this song, "THE END!" All of the amazing music of that year, Sgt. Pepper, The Chambers Brothers, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and so much more, is BURNED into my memory and provided a young man coming of age with the best life soundtrack I could have asked for, providing both relief and context for the chaos of the times and my efforts to navigate the turmoil. Thank you, Elizabeth, for looking into this landmark creation which emerged from one of the most turbulent and creative periods of the history of popular music. Whenever you look into a song that I love, your insights help me appreciate it even more.
Thanks for your service
@@DEPARTMENTOFREDUNDANCYDEPT thank you for your service 😁
Yup, I’m the same generation, however I was int the South African / Angola Bush war. Listening to the same bands and the doors.
Thanks for your service.
Thank you for your service
"I think if I had to pick one, I would say toss all of the production and just give me human expression." That comment wins the Internet today.
“Perfection? Nah. Get that in the bin. I want to hear what the singer FEELS and what that means in the context of this song” this should be how music is made.
To quote Martin Sheen in Apocaypse Now. "Absolutely Goddamn right".
That's why older music will never be topped
That is a quote for the ages! (Right at 12:12 in this video.)
that comments beats down the internet today :)
The Doors is what happens when you take a classically trained pianist, a jazz drummer and a flamenco guitarist - then add in a poet as singer/songwriter. It is a sound like no other band before or since. Truly one of a kind.
Could not have explained it better👍
Absolutely
Far from a real Flamenco guitarist
@@letsgomets002 but you can tell how someone has first learnt a instrument. Like when a drummer for example has been taught jazz, blues or rock style originally. They learn different techniques and they stay with them even after they have learnt others.
@@letsgomets002, Kreiger's flamenco playing was not too shabby on Spanish caravan
@@letsgomets002 A "real" guitarist is such a stupid term, regardless of what genre. If you're playing the notes on the guitar and they sound right and the music sounds good, then you're a "real" guitarist. Whatever the fuck that stupid shit means...
The part beginning with "The killer awoke before dawn" is basically "Oedipus Rex," an Athenian play by Sophocles. The "took a face from the ancient gallery" is referring to a death mask, like families used to have of their dead ancestors. The Greeks cast them in metal, and I think the Romans used wax. So he's wearing the face of one of his ancestors. There was a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but he's unaware that he doesn't know who they actually are. He deposes the previous king without knowing it was his father, and takes his mother as his queen. When they learn the truth, his mother hangs herself, and he puts out his own eyes. The song states it like Oedipus knew, but that's Morrison and artistic license at work:)
The use of this in 'Apocalypse Now' never fails to give me the chills.
Faceless Men assassins from Game of Thrones was probably inspired by those lyrics. I dunno what I'm talking about, though..
I've read that same thing before. I remember an interview of Morrison recounting a time where they performed this song and when they got to the Oedipus myth part Morrison said the words "Mother, I want to **** you!" This apparently outraged the owner of the venue saying to them, "You don't sing about your mother like that!" He then told them that they're never playing at his venue again and Morrison asked, "Do we still have a tab?"
@@mastersloseymusic3928
Whisky a go go, where the doors were the house band.
This, but a bit more.
Actually, the lyrics reflect Sigmund Freud's Oedipus Complex theory more.
Riders on the Storm. It has a rain effect on it! immaculate song.
I listen to this when I’m driving and want to chill
Gives me goosebumps every time! My favorite Doors song. As I said, the soundtrack to the creepiest horror movie never made.
@@vlfrisciawhich is?
@@francescocapizzi3109 I was referring to Riders on the Storm.
I love the duet w/ Snoop Dogg.
"The End" is a masterpiece of psychedelic progressive rock, and the lyrics are a prime example of Jim Morrison's fever dream poetic imagination.
My wife asked me where the story of this song came from. My response was Jim Morrison's fever dream
@@brendanbird7900 yes, both parents survived his career...
Elizabeth feels she is In a hookah lounge listening to this... maybe with a white rabbit!
Indeed. But if you've never heard this song "tripping," you've never really heard it.
@@thomas2782But unfortunately, he didn't.
When I was 18, not long before my Dad died, he put this cassette tape into his truck's radio and told me to listen to it. After, he asked me to play this song at the end of his funeral. Little did I know I'd lose him about a week later. I honored his wishes. I still listen to this song today. It's a masterpiece.
My condolences! The wound that never heals!
Sorry for your loss.
May he rest in peace. My condolences. Wishing you only fulfilment in this life.
Keep the memories, lessons and words fresh.
I learned my dad was right, I'm finding what he was telling me is still correct. No matter how much I didn't want to hear it.
We keep them in our lives by doing the best we can everyday to honor their efforts for us.
What’s more amazing is the fact the full song was recorded live in the studio. No overdubs, fully live.
And fully, not slightly, inebriated
@@stevehatcher7700 Yeah, I laughed out loud when she said that.
Jim Morrison was always fully inebriated lol always
@@stevehatcher7700 and many micrograms of acid included
they were fucked up and it took one take...they were in the zone...
Ray Manzarek, the former keyboard player of the Doors, explained:
He was giving voice in a rock 'n' roll setting to the Oedipus complex, at the time a widely discussed tendency in Freudian psychology. He wasn't saying he wanted to do that to his own mom and dad. He was re-enacting a bit of Greek drama. It was a theater!
@denis.petritti
That's the interpretation that I'd always thought it was about. The killer put his boots on and did in the whole family: the mom being last- and after a little torture.
It's a work of genius and serious madness- looking into the mind of a killer.
Sounds right. Jim did study film at UCLA.
@@BettyBrancato: I mean, he makes it pretty explicit, at least live. They had to tone down the part about effing his mother for the studio version (they just turned it into a wordless scream), but the father-killing is still there.
I thought that was obvious to everyone, but hardly anyone ever mentions it!
I guess not many people had to read Oedipus Rex in high school.
Oedipus didn't even want to do his own mom and dad, that is why when he heard the oracles prediction, he fled them, not realizing they were his adopted parents, and he would unknowingly meet his real parents on his journey.
Okay. So I had in my prep document that the full song was played in the intro of Apocalypse Now... but I've never heard of that movie so I really had no reference point for it. Sorry if I offended anyone by not mentioning it in this analysis! ♥
Apocalypse Now, a film that will be watched even in 100 years... a powerful dive into the dark side of the human psyche...
Unless you don't care for war film based conflict and deep psychological musings on the dark side of the human mind and nature, Apocalypse Now is a must see, Elizabeth. I recommend watching the original theatrical release; the extended version doesn't add much to the original and really detracts from it (my humble opinion). Apocalypse Now is inspired by the classic novella by Joseph Conrad called Heart Of Darkness.
@@misatankosic1001and is loosely based on Joseph Conrad's story Heart of Darkness...😞
Apocalypse now-- full metal jacket-- deer hunter-- band of brothers
Are all must sees.
We’ll forgive you this time, but don’t let it happen again young lady 😜.
This is one of those songs where you put on your headphones, turn down the lights and get into the whole atmosphere of the entire song.
I can’t believe you chose “The End,” as your introduction to The Doors. That’s heavy, man. ❤
She said “Some sort of weird dreamland. Where rules don’t necessarily apply”. That’s exactly where Jim lived! Love your breakdowns. Love The Doors. 🤘🏽🤘🏽
It's called LSD. 😂
Elizabeth is the best. The Doors members were college educated in music. Our dear seems to be getting a good experience with them.
The Doors Of Perception - Aldous Huxley
@@joenobody5631Heroin. Jim was a junkie. That's probably too limiting a definition, he took EVERYTHING. ... including whatever any stranger may give him. He was a very flawed human, but a perfect artist.
@@joenobody5631 Peyote and a frightened Bufo toad 😛
Jim Morrison still turning people on with his voice 57 years later 🔥
Took me a sec to figure out what you meant since the 1st album came out and not since he died LOL
I knew he would
That's Jim
Morrisons voice and poetry made the doors
Dude was only 22 when this was recorded, absolutely mind blowing
Serious LSD
Truly a unique individual. I find him to be one of the more interesting people in history. A true poetic genius.
@user-eq9bx7qh4t Possibly, but the dreamlike quality reminds me of peyote. The tension and waves of perspective in Soft Parade sounds more LSD. To me. Your mileage may vary.
@@inspectre27 LOL. Here in Japan for 41 years, remembering undergrad days back in the states. Now my choices for mind altering substances are limited to an extra spoon of instant coffee or one more beer. 🙃
@@stevemartin4249
😄
This song will forever be associated with Apocalypse Now. Elizabeth picks up on the feeling…exotic, psychedelic, then unhinged…insanity. Absolutely fitting for the film.
Yeah it was.
Yep. I share those sentiments. Although of course I'd heard it a number of times before, but not like that. Ever since I've associated it with apocalypse now.
An epic song in an epic movie
One thing to remember is that this band is different. This isn't a 70s rock band. It is 3 classically trained musicians and a poet. It's not like anything else.
I like to say that The Doors are still ahead of their time, even now.
Yeah, I was going to say that the thing to remember about Jim Morrison is that he isn't a singer who wrote lyrics. He's a poet who through circumstance wound up singing his poetry. And John Densmore was a jazz drummer who through circumstance wound up in a rock band.
Excellent description of the band. Possibly the most important rock band ever from the United States.
Must have had to be there because I don't hear any of that. Jim Morrison strikes me as someone who wrote things that were vague and weird enough that people made more of them than they were and he got away with it because he was charismatic. These guys are an adequate blues band that went psychedelic. The musicians carried the whole thing. Morrison's writing is IMO just not particularly interesting.
I agree. The Doors will always be ahead of times. I think that Elizabeth will enjoy Jim Morrison's An American Prayer. That is such a wild ride.
The only band member who could be said to be "classically trained" is John Densmore, who, while he was at CSU in Northridge, studied ethnic music. None of the other band member had any sort of formal music training.
This haunting song mixed with Helicopter rotor sounds in the opening scene of Apocalypse Now sets the tone for the whole movie and really highlights Martin Sheen's character being internally torn up and the effect and toll the war has taken on him.
My thoughts exactly. I always think of that movie when I hear this song!
Yup
Is it also used in the Film dawn to dusk ruclips.net/video/Naq2DF5aRdM/видео.htmlsi=VZzzw453TmZ3kB0V
Zombie ,Vampires ...and plenty of snakes 😂
Definitely not for children ..
"siagon shit............I'm still only in Siagon"
Interesting timing, Apocalypse Now was released yesterday in 1979.
I've long thought of Jim Morrison as one of the most unique rock singers of his generation. When others were going for the high pitch, Jim crooned in a smooth, silky baritone or barked and howled like a wolf. His was one of the most conspicuously masculine voices of the period.
Frank Sinatra was his childhood hero.
Love when you said it almost makes you feel "drunk". I believe the correct terminology is "tripping". Explains the journey you were taking in your mind. Great reactions! You have earned some beads to wear and a flower for your hair! ☮
As a 55 year old lifelong Doors fan I’ve listened to this song thousands of times. You did an amazing job of breaking this song down, absolutely amazing. I enjoyed that so much. You nailed it….The Doors are the most unique band to me, jazz, rock, poetry and everything else. It’s like a magic music box you open up. Go listen to all the albums and get lost. Great content
They don't make music like that anymore. I'm 56 and while there are still modern bands I like it's not the same. You could hardly call this commercial.
yeah you have started, appropriately, at The End from their 1st album ...now check out the last album recorded while Jim was alive "LA Woman"
ruclips.net/p/PLrv5a_5drVgSfiGF8H96g9_drlm6pvbRR 🤗
55 here too.
@@radiof00le 55 yo here too and grew up on Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, and absolutely the Doors!
"The Doors are like a box of chocolate. Ya never know what you're gonna get." lol
I'm 70. They've been, by far, my favorite band since I heard Light my Fire for the first time. Summer of '67.
"It's almost like we're in some kind of weird Dreamland where the rules don't really apply." You just described all of the best Doors songs
#FACTS 👍💯♥️ AND You Never Want to Leave it!! 😎
Good description of a psychedelic experience
Such a great reaction. You totally got it! Next stop: watch Apocalypse Now...
The Doors are a hell of a drug😁❤
Elizabeth first The Doors song and she started at "The End"? 🤔🤣 Recommend: Riders on the Storm, Light My Fire, L.A. Woman, Break on Through, People are Strange Roadhouse Blues.
I know! This may be his wildest/weirdest song. With oedipal F bombs!
My vote is People Are Strange. Every time I hear it the opening credits to The Lost Boys plays through my mind.
I know! Maybe Hello, I Love You??? But no!
Gotta add their other epics - When the Musics Over and The Soft Parade.
Crystal Ship also.
To those who enjoyed this, please watch the live performance of The Doors at the Hollywood Bowl. Oh, my gosh. This song, uncensored, is even better.
I am 58 years old (Gen X) and I grew up listening to the greatest music ever made. So many of these musicians died young, and it just makes their music that much more precious to me. To the younger folks, music lovers, please take some time to listen to the albums made from 1964 through 1979. Start at the beginning, listen to the bands in chronological order and see how they grow and mature. Like many people, I had an unhappy childhood, and that music was my first love. It got me through the pain, and I survived, and took Jim’s advice and went to LA. The West is the best. Get here and we’ll do the rest.
💜💜💜
“Dark, complex, slightly inebriated…like a nice cab.” She’s so good at this!
Reinforced by the "chocolate and cherries" reference
Wine is society's pretentious excuse for getting buzzed.
I LOL'd when she said "slightly inebriated". I don't think he was ever "slightly inebriated". Tripping, trashed, stoned? Sure, but "slightly inebriated"? Nah.
@@cbsolo5628 Slightly inebriated. Cab. I was wondering if she would take the next step into “opium den”. That’s the feeling I get.
In a 1969 interview with Rolling Stone, Morrison said the song means something different every time he listened to it:
"It started out as a simple good-bye song… Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don’t know. I think it’s sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be."
The thoughts of a true artist. It doesn't necessarily matter what the artist thought or intended it only matters what it means to the person who experiences it.
Insanity by a trip full of urban legends and emotions. Very entertaining and invokes feelings, great song overall though.
nah, this song is just a song about California
Brilliance has no limits.
@@CrimsonCrow420😂good one, corky😅
A musical journey rather than a song. Imagine being a student in the mid 60's and all of a sudden being drafted to go fight some foreign war you know little about. Plucked from your home, school and friends and possibly never coming back. This song symbolizes that stress for me.
@@user-hj7zh9re6b Nope. The drafted my brother from high school in 1970. He was the valedictorian of his class.
@@user-hj7zh9re6b Nope, they removed that exemption when things went south
eeblatter….as a 17 year old kid I listened to this album a million times the summer before I went into the Marines. I wasn’t drafted. I enlisted. …….signed up voluntarily……my parents had to sign permission documents due to my young age. I wanted honor and adventure like some young males do. I got both. After boot training, combat training and tech training, all of which consumed my first year, I volunteered for Vietnam. I served in Nam 19 months. This music was in the background when music was available. Listening now brings tears. Lots of emotion back then. I left my beloved behind. I was all in as a Marine and did intelligence gathering ….intercepting enemy field radio communication. Critical, challenging, frustrating. I arrived as a Lance Corporal and left a Sgt. The Corps and the war are in my thoughts several times daily. After I signed up I told my best friend. He joined. 2 other high school friends ditto. We all did our time in the war. That’s what Marines do. We are still the closest of friends this 57 years later. One guy, Bill W. was shot up bad his 3rd month there. He spent 6 months recovering in a Naval hospital. He still has night terrors . He has had cancer twice. He is a bad ass and I love him. Denny J. humped a radio on patrols and became the radio man in the command tent on hill 55. He is reclusive and lives in an old farm house, surrounded by trees and relishes his solitude. Another bad ass. Bill E. humped m-60 machine gun ammo . He was the big boy of our circle in high school. He was a good Catholic boy. He has ptsd and also likes solitude. I take pills for depression. We all paid a price for our participation. I would do it all again. Serving with Marines is heady stuff. The average age of Marines in Vietnam was 19. I landed in Danang on my 19 th birthday. Those experiences taught me that I could endure anything. Despite the after effects I described above, all these guys got education, had productive successful careers, married, had kids, invested and all are retired excepting me. ( all also divorced but I’m still married)The war demons contributed to those divorces. These guys are hard and intolerant of bullshit. I’m 74, still working full time as a building contractor. My life is better than I ever imagined it could be. I’m a blessed man. Truly blessed. I give my Marine training much of the credit for instilling discipline and resolve into my character. I still lift at a gym. I push and push. But……this music brings tears. Dave Heitman Sgt., USMC 1967-1970 Semper Fidelis
@@EileenHeitman Did you do morse, non-morse or voice intercept? I was an army morse op in Germany in the 80s.
@@jcallinger Morse
Outstanding review. You hit it perfectly. Very sad song showing his inner demons. However work of art. Jim Morrison wore his heart on his sleeve and held nothing back one of the greatest singer sing writers. He was years ahead of his time. Inspirational! Jim Morrison lives on!? Thanks again for review. Would like to see you review U2 and your thoughts.
omg, watching you go from gleefully enjoying the sonic experience to slowly realizing you are in a horror movie was precious. this all happened to us once, a long time ago. thanks so much for letting us remember again.
That was tough to watch, knowing what’s coming…
As soon as I saw "The End" by The Doors pop up in your video list, I knew I had to watch-there’s something electric about seeing someone experience this song for the first time, especially someone with your depth of knowledge and expressive insight. When Morrison croons, “Walk on down the hall,” leading to that infamous "mother" section, I was on the edge of my seat, eager to see how you'd navigate that raw intensity. And you nailed it-capturing the unease, the tension, the unraveling. It’s like watching a master painter discover new colors on a well-worn canvas.
Your reaction wasn’t just about the technicalities, but about feeling the song-something I, like many others, probably felt in the marrow of our bones when we first heard it but never had the words to articulate. You brought those feelings to life with a clarity that’s both captivating and relatable.
If you’re planning to dive deeper into The Doors, I suspect you’d enjoy watching the film starring Val Kilmer. It’s a wild ride-equal parts myth and madness-and I think hearing your take on it would be fascinating.
Thanks for keeping your content so consistently rich and thought-provoking. Watching your videos is like rediscovering the music all over again. Keep it up!
Very well put! This was hands down the best reaction I've seen to this song. Her description of it as being "unhinged" was spot on and I too was anxiously waiting for her to get to the "mother" part. I also agree about the movie. Val absolutely nailed that part! I saw it completely sober and walked out of the theater feeling like I was on something 🤪
If this was a live version with f the mother screamed multiple times and all night long I wonder how it would have been handled?
@@armad1nWatch Thee Door Live at the Hollywood Bowl. The performance contains the unedited version of that song. ❤
@@memorywhole366 Huge fan since my teenage years in the 70s. Have 19 live albums including the 1968 Hollywood Bowl concert. It is one of the best performances of The End. You never knew what kind of show you would get until the concert got underway and The End was often performed with a mix of Jim's poetry.
"There are things that are known and things that are unknown, in-between are the Doors" ~ Jim Morrison
AMEN
So… The Doors don’t know?
He is referring to the Doors Of Perception book
@@liorap5636exactly! "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite." - William Blake
Actually that quote is from Aldous Huxley
"The End" Always felt like waves to me. Rolling and crashing, some are bigger, some smaller, some crash faster, some take their time and turn into tubes. They roll in from calm seas. And unbeknownst to the surfer, under the water lurks something dark and sinister.
It slithers and darts under the waves. Watching. Waiting.
Leaving the listener with a vague sense of unease to the swirling euphoria of the upper layers of the song.
“Accepted regret” I can’t believe how perfectly you nailed that. Ive tried for YEARS to put into words what this song makes me feel. And you just said it, on your first listen. Holy cow, you are good.
Yep same
She pretend not knowing it, that's all.
I'm amazed at how well she nailed so much stuff so quickly. I wonder if she's done some research beforehand.
THE BLUE BUS: Jim lived mostly in Venice (spitting distance from Santa Monica) and The Big Blue Bus is a bus service founded in 1928 and operated by the city of Santa Monica in and around that area. Given that much of that part of "The End" is referencing "the West," I think he was just using the blue busses he was familiar with as a metaphor (remember, Jim was a writer and poet before he was a rock star). A metaphor for what? Well, here's what Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for the Doors) had to say about the "blue bus" reference in the song:
"[It was] Jim’s version of the Egyptian solar boat… it is the boat that the pharaohs and everyone, everyone else rides on through infinity, through eternity, and 'the blue bus' was, for me, a vehicle that would take you on a voyage into magical places."
Speaking of which...
RIDE THE HIGHWAY WEST, BABY: I do think Jim was referencing being on the West coast but, also, as he did a lot with his poetry, there were layers of meaning. When he's talking about riding the King's Highway west, it could be interpreted as simply an invitation to come out to the West coast where everything is sunny and golden, the counter-culture was taking hold and challenging the establishment, etc. But, given how much of the song talks about death and change and whatnot, the "King's Highway" might also be a metaphor for the Egyptian cycle of the sun god Ra in his path across the sky. The ancient Egyptian word for death was "Westing." They believed that when you die, you join Ra on his journey west through the underworld. "Ride the highway west."
He might also be referencing the historical King's Highway. Mentioned in the Old Testament, it was an important trade route connecting Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, the Red Sea and Egypt. Caravans transporting incense and spices from Arabia took this road on their way to the thriving Nabataean capital of Petra.
THE KILLER/OEDIPAL SECTION: This is obviously a reference to Oedipus Rex, the Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, but is also tied in to Freud's Oedipal theory which was popular in pop psychology at the time "The End" was evolving. He was using it partially as a metaphor for the shift that was happening in society during the 60s. It was the idea of "kill the father," i.e. the authority, the patriarchy, the old way of doing things, and "F the mother," i.e. return to nature, embrace the real, a more natural way of existing.
In his autobiography, John Densmore (drummer for the Doors) talks about the night they recorded "The End" and specifically his discussion with Jim about the Oedipal section. He says:
"At one point Jim said to me during the recording session, and he was tearful, and he shouted in the studio, 'Does anybody understand me?' And I said yes, I do, and right then and there we got into a long discussion and Jim just kept saying over and over kill the father, fuck the mother, and it essentially boils down to this, kill all those things in yourself which are instilled in you and are not of yourself, they are alien concepts which are not yours, they must die. Fuck the mother is very basic, and it means get back to essence, what is reality, what is, fuck the mother is very basically mother, mother-birth, real, you can touch it, it's nature, it can't lie to you. So what Jim says at the end of the Oedipus section, which is essentially the same thing that the classic says, kill the alien concepts, get back to reality, the end of alien concepts, the beginning of personal concepts."
Personally, I don't agree with Densmore that that's what Sophocles was saying with his play, but that's what Jim was thinking about when he wrote that section.
RIDE THE SNAKE: I don't have any quotes to back this one up, but I know from his music and poetry (and life) that Jim often referenced Eastern philosophies and mythology in his poetry and lyrics. In Hindu mythology, the God Vishnu is a cosmic entity which dwells In a dimension of an infinite sea. He sleeps on the back of Ananta, a 100 headed cobra which swims through the waters. Ananta means "Infinity." Thus to ride the snake to the ancient lake means to connect with the cosmic dreamer. The source of inspiration and soul. This ties in to the theme of getting back to the source that you see in a lot of the rest of the song (the insane Roman children, stripped of their natural ways by the civilization founded by the Roman empire and driven mad by that civilization, "waiting for the summer rain" - natural, cleansing - to heal them, e.g.).
THE OVERALL MEANING: It's interesting that you say that the song sounds improvised, Elizabeth, because it's a song that evolved over time with many bits of improv poetry woven in over different performances. When they performed the song, it was constantly changing. You can see a very different version in the "Doors Live At The Hollywood Bowl" video, with completely different bits of poetry (and Jim being a little more light-hearted and silly with it at parts, including an "ode to a moth" that he sees on the stage at one point).
Overall, though, the song started as a breakup song for a girl Jim had split with but evolved into a song more about endings and beginnings, life and loss, change, leaving behind what we're told is real in favor of returning to the source, etc. The "musical mattress" that the band laid down for Jim to "rest his words on" (as John Densmore once described their music) was this open place for him to sing and recite bits of poetry around these themes.
Well done, sir
I agree with this, though I'd add I believe the buses used to take new recruits to basic training were also blue, and there's the local bus colour too that's at play here. One of great things about this song is how flexible it is, both with what it contains and what you can find in it. There's a lot of Vietnam undertones in here, the farewell to a friend could also be to a brother in arms, or one friend going to war, the other not.
This woman does not care about all this stuff lol she says in the video that she just found out he died young 30 minutes before making the video 😆
King's Hwy... Santa Monica to San Francisco via "Camino Real" or Royal Highway of the King connecting the Missions by order of the Spanish Crown...layers to peel from 'jimmrs oniom'
I always thought ride the snake was comets or shooting stars…
Glad to get a chance to witness Elizabeth open up The Doors of perception! ❤
Nice, Aldous Huxley.
This may be one of the most hilarious analyses that Elizabeth has done... seeing her shock and surprise and trying to explain the possibly LSD laced lyrics like there must be some sort of rationality to it, and then making the F word musical!!! LMAO!!!
She finally got to ride the blue bus.
Whenever I hear this song I think of the movie Apocalypse now. They played the uncensored version of The End. Light my fire is another awesome doors song. The first album and waiting for the Sun on my two favorite doors albums.
If you can’t bring yourself to appreciating one Doors song, it’s so very easy to find something in another. They created so many different sounds in such a little time. Spanish Caravan, Roadhouse Blues, Peacefrog, The End, Love Me Two Times. Their depth is truly incredible. Again, in such an unbelievably short time. They steamrolled the scene and bursted into a supernova. I wish Jim would’ve stuck around longer. To see the growth that man was destined to.
He would of been disappointed 😞
Jim was the short fuse on explosives. Destined to run hot and fast and then cause a massive explosion. He was never destined to be with us for a long time.
and we can't forget Riders On The Storm...
@@jameslionspirit9636 addin LA lady, light my fire plus strange days as well as people are strange
@@dramoth64 Exactly.... the thing about rock stars is tht a lot of the time, their longevity often undermines their relevance. Not saying I enjoy seeing my heroes die, just saying that there are a lot of instances of musicians bursting on the scene in a ball of fire, forever changing the landscape, only to gradually age and fizzle away, sometimes completely tainting their legacy in the process. I'd rather see my heroes die than watch them grow old, comfortable, and complacent, selling themselves out in the process.
Jim had a mission in this realm, and he left it precisely at the right time.
Recorded live in the studio start to finish. No overdubs at all. They played it twice. The second recording was the one they put on their album. A true masterpiece in every way. All amazing musicians and Morrison is the icing on the cake. He wasn't a song writer. He was a poet. I hope you analyze more of their songs.
Actually, the first half of the song is from take 1, and the second half of the song is from take 2. If you listen carefully, you can hear the cut right before Morrison says, "The killer awoke before dawn."
I am one of the many who has laid flowers at the Parisian grave of this man, Jim Morrison. I grew up listening to The Doors and still listen to their music today. Incredible music from incredible musicians, at the very top of their game in every aspect.
The question is . We're you actually visiting a grave or a monument. What happened to his body . No one close to him will ever know
@@kennethsmith6942 A question I have also wondered about and will never know the answer either.
I visited his grave in the 90s, too. It was surprising because you were picking through this insanely packed cemetery and then suddenly (at the time) a humble grave marker covered in lipstick.
Yeah, but, she's goof balls.
Jim Morrison shaped his voice from his three favorite singers:
the crooning of Elvis, the swing of Sinatra, the blues of Eric Burdon. His talent at mixing those three different influences, made him unique.
The killer put his boots on....and he patiently waited for this analysis. 🤘
Good one my friend. I too await the "analysis" with much interest.
lol
Oedipus complex
THE DOORS - L.A. WOMAN for the next reaction would be nice.... who agrees?
L.A. woman should have been the first song to start the deep dive into the doors universe.
Moonlight Drive
I would not have picked the End as your first Doors reaction. It is very macabre. I think L.A Woman, Moonlight Drive, People are Strange or Roadhouse Blues would have been better.
@@brianstrong1510 I think The End is perfect. No song is more signature Morrison
@@robertmccoll3569 As a very big fan of The Doors, I must agree.
I'm sure glad Ray and Jim had that cinematography class together.
And then ran into each other on Venice Beach later that summer.
Now I've seen the whole video, I think I can honestly say that that was the best interpretation of that song i have ever heard, no simp. You touched on every keyword necessary and offered some interpretations i hadn't thought of, but now you mention it... And you managed to do it without using the overused cliché word that everyone tends to use when speaking about this song, even me: peyote (or LSD a close second).
There were a couple of times I liked wherein you "hit it without knowing you hit it," and those were the times when you said that the song feels like going insane. Absolutely spot on. The End sounds very much like going insane. And ingesting hallucinogens also feels very much like going insane. I have been told (possibly apocraphally (sp?)) that Jim was on hallucinogens of some sort during the recording, though it's odd no one mentions the rest of the band's state. Anyway, the songs feels very similar to peyote, in my experience. My recommendation for another Doors song to analyze is Soft Parade, which in my opinion sounds a little more like LSD. 😊
Elizabeth - "The End" by the Doors was used in one of the most brilliant cinematic intro's in film history in the 1979 film "Apocalypse Now" by Director Francis Ford Coppola. The narrative of the film is based on Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" set in Vietnam. The integration of the song with the visuals and editing is stunning!
Cheers!
Dave
That film is legendary! It is still widely held to be among the best films ever made.
Elizabeth. The Doors started in the mid 60s. Jim died in 71. If there's a Vietnam movie made, you'll probably hear at least one Doors song in the soundtrack. There are so many hits for you to enjoy. You'll hear a lot of Indian musical influence in several songs from the late 60s. Ravi Shankar made the sitar an instrument to be played or simulated. I think he taught George Harrison. In The End, the keyboard has some Light My Fire sound to it. Val Kilmer at 31 portrayed Jim in the biopic THE DOORS and does his own singing. It's a movie that I think is worth seeing. I have loved seeing your horizon broaden in the last few years. Please continue the trip.
Yep. The song is completely inseparable from the Vietnam War.
Twenty seven club
David Crosby of 'The Byrds ' introduced Harrison to Eastern music
Very well placed in Apocalypse Now
Forrest Gump used 5 Doors songs.
Whenever I see this on a jukebox I play this. Changes the mood of the room. And 11 minutes is bang for your buck!
That “wind chime” sound at the beginning is played on the guitar. Robbie strummed the strings at the top part of the neck of the guitar that is between the tuner keys and the neck bridge.
Wow. Kind of jumping into the deep end of the pool with this one. An absolutely great Doors track but usually a person works up to this one!
Deep end of the pool? That was more like cliff diving before graduating out of your water wings. 🤣
Exactly! Not the first song I’d recommend for a new Doors listener, but a great song nonetheless. Why her peeps thought this was the best starting point is beyond me.
The unedited version when he addresses his mother is...something else.
The unedited version got them banned from the Whisky A GOGO. It would probably put Elizabeth into shock
@@infidel60 Yeah, copulating your mother against her will (to avoid the word) is something that was frowned upon.
I think the point is he's kind of reenacting the story of oedipus, as if it was some kind of Greek poetic recital or chorus. I don't think he's necessarily singing about his own mother... I do like the percussive use of the word "fuck", it works beautifully
Ted Gazzari blew a gasket at that!!🤯
Didn't Jim actually sing the unedited version on The Ed Sullivan Show?
The Crystal Ship made me fall in love with the Doors
I was jamming Peace Frog and my mom introduced me to the Crystal Ship. Such great songs
@@madmod Peace Frog is great too
Me too, I used to go to sleep to crystal ship all the time.
One of my favorite ballads ever
"a thousand girls, a thousand thrills"
Out of all the songs The Doors did; The End is probably the most difficult to psycho-analyze as there are many different moods and places that one could go to. Great Job !!
I still can't believe this was on their debut album. Astounding maturity for the time, and I don't think The Doors ever quite surpassed this.
In my opinion they equaled this with Riders on the Storm. But I don't think you can surpass perfection.
The Doors are one of a kind. Robbie Kreiger’s flamingo style of playing, John Densmore’s jazz drumming, Ray Manzerick’s hypnotic keyboards and Jim Morrison’s vocal abilities are all amazing! You said this was “art” and I believe all the members of The Doors would be appreciative of that description.
FlamenCo style... lol, you're talking about a bird.
Manzarek. For Christ's sake give him the respect of getting his name right.
@@risenfromyoutubesashesagai6302 ah, you got me. Thanks for the correction
@@VielFart sorry, it was late at night. Appreciate the correction. Should have gotten it right.
Jim Morrison was a pagan and heavily into ancient European and Native American spirituality, which is why his lyrics are quite abstract and esoteric. His sexualized song themes was also to rebel against the Christian puritanism of American society. He also heavily inspired the punk movement through Iggy Pop who wanted to become a singer after attending a Doors concert in 1967.
Source: Trust me bro
their first recorded song is "indian summer" for his girlfriend
Never , ever , ever forget, that Jim never wanted to be a rock star ( of course enjoyed the excess) but Jim was and is today a poet, surrounded by an amazing group of musicians.
Crystal Ships and The End still gives me chills when I listen to either 1 of them and I’m 73, Great music, lyrics and can’t ever be duplicated.
Fun fact. Before 1999, the public never heard this version of the song. The vocals towards the end with Jim going full on lizard king were buried in the mix prior to the Doors complete studio recordings box set.
Wasn’t the ned of the song in apocalypse now? With the vocals
@@sethvanduyn4538 Yes, but that version was shortened down to 6 minutes.
Thank you, I thought I was having a senior moment. I still have the CD I bought of the album in the early 90s and never heard the "fuck you" section. Was this the rerelease that the unabridged version of Break On Through was released on too?
@@catfips9461 Yes
I have this on original vinyl. So it makes me wonder if there were different versions in different countries? Or are you talking about the radio edit?
John Densmore is a jazz drummer and it really shows in this song specifically, Robby Krieger is trained as a flamenco guitarist and I think it really shows in his rambling runs that seem to go on a little longer than you expect them to, and Ray Manzarek usually recorded on a Hammond c-3 and b-3 organ, but generally used Gibson G-101 with a Feder Rhodes Piano bass resting on top of it for live shows and tours. But he's also pictured in a few shows using a Vox Continental and an RMI electric piano/harpsichord. Manzarek might be the most underrated musician of the era. It was hard for anyone to get credit when around Jim. He was just such a glowing superstar that he vacuumed up all the attention.
Latin influence coming in at the time, too. They caught the knife's edge of the culture and are still captivating.
Awesome band top to botttom!
There is more artistic brilliance in this one song alone than in 95 percent of the artists today.
This is THE BEST and most thorough analysis that I’ve ever seen. Elizabeth actually breaks down and analyzes the word F*CK in this song for us. It was so much more complex than I ever realized. Exceptional analysis.🙌
FYI: Harrison Ford was a roadie for the Doors. When this album was released on 1/67, it rocked the world of my friends and I. Difficult to put into words how it changed our lives that led us down the path of exploration of new sounds/bands and individual discovery. There was/is something about hearing this classic rock music the first time when it was initially released because it was fresh, unknown and breaking barriers with sounds, lyrics and creativity that had never been created or exposed in that time period. Thanks for doing the review. You're so good at what you do and I am always impressed by your analysis and enthusiasm. "Ride The Snake!"
Jim Morrison is Rush Limbaugh Google it hit view images hands smoking Read Rimbaud And Morrison.
Ray Manzarek is responsible for the sound of the Doors...he plays the bass parts with one hand on keyboards and the keyboard parts with the other hand simultaneously
While that was true in live shows, in the studio the Doors often used outside bassists including Larry Knechtel of the Wrecking Crew. However, on this song, it was apparently all Ray Manzarek.
@@stpnwlf9according to interviews with the band, the whole song was recorded live in the studio in two takes with no overdubs and by candlelight. I couldn't imagine being there seeing that
When I was younger, I was obsessed with The Doors and still love them today. And about 30 years ago, a friend of my mother told me that in 1967, she saw The Doors play live at a club in NYC. She said she had never heard of them at the time. And I specifically remember she said she wasn't impressed with the band because the lead singer (Jim Morrison) appeared to be drunk and was stumbling around on stage.
This was hands-down your best reaction, Elizabeth. This is one of the most complex songs. There's violence on the surface, with the Oedipus motiff buried within. And deeper still is Jim's life philosophy.....kill off knowledge - what you've been told (father) and embrace (mother) nature - your natural self, unburdened by the stains of human existence. The message is relayed in both the lyrics and the music. Perfect in its rawness.
Ray Manzarek is a musical juggernaut. And this band was very, very special! Thanks so much; long awaited.
I love how in the outro she simply stated: This is a work of art.
Because The End is exactly that.
I could not hear it for a year or two and upon hearing it again still be shocked how truly amazing it is.
If you listen to the Doors, the lyrics are a world of their own. Morrison was first and foremost a poet. His lyrics are deep, rich, and other worldly.
I was 14 the year this came out. It changed my whole worldview. There was so much great music that arrived that year. But this grabbed me and even now in my 70s, has a place in my mind. Imagine listening to this as a 14-year-old. Will anything ever be the same?
The Doors changed my life, definitely for the better. Thank you so much for giving to all of us again what I (and probably so many others) experienced when we first discovered Jim!
The Doors' "The End" is where music exponentially meets very fine art. 😻 It is pure psychedelic theater of the mind and one of the most compelling examples of James Douglas Morrison's vocal poetic genius and his backing musicians' brilliance. 😻 "The blue bus is calling us..." 🎤🎸🎹🥁
It's where the acid trips take you man, especially when you have an Oedipus complex.
@@metalmark1214 "The horror, the horror" Colonel Walter Kurtz
I always picture Alice in Wonderland lol
@@foreveralone11w When I hear the Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit is when I picture Alice In Wonderland. 😜
@@audiophileman7047 well, that makes sense since that's literally what that song is about lol
Ah, the only thing better than enjoying some of my favorite songs of all time is watching Elizabeth experience them and share her inspiring interpretations and analyses with us. None have been better than her review of The End. Thank you, Elizabeth, once again!
This song holds a special place in my heart. The lyrics pierces through each time I listen to it. People are strange is another favorite from them 😭😩
I believe the name of the band was based on Aldous Huxley's essay "The Doors of Perception". Jim wanted to be a door, opening people's minds to a reality which they might not be able to experience otherwise.
@@jcporter8206 I read the No One Here Gets Out Alive biography way back in the 80's, as well as Huxley's book. Never saw the movie, I'm not a fan of biopics.
The essay of Huxley's described his experience with mescaline, a hallucinogen similar to LSD. Door-opening indeed.
Jim was a ongoing shamanic experience.
@@laurahardgrove955 yeah I remember Huxley writing about the importance of mescaline in Hopi rituals. Many shamanistic references in Doors lyrics for sure
@@marcduhamel-guitar1985It wasn't just references to those experiences. A shaman, or similar person is a door or bridge between the normal world and that state. They usually take it pretty far, but leave the door open some- so others can at least glimpse the other side. He had those talents but it takes self control to do it safely. Getting help could have helped him use less and maybe live much longer.
He said one of the people that died in that crash was a medicine man that influenced him. He had a big interest in native American spiritually and the southwest. I think if he lived, he would have eventually calmed down and learned more of their ways.
Its a jazz drummer,jazz flamenco guitarist,and a jazz keyboardist,with an insane singer
Insane Blues singer
@@jackiewilliams4854 yeah I would have to agree with that,an unwilling insane blues singer,the story of how the end came about where they had went on stage at the London fog or the whiskey (I haven't read these books since gradeschool in the 80s,so I know it was one if them) and Jim was a no show during a break they went to find him and he was in his apartment on a massive amount of Lysergic Diethylamide,any way they get him back to the bar and the end was a short jam before then,but Jim had something new in store...the rest is really rock and roll history!
A blues singer who studied the Beat poets of the 50’s
Pretty much nails it !!
I always appreciate how objectively and professionally she approaches all types of music. Whether its death metal or Jim Morisson saying FUCK a hundred times. She literally just analyzes the vocals. Love this channel 🙌
I am so happy that you are analyzing the Doors. Please analyze When The Music's Over next, please?
Or Hyacinth House!
Such a great song. I agree, it would be fun for Elizabeth to listen to it.
"When The Music's Over" is a masterpiece
Roadhouse Blues, Peace Frog, Light My Fire, Touch Me. There is no way to go wrong with The Doors. Jim Morrison had one hell of an imagination with lyrics and voice inflection given his very low overall tone but he had the ability to hit some crazy notes.
There is a great book on Morrison called,”No One gets Out Alive”and is a inside look at such a most interesting poet of the Twentieth Century.
This song is, essentially, a Raga with poetry sung over top of it! It's brilliant!
First time with the doors and starting with "The End"? That is jumping into the deep end of the pool.
With rocks in your pockets.
Today on The Charismatic Voice, Elizabeth closes her eyes and dives into the deep end.
🤣🤣🤣
I seem to recall Ray Manzarek (the organist) saying that his background was classical piano, the guitarist had been playing flamenco, and the drummer was playing improv jazz. They came together with an amazing chemistry.
Mr. Morisson was studying filmmaking and I believe didn't have any vocal training. He wrote a ton of poetry and learned to sing as he went. The story goes that at the start, he would deal with nerves by singing with his eyes closed and his back to the audience.
I know I said I wouldn't post again four posts ago. But we're here, at minute 38 and a boy who's managed to return physically alive is almost breaking me while we're dancing. These, us, children were broken by Vietnam. Morrison is casually brilliant and continually violently troubled.
Listening to The Doors and Jim Morrison's poems are almost like a spiritual trip. It's so bizarre and calm.
Also, this was a perfect song for the scenes it was picked for in the film "Apocalypse Now".
#2 for the Doors - When the music's over
You will dig Manzarek's interludes on the organ and Morrisons raw emotion
Sitting in a bar in Kranj, Slovenia, in October '91, reading about the horrific battle of Vukovar between Serbia and Croatia, the neighbouring country, which was raging at that moment and this came on. I'll remember it 'til the day I die.
This was awesome. My first album purchase and favorite group.
I wish people had the mind set and freedom to create like this today.
Jim was a poet in the truest sense, his most commonly used themes were built around a passionate hedonism, that he felt was buried in all of humanity. He saw the brutality of humanity being disguised by polite society and politics, and was compelled to expose the seams. Even in his own behavior, he preferred to be honest to his hedonistic ego, sometimes to the point of alienating others. Burning bright and briefly was the only way it could ever go for a soul like that, especially in that time. He taught me poetry, he taught me Greek tragedy, and he taught me that we’re all so very different in exactly the same way. Jim’s vivid lyrical phrasing was inspired heavily by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, who wrote all of his poetry before the age of 21, and yet is regarded as being among the most influential French poets even today.
As for the bold use of unique sounds in the instrumentation, there is a ton of that in their music, but you absolutely must listen to “Not to Touch the Earth”, “End of the Night”, and “The Soft Parade”. Long live Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore, and Jim Morrison!
Gods, thank you for listening to this, I would watch you analyze every song ever released by The Doors, so thank you again!🖤🖤🖤
"... he preferred to be honest to his hedonistic ego." Brilliant description of Morrison's motivations and drive to explore and surpass bounderies.
Exactly Right and the reason Jim quit music quit mk ultra quit the Cabal faked his death became right wing political activist and later tv talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Be sure to google such hit images view hands smoking they do not like!
Exactly the reason Jim faked his death changed his name to Rush Limbaugh later had a talk show became Rush Limbaugh be sure to google images.
Google Jim Morrison is Rush Limbaugh hit images view hands smoking.
@@plundbohm thanks bud.
I honestly expected that Elizabeth would react unfavorably to the mad poet Jim Morrison’s lyrical psychedelic Oedipal LSD voyage… but I was pleasantly surprised by how she not only totally got it but also went with it and felt it. Kudos to you, madam.
Why would you assume that? Morrison has been electrifying fans for over 60 years now, getting steady radio play to this day.
@@risenfromyoutubesashesagai6302 Because I’ve watched her react very literally to lyrics at face value in the past and not always get what they were actually trying to convey. Your comment seems to be implying that I denigrated the Doors. I did not. I’ve loved the Doors for decades.
My understanding (and depicted in The Doors movie) is that this song had gotten a very visceral response the first time they played it live.
My father used to love this song. Of course it has the oedipus complex themes. A lot of the other themes are about the Vietnam era in the US. The snake is a reference to a river in Vietnam but also can be considered “give an inch they take a mile” if regards to serving your country. The blue bus is referencing the bus you would take to go to bootcamp. It’s about propaganda too “the west is the best”. There is a lot to unpack in this song. Morrison was a poet first and singer second.
The blue bus is Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus (still running today) that took him to the UCLA campus.
My only friend, the End. This song and The Doors were my companions that helped me through my high school years. Mom got a bit pissed off that I stole "her" music but in the end when she realised how much it helped me she was happy. Jimmy, long dead, was on my side and kept me thinking straight when for a moment I thought I didn't want to live.
The blue bus is a reference to the buses that took soldiers to the Vietnam war... the buses were blue that transported the soldiers to the planes to fly them over.
There're a few other meanings. One is that the bus that went through Santa Monica at that time was blue. Ray being Ray suggested it was a spiritual bus, possibly Egyptian, to death and the underworld.
@aaronswink8554 I heard the santamonica, too. Also, a coroner's vans were blue back then . As Jim said, it means what you want it to its art.
Didn't know that! I thought it was one of Morrison's references to making the ultimate journey after death (his favourite subject!). Perhaps it is both?
The Blue Bus is also a reference to a blue rectangular opioid pill, called the Blue Bus
Some interesting things about Morrison: He was actually shy, his favorite singer was Frank Sinatra, and when he died he became a member of the infamous "27 Club" which included Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin. After they died, it was reported that Morrison told his friends at a bar "that you're drinking with number 3".
That's sad. His life was a bender. That story reminds me, Marc Bolan also predicted his demise being prior to 30. He also avoided driving. He died in a crash in his girlfriend's car at 29 (I think)
not just jimmi janis & morrison... add in kobain & winehouse.
You can hear it without a doubt in Yes, The River Knows that Frank Sinatra was a big inspiration for Jim. One of the best and underrated song by The Doors in my opinion...
@@thejoshman3843 pigpen as well
He was also powerfully influenced by Chet baker. Listen to you don’t know what love is or my funny valentine or any of bakers sad minor key performances.
Yes! I think The End is a magnificent start! 😆 I've been eager for you to dive into The Doors, one of the most unique rock bands, and certainly a very charismatic voice.
I highly recommend including WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER live from the Hollywood Bowl to your list for a future video. It shows off so much of The Doors magic, especially their live performance magic.
"Celebration of the Lizard," live version at the Aquarius Theater, July 13, 1969.
I loved watching you experience this song and share your insights. It was a journey. :)
I always felt like the fricative "f" and plosive "k" near the end of the song as the music built and become more frantic mimicked the breathing one might be doing at the back of the blue bus. The noises were more the point than the actual word itself, which is why he didn't sustain the vowel.
Great song.
Elizabeth, Please do not miss the gargantuan ironies in the Jim Morrison story! Jim’s father, Admiral Morrison, played his - crucial - part in Lyndon Johnson’s fabricated Tonkin Gulf incident which provided the pretext for the American Invasion of Vietnam. Jim Morrison is portrayed as being “from a military family”, but WHICH military family makes all the difference! Papa Morrison wasn’t a supply Chief at a PX by any means. Second irony: this song was used in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”, which was an antiwar blockbuster. P.S. we could go deeper with the many theories/alternative histories of Laurel Canyon - of which Jim Morrison was a part. Cheers!
The Laurel Canyon rabbit hole is a deep one.
his father didnt do what you claim.... thats an internet bs false conspiracy story... his father wasnt an admiral at the time of tonkin. he didnt have control of the flagship. his secondary ship was in japan. thus he didnt manipulate nor was he involved in the tonkin maniupulation.... his ship was part of the greater armada, but again, he wasnt in tonkin when that happend. that can all be verified by official records.... your promulgating a rumor that is inaccurate & not fair to his family. dont believe everything you read on the net. seek primary sources.
Great post.
The film "Apocalypse Now (1979)" brought me here.
"Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another."
I recited this while on a river boat in Cambodia winding through the jungle a few years ago... laughing my ass off the whole time. It was a super awesome trip and I recommend to everyone to visit Cambodia... I couldn't help but quote Apocalypse Now many times while exploring Cambodia for real. 😛
Probably John Milius' words.
"We're going about 75 clicks above the DoLong Bridge. That's Cambodia Captain. That's classified. We're not supposed to be in Cambodia but that's where I'm going...."
Not sure if they're your cup of tea, but Iron Maiden has a song called "Heart of Darkness" about this movie which quotes those lines.
I'm 68 years old, and have been deeply into music all my life. Only two bands- the Doors and Nightwish, have actually shaped my perception.
Boy do I agree with you.
Out of curiosity, how did Nightwish shaped your perception?
You should have followed his political views when he became tv talk show host Rush Limbaugh after being influenced by French Poet Arthur Rimbaud and quiting music faking his death.