In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Link: Jim Morrison found dead in Paris
Biography: Jim Morrison (1943–71)
Background: Jim Morrison and the Doors
Historical Context: Morrison third rock star to die within 10 months; the 1970s
Related Topic: ‘On This Day: Kurt Cobain Found Dead’
Opinion & Analysis: Varying accounts of Morrison’s death
Video & Audio: The Doors’ works
Reference: FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Music
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Associated Press
Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
On This Day: Jim Morrison Dies
July 03, 2008 12:10 AM
by
Anne Szustek
On July 3, 1971, the Doors frontman was found dead in his bathtub in his Paris apartment. The “Lizard King” was 27.
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Jim Morrison had moved to Paris with companion Pamela Courson in March 1971. Indicted for public lewdness after exposing himself at a concert in Miami, Morrison wanted a fresh start.
But Morrison fell deeper into addiction, gaining so much weight that many people did not recognize him. His journals included poetry and song lyrics but also contained repeated scribblings of the phrase “God help me.”
Morrison had a strict authoritarian upbringing at the hands of his father, a U.S. Navy admiral, and rebellion became his hallmark.
“His rampaging id dominated his songs with a lust for violence, sex, alcohol, drugs, self-destruction, anything forbidden for any reason by the authority of conservative middle America,” writes All Music Guide, “and he tried to live out that lifestyle as best he could.”
Courson gave varying accounts of Morrison’s last day. According to the Associated Press, Morrison fell ill while the two were home the evening of July 2, 1971. A more detailed narrative in Rolling Stone said the couple watched home travel movies and took heroin.
Morrison was later found dead in the bathtub of his apartment. The official cause of death was heart failure, but rumors have long circulated about the circumstances.
Sam Bernett, the owner of glitterati club Rock and Roll Circus, contends Morrison overdosed on heroin at the club that night.
Morrison’s was the third death of a big-name rocker in 10 months, following Jimi Hendrix in September 1970 and Janis Joplin in October the same year. Each was 27 years old.
But Morrison fell deeper into addiction, gaining so much weight that many people did not recognize him. His journals included poetry and song lyrics but also contained repeated scribblings of the phrase “God help me.”
Morrison had a strict authoritarian upbringing at the hands of his father, a U.S. Navy admiral, and rebellion became his hallmark.
“His rampaging id dominated his songs with a lust for violence, sex, alcohol, drugs, self-destruction, anything forbidden for any reason by the authority of conservative middle America,” writes All Music Guide, “and he tried to live out that lifestyle as best he could.”
Courson gave varying accounts of Morrison’s last day. According to the Associated Press, Morrison fell ill while the two were home the evening of July 2, 1971. A more detailed narrative in Rolling Stone said the couple watched home travel movies and took heroin.
Morrison was later found dead in the bathtub of his apartment. The official cause of death was heart failure, but rumors have long circulated about the circumstances.
Sam Bernett, the owner of glitterati club Rock and Roll Circus, contends Morrison overdosed on heroin at the club that night.
Morrison’s was the third death of a big-name rocker in 10 months, following Jimi Hendrix in September 1970 and Janis Joplin in October the same year. Each was 27 years old.
Headline Link: Jim Morrison found dead in Paris
The July 19, 1971 issue of Time magazine writes of the departed rocker: “His orgiastic performances and his command, ‘Come on, baby, light my fire,’ turned on teeny-boppers by the millions, but his mood was often more apocalyptic: ‘Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection!’ he protested against the ravaging of the earth.”
Source: Time
Biography: Jim Morrison (1943–71)
The son of an admiral, James Douglas Morrison moved frequently in his youth, eventually settling in Alexandria, Va., where he graduated from high school. He moved to Florida to attend school at St. Petersburg Junior College and Florida State University, leaving in 1964 to move to the West Coast. He took up film studies at the University of California-Los Angeles. One day at a beach in Venice, Calif., Morrison ran into fellow student Ray Manzarek, who played the organ, drummer John Densmore and guitar player Robbie Krieger. The four decided to form a band called the Doors, inspired by a verse from a poem by William Blake. They scored a long-term engagement on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, where the foursome gained exposure to record label scouts.
Source: Notable Biographies
In a February 2002 article about the ways celebrities have embellished or left out parts of their past to keep a certain public persona, Atlantic Monthly points out that “Jim Morrison, of The Doors, who fashioned himself into an icon of anarchy and self-destruction, never took pains to point out that he was the son of an admiral.”
Source: Atlantic Monthly
Background: Jim Morrison and the Doors
At the band’s outset, Morrison was a shy frontman, often having his back turned to the audience or gazing at the floor. But All Music Guide writes that he quickly overcame his stage fright, using his microphone and onstage innuendo. The Doors’ performances grew to be characterized by Morrison’s onstage portrayal of sex and “Morrison's ever-increasing withdrawal and simultaneous indulgence in hedonistic excess threatened the band's stability.” Morrison’s arrest for exposing himself at a March 1969 concert in Miami—and the subsequent two-month trial, which found him guilty—drained the Doors’ finances and morale. They recorded two more albums before Morrison moved to Paris with Courson where, “without the support of his bandmates, Morrison spiraled irrevocably out of control.”
Source: All Music Guide
Historical Context: Morrison third rock star to die within 10 months; the 1970s
Guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix died in London Sept. 18, 1970 at the age of 27 from “drug-related complications,” according to The Biography Channel.
Source: The Biography Channel
Singer and songwriter Janis Joplin died on Oct. 4, 1970 in a Los Angeles motel room after overdosing on heroin by accident. She was 27 years old.
Source: The official Web site of the Janis Joplin estate
Many of the political, social, and cultural movements that began in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Cold War and the civil rights movement, continued into the 1970s and beyond. FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to U.S. History includes the best links about the decade, including the Watergate scandal and the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Source: findingDulcinea
Related Topic: ‘On This Day: Kurt Cobain Found Dead’
On April 8, 1994, the body of Kurt Cobain, the frontman of grunge band Nirvana, was discovered in his home a few days after his suicide. Cobain was 27, the same age at which Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died.
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion & Analysis: Varying accounts of Morrison’s death
Morrison did not die of a heart attack, but perhaps of a heroin overdose, argues a French-language book released by Sam Bernett, owner of the Rock and Roll Circus, a Paris club popular with celebrities of the time. The night of his death, he was found unresponsive in a bathroom stall with blood and white foam on his nose, according to Bernett’s account. The author contends that two drug dealers then took him back to his apartment.
Source: Seattle Times (AP)
Time magazine has testimony from others who were at the Rock and Roll Circus the evening of Morrison’s death. War photographer Patrick Chauvel said that he was commandeered into loading the rocker’s body into a car since his war reporting experience in Vietnam was thought to be helpful in dealing with the problem. Chauvel said, “I guess if you have a nightclub and Jim Morrison dies in your toilet, it is not good PR. The five or six people who knew, who were there that night, agreed to just forget about it." Pamela Courson, whom Time calls Morrison’s girlfriend, says that she was at home with Morrison that evening, and that he said that he felt ill.
Source: Time
Rolling Stone published another account from Courson about the final night of Morrison’s life. The two of them were watching home movies of their travels, doing heroin and they passed out. Courson came to, to find Morrison gurgling. She slapped him, first to no avail. The Doors frontman went to the bathroom. One of them turned on the bath. Morrison got into the tub and proceeded to vomit chunks of blood. Around 6:30 a.m., Courson called Jean de Breteuil, who, according to the account, was in bed with former pop icon Marianne Faithfull at the time. He came to Courson and Morrison’s apartment within a half hour, where de Breteuil and Courson found the rocker dead in the tub.
Source: Rolling Stone
Video & Audio: The Doors’ works
“Perception,” a 6 CD/DVD box set featuring the Doors’ greatest hits, is available from the Dulcinea Media Store.
Source: Dulcinea Media Store
Reference: FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Music
Whether you’ve got a passion for the classics or you're an indie rock addict, findingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Music links you to the best music blogs, sites for streaming and downloading music, and the latest reviews and news.
Source: findingDulcinea
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