“I guess it comes with the territory, you have a very creative imagination, therefore your life can be wonderful, or a living hell. Because your mind is so creative it goes to places that aren't necessarily realistic. You feel things a lot.” »read more
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The title may have been inspired by the 1962 novel by Katherine Anne Porter, Ship Of Fools. It was made into a movie in 1965. The phrase has since become common in rock lyrics.
This is about an acid trip. Along with 1967s "The Crystal Ship," the second time The Doors used the ship as a metaphor for drugs.
The lyrics present a bleak image of the world heading toward oblivion.
Images of the Earth from space may have given Morrison the idea to equate it with a ship. The moon landing was in the news throughout 1969.
Morrison wrote most of the songs on this album. On their previous album, The Soft Parade, he contributed very little because he was drunk most of the time.
Photographer Henry Diltz, who photographed the album sleeve for Morrison Hotel, wrote in California Dreaming: Memories And Visions Of LA 1966-1975 the story behind the LP cover: "The Doors really liked the Crosby, Stills and Nash cover on the couch and so they called us to come and have a meeting at their little office in Hollywood to talk about their new album cover. Ray (Manzarek) mentioned he had driven to downtown LA with his wife and had seen the Morrison Hotel - he was just offering that up as an initial idea and everyone thought it sounded great. So Ray, Jim, Gary and I went round there that afternoon to have a look at it and thought it was perfect. We came back a couple of days later with the whole group and took some pictures." See the cover in Song Images.
More songs by The Doors
More songs about drugs
Comments:
Jim Morrison: Modern day Philosipher
- nady, adelaide, Australia
Michael,Jacksonville...i like your theory:)
- nady, adelaide, Australia
Actually, Ship of Fools is a literary metaphor for people of faith; they think they are sailing to Heaven, but they are floating nowhere.
- Michael, Jacksonvillw, FL
With todays problems of global warming and other problems facing the human race this song is even more on the mark than when it was released.
(And this song and "The Crystal Ship" are two entirely different songs,geniuses.)
- Mark, byrdstown, TN
a crystal ship is a syringe filled with crystaline drugs
- alex, elizabethtown, PA
Ship of Fools is a great listen, with Ray doing the shivering keyboard, uplifting.
- Tristan, Philadelphia, PA
For all of you talking about Crystal Ship, this is not the same song! In fact they are four albums apart in time. Ship of Fools is a metaphor for the downfall of the human race. One of their greatest and I know every Doors song ever released.
- Tom, St Catharines, Canada
Crystal ship was written as a metaphor for their career. Not as a drug.
- Pat, Boston, MA
The live version of this tune was stretched out a lot further. The version on the bootleg PALACE OF EXILE (Isle of Wight Festival 1970) is a good example of how they made this into a more improvisational tune.
- Barry, New York, NC
Do you think that the title might have come from Hieronymus Bosch's painting "Ship of fools"?He was one of Jim's favorite painters and I think he even wrote a project about Bosch at school,but I'm not sure about that.Bosch himself is said to have been insipired by Sebastian Brant's satirical poem with the same title.You know that Jim loved poetry.So,what do yo think?
- Elina, Athens, Greece
Simon is right, The Crystal ship was a metaphor for the band's carreer and not a drug reference. And neither is Ship of Fools. It is about the foolishness of America's desire to be on the moon.
- Bryan, Nova Scotia, Canada
I have read that the lyrics for "The Crystal Ship" actually has nothing to do with drugs. It is told by either John, Ray or Robbie in the inlay for the CD "The Doors Box Set - Part 2". Some people seem to believe that Jim's singing about Amphetamine, though, according to the other Doors, he´s not.
- Simon, Stockholm, Sweden