Article
by Gloria Stavers 1967


Meet Jim Morrison

The facts are very simple. So simple that they might mislead you into thinking that the young man whose picture you see on this page is- well, a lot like a lot of other young men. But he isn't. His full real name is James Douglas Morrison. He was born on December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Fla.- which is near Cape Kennedy. Jim is six feet tall and has brown hair and haunting blue-grey eyes. After attending Florida State University, he moved to California, where he studied film-making at UCLA. Fortunately, he was side-tracked into the world of music (which had always held great interest for him) and he soon found himself the lead singer of a group called the Doors.
After almost two years of hard work, the Doors (Jim, Robby Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek) finally did what every group has to do in order to start their climb to the top- they cut a hit single record. Oddly enough, the hit had been sitting on record store shelves in the Doors Elektra LP for quite a while. One single was lifted from the LP and didn't make it. Then someone came up with the bright idea of releasing the vocal part of Light My Fire as a single record (if you have the LP, you know that the whole Light My Fire band is eight minutes long). Anyway, as they say, the rest is history. Except it really isn't- for Jim Morrison is not like any other pop singer to appear on the scene: past, present or future. One word that can describe him is "total". He is so whole, so com- plete, so all himself and nobody or nothing else that just meeting him is an unforgettable experience. Hearing him sing and watching him perform- well, that's really magic! I've been lucky enough to have this experience, and I'll try (mind you, try) to describe just a little bit of what it's like to you. So close your eyes, open your mind and take my hand while I try to lead you through "Jim Mor- rison's magic land". It begins like this:
At first, everything is serene- blue and green. The lights are low and the stage is empty. Slowly, the boys come out and in the dark ness they start to "set up". You can hardly distinguish which is which. After a minimum amount of tuning up, the house lights suddenly go on. Just as they do, there is a fabulous blast of sound. It's the Doors- and they are on and it's unmistakably their music that you hear. Then, seemingly from nowhere, a figure leaps onto the stage. It's him- Jim Morrison! And you feel something you have never felt before. It's like an electric shock that goes all through you. Jim is singing and you realize that it's a combination of him, the way he looks and moves, and his sound that has completely turned you on. His voice is like spirals of flame, and beautiful red and yellow colors seem to fly out of his fingertips.
Come on, baby, light my fire....He is singing it to you and all at once the room around you seems to glow. At first it's warm, then it's hot- like something burning, but it doesn't hurt. You dig it. It's the fire- the fire that Jim is singing about. The fire that he knows all about and now- suddenly- you do too! You are consumed by his vibrant presence and his sensational singing. He is electric. He is magic. He is all afire. And everything that he is, he is giving to you freely and totally!
Then he is gone. The music continues for a while- echoing through your mind- and the room around you, which you think must have been consumed in the blaze that Jim created in you and all about you, slowly comes back into focus. Soon, all is serene again. It's blue. And it's green. And it's serene. But the gigantic talent of Jim Morrison has changed you- and you will never be the same again.