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| Jim Morrison and his father on the bridge of the USS Bon Homme Richard ca. 1964 |
1966 was a time when sons began open revolt against their fathers. Could there be a more egregious example than Jim Morrison and his father, Admiral George "Steve" Morrison (pictured together above)?
Obviously Morrison was a talented lyricist, and together with his looks and charisma (plus three talented musicians) The Doors' success was a no-brainer in hindsight. And yet I've always thought his most interesting material was culled from his pre-fame days: things he had written well before the band gelled in 1965 and honed their act throughout 1966 [for example Indian Summer from 1966].
Morrison's father is interesting in his own right. He doesn't seem at all like the authoritarian caricature that Oliver Stone portrayed in his fawning homage (surpassed in obsequiousness only by the earlier Danny Sugerman book No One Here Gets Out Alive). Don't get me wrong. I still love much of The Doors' music. But as I get older, it's interesting to consider the whole spectacle in a broader context. And it's also disappointing that people still don't take Bruce Harris's message seriously, that Jim Morrison didn't want to be an idol "because he believed all idols were hollow." To Jim Morrison, the whole spectacle was a theater art project.
My backyard neighbor is the son of retired Navy brass and visits his parents down on Coronado Island. He met Admiral Morrison once before he died in 2008: "a good guy" he told me once. According to this San Diego newspaper account, the elder Morrison still biked around the island until the end, inviting friends to "Steve's Happy Hour."
Admiral Morrison visited his son's grave in 1990 and placed an engraved plaque written in Greek which translated recites:
True to his own genius
I wonder if the son, were he still alive, could have eventually forgiven the father for whatever drove him apart. I wonder if the poet-son could have spared even one poetic phrase for his father.
Ya I can't say what happened behind the scenes, when Oliver Stone's camera's weren't rolling. But for all that Jim Morrison didn't respect idols, it seems to my unlettered brain that he set himself up as his own idol, and his father and authority of any kind as an anti-idol. If you'll allow me a little more rope, I'll add that this Ideal came crashing into his Actuality, and the sound it made was his music and his legend.
ReplyDeleteI'll add that this Ideal came crashing into his Actuality, and the sound it made was his music and his legend.
ReplyDeleteI like that Candle.
George Bernard Shaw wrote that children begin by loving their parents, then they judge them -- and rarely if ever do they forgive them.
ReplyDeleteLL: People hate their parents as much as they hate themselves. And Shaw's statement makes a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Bernard Shaw wrote that children begin by loving their parents, then they judge them -- and rarely if ever do they forgive them.
ReplyDeleteAnd Shaw's statement makes a lot of sense.
I think that it depends entirely on circumstances and is by no means universal. I've known people like that. I also think the trait may run in some families and is lacking in other families.
What's interesting is whether it trends in intellectually gifted families. If so, this is bad news for me as far as ever being an intellectual.
I think 'intellectually gifted' families do not necessarily share the circumstances by which they are so labeled, and so their destinies should not be the same. For example, a Korean family comes to the US and begins a family which some would call intellectually gifted. Then there's a native born guy whose parents were never into higher education and didn't push it, so the kid resents it and vows to not be like them and then raised an 'intellectually gifted' family.
ReplyDeleteI think if you want to not be resented by your kids, you need to stay connected to them and don't allow anything to come between you. These days I'd label 'anything' as:
1) video games
2) literature which you aren't reading with them.
3) bad friends - this one's tough
4) statist teachers who try to convince them that their parents are bigots or backwards fossils.
5) television and pop culture.
Once these kinds of things replace a parent's importance in a kid's life, freaks like Shaw will carry the day.
You're a gem, Candle.
ReplyDeleteLiving on Coronado Island must be fantastic. Just for fun, if I ever get out there again, I'll check out the real estate for sale.
ReplyDeleteNice post CL!
Thanks AJ! Yes, it's a very desirable location. A bit isolated, but they have their own bridge.
ReplyDeleteMay I reprint your blog post on www.jimmorrisonproject.com?
ReplyDeleteSure! Just throw a link my way!
ReplyDeleteAn interview with Morrison's father and sister: link
ReplyDelete