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Jim Morrison, 1981: Renew My Subscription to the Resurrection

Kelly’s mother picked up the phone for the fifth time that night. It was for sixteen-year-old Kelly.
“Who’s speaking?” the mother asked.
“Eddie,” the boy answered.
“I’ve got it,” Kelly shouted.
When Kelly hung up the phone, her mother inquired, “Who’s Eddie?”
“A friend,” Kelly replied.
“Where’s he from?” She didn’t like the sound of the accent.
“Oh, I think he’s from Spain,” Kelly said and slid out of the den.

Jim Morrison, a man who sang, wrote and drank hard as lead singer of the Doors, has died—peacefully—at the age of 27. Morrison’s death, despite (and because of) strategic efforts on the part of his wife Pamela and friends, was shrouded in mystery.

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY JERRY HOPKINS AND PUBLISHED BY ROLLING STONE ON JULY 26, 1969.

Few performers have been so consistently controversial as James Douglas Morrison, the vocalist and songwriter of the Doors. And none has caused so many writers to construct so much gothic imagery in an effort to describe the mystique.

This article was written by Roland Ellis and published by Gaslight Records on December 22, 1965.

July 8, 1965 – Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. was meditating on LA’s Venice Beach when a guy he’d known at film school approached and said hi. The guy was 22 year old college dropout, James Douglas Morrison.

The pair got to talking. Manzarek had been performing a lot with his band Rick and The Ravens, while Morrison had been living on a friend’s roof (Dennis Jakob) and writing songs. When Manzarek asked him to sing something, Jim ran through a verse from “Moonlight Drive”. Manzarek was impressed and reportedly declared on the spot that the pair should start a rock band and make a million dollars.

The Doors were born.

It’s a great story; rock and roll folklore, even. But whether it was an altogether chance meeting, as legend has it, is still up for debate.

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