I finally get why people rag on Jim Morrison's poetry

Back in high school I thought he was this deep tortured artist. I even had a Lizard King poster on my wall. Then last month I picked up a collection of his lyrics and poems from a used book store in Denver for $3. Read it on a bus ride home and man... half of it reads like something a freshman wrote after smoking for the first time. 'The end of laughter and soft lies' - come on. Has anyone else revisited an artist they worshipped as a teen and felt totally different?

3 comments

3 Comments

flores.emma1d ago

People really act like a guy who wrote most of his stuff while drunk or high was some kind of modern Shakespeare. It's just not that deep, you know? Your mileage may vary but I think a lot of that stuff only hits when you're 16.

willowr961d ago

Disagree a little... I still think there's something raw and honest in his stuff that hits different even as an adult, just in a different way than when you're young and dramatic.

erickelly21h ago

Gotta push back a little on flores.emma's point though. Morrison was definitely drunk and high a lot, but guys like Burroughs and Ginsberg were too and nobody calls their work shallow. The real issue is that Jim's poetry is mostly just okay, it's not that it was written while wasted. Some of those lyrics are legit decent when you strip away the rock god image, like "The Soft Parade" has some genuinely interesting imagery if you actually sit with it. But yeah, half of it is definitely just stoner rambling that sounds profound at 2am.