The End - The Doors

“Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin.”

In a nutshell, The Doors have been inspiring generations since the 60’s and will continue to do so as long as people have ears and brains to think for themselves. Even the Library of Congress decided to include The Doors self-titled first album in their 2014 National Recording Registry to be preserved indefinitely along with others like Steve Martin, Joan Baez, and Sesame Street. Jim Morrison’s mix of poetry and crooning will forever live in the music for us all to experience.

This scene begins with the band walking down Sunset Blvd toward the Whisky à Go-Go and already Jim seems to be a little bit sideways. They’re trying to convince him to face the crowd, while he’s trying to convince them to go to the desert and take that peyote. “Is that what the fuck you’re on?”

“Yeah, man! And it’s kicking in!” shouts Jim as he jumps onto the hood of a car in oncoming traffic. “Let’s plan a murder or start a religion.” He says as they get closer to the entrance. “More, more, more!”

“I’ll try it,” says Pamela, encouraging him with her sweet voice. “I’m ready, let’s go to the desert..”

“Heyyy! I am the Lizard King!!! I can do anything!” screams Jim to the crowd of people from on top of the nearest parked car. “Come on raise your hands if you understand! How many of you people know you’re alive? Bullshit! You’re plastic soldiers in a miniature dirt war!” Time slows down to a speed only familiar to those who have experienced mescaline. “Come on, how many of you people know you’re alive? How many people know you’re really alive?” Obviously the drugs really were kicking in.

The starry swirling street sky fades from night into a mid-day desert and we hear the beginning notes of “The End”. You can see a red car leaving two dust trails from the tires as it fishtails across the cracked sandy ground. They make their way on foot up the dunes, the six of them, Jim, Robby, Ray, John, Pam and Dorothy, and you can hear Jim narrating about a mysterious creature. “Close your eyes, see the snake, see the serpent appear, his head is ten feet long and five feet wide, he has one red eye and one green eye, seven miles long, deadly.”

“All the history of the world is on its scales, all people, all actions, we’re all just little pictures on the scales. God is big, it’s moving, devouring consciousness, digesting power, monster of energy. It’s a monster. Kiss the snake on the tongue, kiss the serpent, but if it senses fear, it’ll eat us instantly, but if we kiss it without fear, it’ll take us through the garden, through the gate, to the other side. Ride the snake. To the end of time.”

The others try to cope with the realities of life and death. “Use our strength,” Jim says, “we’re a tribe now, a tribe of warriors.” Then as his voice starts to echo, “Promise you, I’ll be with you ‘til the end of time, nothing will destroy our circle, ride the snake.”

After a shortened and improvised version of “My Wild Love” Jim glances up to notice Death riding a white horse at the top of the horizon. At this point he realizes his fears are a reality. “I’m lyin’, I am afraid.” He says as he gets up and wanders off into the distance.

“Jim! Don’t go away! Come dance with me!” shouts Pam as he gets further from her sand spinning. The scene gets quite surreal as the sun eclipses and Jim follows Death and his horse out into the vast open desert. It seems that Death has led him to a cave wherein lies his inner spirit who happens to be the dead Indian whose soul just kind of leapt into his, when he was about five, riding past an automobile accident on the highway with his parents. Flashes come of a lizard, a naked Death, the Indian spirit, the accident, cave drawings, his bandmates, a microphone, and his eminent bathtub death.

The energy intensifies as Jim stares into the eye of the Indian spirit and the scene quickly changes back to the club scene and Jim is onstage with his band. The audience seems to be mesmerized by the haunting tone and bizarre lyrics of “The End”. Even the go-go dancers stop dancing to watch.

“The killer awoke before dawn. He put his boots on. He took a face from the ancient gallery and he walked on down the hall. He went into the room where his sister lived and then he paid a visit to his brother and then he walked on down the hall, yeah. And he came to a door. And he looked inside. Father? ‘Yes son?’ I want to kill you. Mother? I want to… fuck you all night baby!” The atmosphere has suddenly taken a strange turn down a road only traveled by Oedipus and now James Morrison. The crowd is shocked and the club owner tries to pull the plug on this gig.

Jim dances around the stage as if there is a central fire and it’s as natural as it would have been had he been born a Navajo. He spins around chanting the F word until the music crescendos and he falls down and lays there finishing it out with “Kill, kill, kill…”

The clip cuts to the owner kicking a belligerent Morrison and the rest of the band to the curb, and judging by the faces of the other people watching that performance, the world might not have been ready for The Doors. Lucky for us, Jac Holzman was there to witness the spectacle and he owned Elektra Records. He wanted to get The Doors into the studio immediately.

“An album of killer music in 6 days.” said Paul Rothchild, and the rest is history. “Unreal.”