[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSUIQgEVDM4&w=560&h=315]
Zia Larty-Healy: The End from The Doors (1967)
“It could be almost anything you want it to be” – (Jim Morrison on the song’s vague meaning)
Arguably one of The Doors’ most experimental pieces, this near-12-minute masterpiece began life as a simple heartbreak ballad. Over time, as the band’s regular stints at the Whisky a Go Go in LA became increasingly popular, the song transmogrified into a sprawling poetic rant, framed by the ‘this is the end…’ verse. Their experimentation with it at the Whisky evolved into the album version, recorded in darkness except for a single candle. The ‘end’ refers particularly to the death of his relationship with his first girlfriend, lamenting over lost love.
The so-called ‘Oedipal’ section is an exemplary demonstration of Jim Morrison’s superb poetic mind, referencing Greek mythology. Morrison created astounding controversy by referring to the Freudian ‘Oedipus complex’ in the lines ‘Father…I want to kill you’ and ‘Mother…I want to f**k you’. This was by no means an expression of his own desires – band-mate Ray Manzarek describes it as ‘re-enacting a bit of Greek drama… it was theatre!’
I hold a deep love for this song because of its many levels. There’s the hint of Indian raga-inspired instrumentation; the extremes to which Jim’s voice can travel; the way he and the band interact; the obscure lyrics and evocative instrumental solos. Rumour has it that this is the last song Jim Morrison heard, after listening to old Doors albums on the night he died. This song was the end of that album. Fifty years on, it’s still relevant – listen to this song if you want to be taken on a musical acid trip through the mind of a genius.