Comments: 187

• Lene N from Sf CaI know Kundalini is the snake, and I've always loved this song
  Never put them together
  Salty 3180 from Uk ~ Fantastic insight !!!
• Salty3180 from UkThe End about enlightenment, specifically via the 'left hand path' as practised by certain tantric sects including satanists.
  
  First it's important to understand that there are polar opposite energies inside the body:
  
  Left/Right
  Female/Male
  Negative/Positive
  Moon/Sun
  Blue/Red
  Mental/physical
  Cold/heat
  
  Now the lyrics:
  
  This is end of elaborate plans etc - refers to leaving the illusion of a purely material existence.
  
  Can you picture what will be so limitless and free - spiritual liberation.
  
  In need of some stranger's hand - the need for a teacher or guru to show you the way.
  
  Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain - 99% of people are indoctrinated in this world which many believe is controlled by satanists previously operating through the Roman Empire and now The Vatican.
  
  All the children are insane - the young people who try to resist the indoctrination are called insane.
  
  Weird scenes inside the gold mine - the gold mine is the untapped energy source at the base of spine known as Kundalini, which is dormant inside mooladhara chakra.
  The scenes are the experiences and visions which come as the energy starts to awaken.
  
  Ride the highway west - west = left.
  
  Ride the snake - Kundalini is represented as a snake.
  
  The ancient lake - when the energy travels up the spine to the pineal gland, it is said to stimulate the flow of 'amrita' from a source inside the brain.
  
  The snake is 7 miles long - this refers to the 7 chakras through which the energy flows.
  
  His skin is cold - cold = left, as above
  
  The blue bus - blue = feminine or left, as above.
  
  The killer awoke before dawn - the awakening of the awareness which will begin the practice and 'kill' the materialist mind. Dawn would be the beginning of liberation.
  
  He walked on down the hall - the awareness travels down the spinal column.
  
  Visiting the sister and brother refers to the awareness shifting between the opposing forces.
  
  He came to a door and looked inside - began to awaken the kundalini inside mooladhara.
  
  He then takes the left hand path by killing the father (rejecting the right) and having sex with the mother (uniting the energy with the left hand channel through the spine).
  
  You'll never follow me - the majority of people will never practice this.
  
  The end of laughter and soft lies - exiting the illusory world.
  
  The end of nights we tried to die - previous attempts at liberation through drugs.
• Shamus Macloud from SocalThe Blue Bus is LAPD hauling the protesters away form the West Hollywood Sunset Strip curfew/hippie riots in the Fall of 1966! I was there. Check Wiki.
• Tufteeruth from IllinoisI wish That this band was still around!!!!
• Adrian from ZurichBut it‘s Rothschild. Red shield. Nothing to to with child.
• Dan Gillespy. from Courtenay Bc.A nice long classic Doors song.
• Ada Christine Lorusso from Johannesburg, South AfricaAlways loved his music. The End is a theme song in Hearts of Darkness. When the Belgium's were in the Congo. For me it has my own meaning.
• Uncleed from Canadathe blue bus symbolizes Viet Nam and the american soldiers killed there. Their bodies would be taken away on a bus usually blue in color. Thus the symbolism of the dead soldiers asking "Driver where you takin' us".
• Dude from North CarolinaI’m a Doors fan, but this song always kind of bothered me. I read an interview where Morrison said it started out as a breakup song but kind of morphed into a song about death being a release from the pain of life, which explains perfectly the line “my only friend, the end” and the meaning behind the song - except for the spoken word part which in my opinion has almost nothing to do with the original meaning and ruins the song.
  As far as the spoken word part it seems pretty obvious to me that Morrison is just ad-libbing here and it is just a collection of spontaneous thoughts/ideas that have no real connected meaning. Being the 60s, I think this was the kind of experiment people did as a way to explore a person’s inner psychology without constraints - just sing whatever comes to mind. It perhaps was a worthwhile experiment but I think should have been cut from the final song mix that was released.
  But what really bothers me is if you buy into the idea that the spoke word part is Morrison peeling away all those layers of convention, norms, inhibitions, etc. what does it mean when at the climax of the song and presumably he has finally arrived at some inner truth (he has even dropped the whole oedipus complex thing at that point) he is reduced to just repeating “f*ck” and “kill” over and over again. Its an ironic message coming from a man considered to be a spokesman for a generation pushing for peace and love.
• Crissysix from StlJust want to tell all true doors and Morrison Fans that You Rock! I'm proud to be in the world with such deep feeling souls!
• Gandalf from PhilippinesI wonder whether Morrison ever read about the spiritualist Meher Bana who toured England on a Blue Bus.
• Mmann from La Paz, MexicoSince my first husband was assistant engineer when The End was recorded, and we personally knew Jim, I would like to say that CY from L.A. is quite accurate in his understanding of what Jim wrote and intended with the song.
• George from Vancouver, CanadaI believe he began this in response to his girl leaving him (the end of the relationship) tjhen he sat alone in his apartment, pondering the meaning of endingness. He's obviously well-read, so had lots of fodder for his fertyile imaginmaroin; perhaps tyou could call the muse The Shaman, & why not?
  
  Mescal comes from a cactus, in the desert(wildrerness); the Bible speaks often of the Wilderness as a loace to encounbter Truth and God &, if humble enough, to start a new life, with a fresh understanding of the universe & how you fit into it.
  
  Sady,. Jim was already hooked on the drugs & wasn't open to any epiphanies that challenged this lifestyle he worked so hard to attain.
  
  Mostly the song became an opportunity for the whole band to riff lyrics together & expand it, keeping the ones that got the best responses (like the "f--- the mother" line that elicited roars of approval)
  
  Truly epic, as only music from this era could be. . .
  
  Close the curtains, close your eyes & just listen; with your ears, yes, but also with your soul. . .
• George from Vancouver, CanadaI do love how artists used to go nuts & write a story, instead of a mere ditty. 13m38s of epic sound & lyrics!
• Chan from UsaI’m almost certain this song is a symbolic prophesy of “the end” pointing to Roman wilderness of pain refers to the final attempt at globalization for Rome.
• Neiledwardwood from Bakersfield, Ca UsaJim talks of his Native American shaman spirit possession experience in Ghost Song lyrics:
  "Indians scattered,
  On darms highway bleeding
  Ghosts crowd the young child's,
  Fragile eggshell mind"
  Sheds new light on his unique voice to the world.
• Neiledwardwood from Bakersfield, Ca UsaJim was still possessed at this time by the spirit of the Native American shaman that entered his body during the family road trip when Jim saw the dead shaman's body as they drove by. Like all of his lyrics, there could be some deeper meanings from the beyond, or shallower meanings from schizo-affective delusions. Who are any of us to say? What's the difference? Does it really matter? The song seems to have touched us enough to get us thinking about things, and talking about them. It's probably a good sign that we haven't reached the burnout point of not caring like the character in the song ... a cautionary tale perhaps? Well, Jim did eventually reach that burnout point, or maybe healing point, as he no longer identified with his lyrics at all after the shaman left his body, or he got his head straight, whichever it was. In fact, he felt so different that he could no longer perform the songs and skipped to France to decompress. Not long after, it was "The End" for a tortured, beautiful soul that shared so much with the world. Blessings to all who read this. Only Love, Neil:)
• Neiledwardwood from Bakersfield, Ca UsaSorry to be a snob, but it wasn't Shakespeare who wrote Oedipus Rex. The ancient author was Sophocles. The play was first performed in Athens, Greece around 429 B.C. Blessings to all who read this. Only Love, Neil:)
• Neal from Melbourne, AusI just discovered the song through Apocalypse Now movie, where it fits in beautifully. Some amazing comments about the song. Thanks for sharing.
• Joel from San FranciscoI believe that the song can be interpreted as many different things. It's like an onion skin. Each time a layer is removed a different meaning is revealed. I think that Jim (Morrison) left it up to the audience to decide what the song is really about. I've read he was on a acid trip so it could have just been as simple as that. or maybe more complex. We'll never know. He, Morrison, was very spiritual in a lot of ways. That doesn't necessarily religious. He either had parenting issues or he was trying to be shocking. After all this was 1967. The now infamous lines I am guessing was deemed of no artistic value thus the censorship. Something tells me the band probably would have been just fine not hearing their songs on radio stations.
• K Screwball from Mass.I think "The End" is about the end of all as we know it. Life, love, the universe, existence. His only friend is that moment when life is extinct. Weather it be by a nuclear war, an asteroid or some higher power that totally sick of the way humans treat each other. I think the parents s--t is a verse filled in because his brain is totally soaked in blotter. Live, he covers his eyes not wanting to look at the audience while saying it. I think he knows its f--ked up. He is definitely smart enough to know controversy gets attention. Look at all the riots he started. I getting of the subject. Anyway I think it's about "POOF" it's all gone! But then again WTF do I know either!
• Michael Kenyon from Ls19 7qnCould the Blue bus not be taking the G.I.'s to their end in Vietnam?
• Major Wol from TincanLink to video explanation
  
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-GRxfEt4a3w
• Monique from AlburyIf u think this is a farewell song you need to learn a lot about life and yourself, the message is always hidden to stop them getting killed for singing songs about the "otherside" "god" "spirituality" and what's after we die.
• Graham from Astral Plane In Theory death is not really the end but a new beginning the end is also possibly a shift in consciousness evolution the end of all that stands the end of our elaborate plans also could mean the end of the traditions of our parents grandparents the end of no sex before marriage the end of homosexuality being seen as evil every so often we have a shift in consciousness where old ideas are no longer valid and new values are born the hippies were the first to have a more liberal ideal love not war and although the hippies went to far to the other extreme of having sex getting stoned willy nilly there is a balance of being too straight laced or being over indulgent a good balance of inbetween the balance of ying and yang or the balance between Lucifer and ahriman having a good balance of good and evil feet firmly on the ground etc.
• Clint from Atlanta Georgia There is no wrong answer to this ongoing question, but feel CY from Los Angeles is pretty much on target. As much as I like Jim Morrison & the Doors, Jim was a master manipulator, so whose to say that night in August 1966, fueled by LSD & mescaline his Oedipal outburst was simple shock value & nothing more. Is it only irony that Jim is infamous because of "THE END"?
• Toby Spring from LouisianaThis song is about the end of innocence.
• Jack from Long Beach, CaliforniaHey! Just another fact about this song that I believe is stated incorrectly as fact in a different way on this page, is that the part of this song where Jim sings about the man walking down the hall, opening the door, killing his father and ****ing his mother is referred to as the "Oedipal section" of the song. Morrison looked to Shakespeare, the god of the English language, for support through his (Shakespeare's) creation of Oedipus Rex, in which the main character, Oedipus, kills his father, and f--ks his mother. I'm 17, from Long Beach California. My name is Jack Lind :) hope I helped!
• Suzanne from TexasCy - I enjoyed your interpretation, especially as it mirrors mine! I was left anxious, worried and scared when I first heard "The End" in the '60s, having already fallen for Jim and his vocals. I miss him still, and miss what could have been. It would be great if I could thank Jim now for his urgent, vigorous philosophical performances that forced early self reflection and research into my own human experience.
  I was a child born of post WWII parents, experiencing daily televised Viet Nam war casualties on the evening news, an assassinated President and escaping whole the Charles Whitman shootings at UT as a 14 year old drama student. This song spoke to me of imminent doom for not just my life, but all life! It was then as a mother, I paid close attention to my children's music and it's effect on them. I encouraged their choices as theirs, and facilitated philosophical discussions when possible. Thankfully, they escaped adolescence without self mutilation, depression, or apathy but with a deep love of the lakes and streams of Texas, and life itself. To date, there has been no other and, after all this time, he still reminds me to open my eyes to fully experience and honor life. (Plus, he was just too, too, sexy, and despite being drunk in 1970 in Dallas, my girlfriends and I still talk about him as the first grown up sexy man we'd ever seen, before drifting off into our own silent reverie of Jim Mmmm)
• Abdul Hajee from South AfricaThe oedipal bits in the song should not be seen as the story of oedipus but rather as the Freudian interpretation of the oedipus legend. Freud and after him Lacan interpreted the oedipal myth as an allusion to the sexual anxiety and jealousy that the male infant feels towards his parents/ an analogous process takes place in the female child (electra complex). Freud thought that this was due in part to the authoritarian role fulfilled by the father- Jim Morrison and the other members of the DOORS were a cultured bunch and thus it should be obvious that the oedipal allusion is probably a reference to Freud and Lacan and the impulse to resist the phallocentric power of authority, which would be necessarily and culturally paternalistic.
• Dan_h9 from KuwaitI didn't think this track could be over-thought, I think its difficult to analyse this as its too personal.
  
  What I do know is that this song was dragged out of the group to put on the album - it was a song they played live and played different every time. When Rothschild got them to play it, it went in as two takes. The second take was mastered - and its what you hear on the albums. This is high quality for only 2 takes! Unheard of today!
  Due to to the rude bits Elektra edited it for the censors. The original is now released and is best heard in the Perception remasters. (well worth buying albeit a cheesy box set).
  
  For me its the best song ever recorded. It is stand out, head and shoulders above anything by any band. Nothing comes close, and nothing else from The Doors comes close, although they tried.
  
  I first got the album from a girlfriends mother. I took it home and put it on the record player. When The End came up, I stopped, sat down and trance-d out. It was like going to Church for the new disciples. The messaging is clearly personal for him, a mix of journey and emotion. Now I am older it still comes across as fresh but definitely the thoughts of a young man trying to be worldly and show his intelligence and concepts of autobiography. Let him have his artistic licenses, it fitted with the times.
  
  I will swing back to the music. The guitars, the drums and the organs are sublime. Each player sounds like a seasoned pro, yet guitar and drums were from two guys that were barely shaving. Awesome, awesome, awesome and so hard to replicate.
  
  
  
  
• Cy from Los Angeles, CaWhile no one can say with certainty what Morrison was thinking when he wrote the lyrics, anyone with an understanding of symbolism in philosophy can get a fairly decent grasp of Jim's simple premise of duality: that true self-discovery and enlightenment can only be reached through the destruction of all nature/nurture conventions and norms but those norms are so primally embedded within the human subconscious that their ultimate demise can only be achieved through death and rebirth. This concept is rife throughout many of Morrison's lyrics.
  
  Morrison uses the first several verses of The End to describe a break-up of a relationship and to introduce his premise. The end of child-like innocence and the conscious dawning of life's immense pain and suffering. Simple enough. But when he launches into "Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain…" he draws upon timeless archetypes and symbols (many embraced by Native American cultures) with which he was intimately familiar and which reside within the subconscious of us all.
  
  ROME = The Eternal City. Duality. The Eternal City isn't Heaven, it isn't a conclave of the enlightened, it's not free nor true; it's really a wilderness of pain and anguish and insanity (an apropos assessment given the turbulence of Jim's era). Relief comes in the form of a "summer rain."
  
  RAIN = Cleansing, renewal, water of life, nourishment for Mother Earth and her creatures. But too much leads to flooding, destruction and death. Duality – even that which has the power to cleanse also has the power to kill.
  
  DANGER ON THE EDGE OF TOWN: It is dangerous to stand outside society's boundaries. Jim says take your own journey, a path to the unknown, and screw society's conventional mores.
  
  KING'S HIGHWAY = The most significant trade route of ancient culture, originating in Egypt and ending at the Euphrates River. An extremely dangerous passage for a tribe passing through multiple kingdoms. So the journey to the home of man was fraught with the possibility of death. It is my belief Jim was using it as a metaphor for Interstate 10, which stretches from his birthplace in Florida, across the southern US to Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean. He is beckoning all to follow his path westward (LA has been a mecca since the late 40s), even though it may be a venture with forays into the dark and unknown, full of fear and trepidation ("weird scenes inside the gold mine").
  
  JOURNEY = used multiple times (King's Highway, the Snake to the Lake and the Blue Bus). The call of fate to an unknown, potentially dangerous place. The quest for self-discovery and change with "the end" resulting in enlightenment. EVERY HUMAN EXPERIENCES THIS.
  
  THE SNAKE = Jim's favorite archetype (a form of the serpent) and probably the most dual-natured of all symbols. 1) It is Evil and Death… the most common of human phobias, reaching across almost all cultures through the millennia. It comes out of the ground (the underworld) and fear of it actually touches all primates because the snake is predatory, strikes without warning and is deadly. 2) It is Good. It is the ancient rod of Asclepius, symbolizing healing and medicine and still used today. It represents the umbilical cord that joins all humans to Mother Earth. A snake shedding its skin represents throwing off the past and living anew. Finally and most interestingly, this innate image of danger is often seen as a symbol of rebirth specifically because it causes death.
  
  THE ANCIENT LAKE = represents the transition from life to death to resurrection.
  
  THE BLUE BUS: The busses of Santa Monica were/are blue. You could/can ride them from UCLA (his school) to Venice Beach (his hangout). It shouldn't be overlooked that the trip was/is approximately SEVEN miles ("The snake is long... seven miles."). Again, a journey to the unknown: "Driver where you takin' us?" Jim knows the ultimate destination (enlightenment) but how is the "driver" going to get him there? Through death, in "…the back of the blue bus."
  
  THE OEDIPUS INSERTION = the Sophoclean tragedy has already been well-documented here, especially by those who quoted Densmore's take in "Riders on the Storm." Jim announces he's aiming for Greek theater by stating the killer "took a face from the ancient gallery…" Greek actors wore masks. In Oedipus Rex, the tragedy was prophesized and many believe Oedipus to be solely a victim of fate. However, the deeper interpretation is that he was a victim of fate AND his own free will, which makes his actions self-fulfilling prophecies. Fast forward. Morrison, intimately familiar with philosophy, knew it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, a combination of fate and free will. What he says in this section of the song is screw the fate, exercise your free will, make a conscious decision, then SYMBOLICALLY commit the Oedipal act. Kill the Father, F* the Mother. Kill all the rules, the conventions, the norms, the constraints, everything instilled in you by your parents, society and culture. Embrace and love only that which is natural and pure: Mother, Earth, Birth, Death, Resurrection and Enlightenment.
  
  If you've read this far, I'd ask you to now re-read the lyrics or listen to the song and see if you don't have a better understanding of it.
  
  BTW, the Doors and company recorded only two takes of the studio version of the song. The second was used in its entirety. No splicing and amazingly, not a single overdub. What you hear at the end of side two of their debut album is EXACTLY what was recorded – straight through – in the studio.
• Bob from Baton Rouge, LaOkay, I have analyzed this song for years. This song is about putting an End to all things comfortable, boring, routine, and safe and taking a chance on the wild, crazy, creative, instinctual and often times lonely self. In Jim's case... he came to a door - he looked inside himself. He made a decision leave behind his beautiful and ONLY true love - teenage sweetheart Mary Werbelow. She's just wasn't willing to follow him. He had to leave behind his Dad's philosophy of strict, disciplined living and honorable suburban life and usher in a world of being a 'wild child'. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to really do anything. This is Jim's song about losing everything and being born again free. It's quite beautiful.
• Mitch from Kingston, OnWell, personally I believe this song has something to do with the 'Illuminati' etc. The 'Truth Movement' was big in his time, he was most likely influenced by it somewhat. In this song he mentions 'riding a snake that is 7 miles long'. A snake is a common reference to Lucifer, who many believe (who follow this 'truth movement') is the patron deity of the 'Illuminati' etc. 7 is also a very important number, I believe meaning 'completion' or something along these lines. So following this, riding the 7 mile snake, could be referencing, riding along with Lucifer's plan till completion, or perhaps riding along with Lucifer's completed plan, or riding along with Lucifer, to achieve completion, as some believe that Lucifer is a deity representing ultimate knowledge (direct translation of Lucifer is "light-bearer"). Morrison also mentions "riding to the west, the west is the best" (not quite sure how he words this), and the western hemisphere is commonly held as the 'seat' of the 'Illuminati' cartel, among followers of these 'truth movements'. OH, and he mention the 'snake' (which i believe is a reference to lucifer) to be old and cold. With age comes experience and knowledge, generally, and if Lucifer's name is to be taken literally, than Lucifer is extremely knowledgeable, considering he is the bearer of light, and light is somewhat synonymous with knowledge. As for cold, perhaps he is referencing a dark side to this 'snake', as in cold blooded, though all reptiles are cold blooded. I'm not sure as to the possible meanings of the other lyrics, but these few lines have always stood out to me, thought I would toss my two cents. Thanks for your time.
• Margret Hamilton from St. Paul, MnFor me, this is one of the prettiest good-bye songs to a girl, ever. "This is the end, beautiful friend." "...I'll never look into your eyes, again." Beautiful words, beautiful music, and Jim's lovely voice.
• Marion from Anderson, ScI thought of it as a blend of him leaving his high school girlfriend and going off to college; a goodbye to a comfortable life with some structure and a hello to relative limitlessness; blended with the Existential experience . The absolute freedom is the other side of the coin with absolute isolation. The parents are authority figures and he separates himself from then. Man kills God and it's a brave new world. I'm not sure about the blue bus... either the Manson bus or a police wagon. He wrote, I made all the blue cars go away." on Lizard King. I saw it as a, "I'm declaring freedom from all laws and mores. Are you coming along," as in Crystal Ship.
• Charls from Simi Valley,ca., CaThe best time of my life was beng around all tis music when it first came out in the mid 50's abd the 60's. and i thank tem all.
• Alec from New Orleans, LaAt one point Jim said to me during the recording session, and he was tearful, and he shouted in the studio, 'Does anybody understand me?' And I said yes, I do, and right then and there we got into a long discussion and Jim just kept saying over and over kill the father, f--k the mother, and essentially boils down to this, kill all those things in yourself which are instilled in you and are not of yourself, they are alien concepts which are not yours, they must die. f--k the mother is very basic, and it means get back to essence, what is reality, what is, f--k the mother is very basically mother, mother-birth, real, you can touch it, it's nature, it can't lie to you. So what Jim says at the end of the Oedipus section, which is essentially the same thing that the classic says, kill the alien concepts, get back reality, the end of alien concepts, the beginning of personal concepts. - John Densmore
  ( Destroy characteristics instilled by your mother and father. Dig so deep, which can be hard but through psychidelics it can be fairly easy, to find yourself truly, and recognize what you want in life and who you are, not what other told you to be. )- ALEC
• Whphlh from San Francisco, CaHi, I am desperately trying to find Robby's instrumental version of "the end" featured on Oliver's movie (The Doors), the one played during the desert trip and at the end before Jim's death, it is not on the soundtrack...thank you very much.
• Bahgalow from Rockford, IlIts very rare I use the word "Beautiful".. I only use the word when I get speechless when describing something I think is just so amazing, "It was just beautiful".. Some of you know what I mean.. This song is Beautiful..
  
  I dont look at it like the song means death.. I think it means like The End of the world, with what few people are left around. I think the line "desperatley in need of some strangers hand, in a desperate land" is a good example of that. Which sounds like it could be so possible.
  
  I dunno.. I just think this song is gold... Gold....
• Willie from Scottsdale, AzObviously we know the use of the song as the intro/denouement to Apocalypse Now is aurally perfect. Too much of the lyrics are cut off in the movie, but the repeated f-bombs mirror Captain Willard as he drunkenly does his tai-chi, so despondent he breaks a mirror with his fist. The song's deeper and deeper descent into darkness is a constant theme in the movie, a return to a "man-that-was," where morality was not absolute. And of course the theme is appropriate for the book from whence came the film, "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. Even T.S. Eliot seized on this in "The Hollow Men;" the idea that even the most civilized societies have dark intentions, and that there is a certain sense of freedom in the notion of barbarism.
• James from Columbus, InI never really heard anyone else mention it, but I wondered if the lyric reference to the blue bus and the other words floating around that lyric were a reference to Charles Manson. Manson drove a blue bus which he used on missions to recruit members into the Family. It's also a fact that Morrison visited the Spahn Ranch and Manson as did other celebs. I'm not sure if the dates of the visit, the release of the song etc. bear this out or if it's coincidence. it just always struck me as strange that the words and events meshed on several points.
• James from Dublin, IrelandAbsolute pure magic, the section mirroring 'Oedipus the King' is spine chilling. Of of my favourite songs
  
• Helvira from Sherman, TxIn everything Jim Morrison wrote and lived there was an obvious self-destructive pattern. He was a gypsy, a modern day Dionysus, a poet who burned with his own genius. Loved or hated, and without shades of gray. He neither loved nor hated himself, he was torn by the ambivalence of who he was and hated and who he loved but couldn't be. Everything had meaning for Morrison, and he pushed for others, thru his lyrics and poetry, to look for the deeper meaning of the everything that life posed to each individual and screamed for them, and us, and everyone, to seek out and find their own perfectly fitted answers for every unanswered untruth carried about by those who couldn't see; and failed to realize there were unopened doors to discover - and his death was no exception. The uncertainty and fact-less account of his death would, I believe, please Morrison, because he was so extreme in his journey for truth I think he'd want everyone to seek out and crave answers for his death and be spurred to hopefully seek out answers for his life as well.
• Scott from Edmonton, AbAll I hear is "Mother, I want to UGHBALAHABHAABGH!!!!!!!".
• Davíd from Woburn, MaIf you really want something crazy, listen to The Celebration of the Lizard, The Soft Parade, When the Music's Over, and The End in that order. They almost tell a story: being fed up and leaving, but returning when everything is more screwed up then where you just came from; your observations of your new/old home upon your arrival; your request that everything go back to the way it used to be; finally, the destruction of the social norm and rebirth of society (the kill the father f*** the mother part wasn't meant to be taken literally, but rather was a metaphor for release from one's superiors according to "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend."
• Brian from Hayward, Calisten very carefully to the song...its a story just like "Celebration Of the Lizard King". In the beginning, a young Morrison is talking too his girlfriend. hes leaving her. the "end" isnt death, its the literal end of them being together. he must leave to find himself on his own path as must she..."so limitless and free". then a the feeling.."all the children are insane". A description of the journey..."ride the snake/too the lake/the ancient lake baby"..."the west is the best"...route 66 to California where all the commotion was in the 60s. The oedupis thing is actually finding himsself. the repeating crazy orgasmic climax og=f the song after "i want to..." is the limitless and free.Then at the end, he reinterates his purpose, he must leave her..."it hurts to set you free/but you'll never follow me"...she cant go with him on his journey...and he regretably must leav her
• Sean from Boston, Ma Don't want to disrespect the dead but there was a lot about Jim Morrison that wasnt so peachy cream. He was a serious drug addict and alcoholic and needed some serious counseling! Yes I love the doors and he was a gifted singer and writer but he could have doen so much more than a drunken bum on stage! I new a lot of peopel back in his time that were getting totalty turned of by him and his horrible performance on stage. He was drunk and would pass out and high as a kite on God knows what.And then the Penis thing, c'mon,I'm n ot paying money to see that s--t, I want to see and hear you sing and the songs we all loved ! the cops would call it all off and it was a disaster. He even got beat up by the cops for trashing talking them one night.Whateve the meaning was behind the father-kill you and mother F-you only Jim knows. I'm sure his parents were not thrilled he said this in his song. There was serious issues with him and the father,and don't think he was close to anyone else in his familly. I heard he would tell people his parents are dead. Maybe that's were all the drug and alcohol would make it all go away the pain he was feeling. A lot of his music has a dreary side. I just don't want to praise the guy cause he died at age 27 which is extremely sad to me. Again, I loved there music but there was a side's to him I hated. for example, what about the other band memebers, did he ever think what his behavior was doing to them ! It wasnt all about him and his pyscho problems !I just think people put him up on this pedalstil, does he really deserve it !
• Reese from Some Were In Texas, TxProbably the most powerful lyrics of any song he sang. Just Reading the Lyrics gives me chills. And truly the most mysterious singer ever. We never really knew what Jim really was. Robby, Ray, nor John most likey didn't know him either.
• Jimmy from Winnipeg, Mb Morrison loved death. He lived, so that he could die. He was always waiting for The End, his only friend..
  
  "Can you picture what will be
  So limitless and free" - The freedom the comes with death.
  
  "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
  He walked on down the hall, and
  And he came to a door...and he looked inside
  Father, yes son, I want to kill you" Him killing his father. I dunno if he hated his father, but death was beautifal to him, maybe he wanted to free his father? .
  
  Theres alot in it I don't understand. Like "The west is the best". But from what i understood, it is about Death, The End.
• Chai from Los Angeles, Cathis song, this song...
  probably one of the most confusing of all time. i read somewhere that its a love song about the end of a relationship and the ediepus was one of his shamanistc rants, you could say.
• John from Chester, IlYou are on the right track with the Oedipus comment but it goes a little deeper. He seen that Oedipus was 'fated' or guided by a fate he could not change no matter how hard he tried to take control of his own destany. This made the man an anomaly, special in his own way and rare at that. If you read the play you may find understanding. I find that Jim liked to include liturature in his work in a wornderfuly abstract way. This idea is described lightly in 'No One Gets Out of Here Alive'.
• Dominick from New York, NyThe Doors were always one of my favorite groups. I saw them live at the Felt Forum in NY and parts of that show were on the "Absolutely Live" album.
  
  As far as the song goes, it's generally acknowledged that it relates to the Freudian Oedipal Complex. That's a stage that adolescent boys go through where they hate the father for competing with them for the mother's attention. Hence, wanting to kill the father and have sex with the mother.
  
  It's based on the myth of King Oedipus who killed his father and had sex with his mother. As you mature, you're supposed to outgrow that phase. If not, you are a troubled adult.
  
  On the first album, since he couldn't use the F word, I always thought he said, "Father, yes son. I want to kill you. Mother. I want to MOLEST you." But he garbles the word Molest. That's the way I always heard it.
  
  Regardless of the meaning, it was always one of my favorite songs.
  
• Britt from Boston, MaSuch an eerie, but yet, beautiful song. I think it has a few meanings and only Jim knows the reasons behind the songs.
• Cassidy from Fort Wayne, InThe lyrics below were originally from a poem by one of Jims favorite authors, though I do not remeber the name of the poem or the author. I have heard he said these during one of his acid trips, but if he did, he was repeating these from hte poem he read. Alot of people were very offended by this.
  
  
  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
  He walked on down the hall, and
  And he came to a door...and he looked inside
  Father, yes son, I want to kill you
  Mother...I want to...f--k you
• Courtney from Bradford, NhIt does sound like it's talking about the end of something right? well... it's not. this is a love song in jimmy's mixed up and sick way. i love him. he was amazing. i wish he were still here with us. but everybody has to go at some point. but you're all wrong. this song is a love song. but since his poetry and writings were pretty muffed up and sick and stuff... do u really put it past him to have a love song that's called "the end" i mean come on now. it's jim morrison we're talking about! but anyways... i figured i'd set all of you straight and let you know what this song really meant.
• Nick from Seattle, Albaniahaha, Jim would have loved to read all these and scoff at you all!
  and Ernie from Dover, DE, jim rocks, dont be such a downer.
• Oldpink from New Castle, InEasily one of the most disturbing songs ever.
  Yes, I really love the Indian raga sound it has to it, Morrison's menacing vocals, then you get slammed (at least on the Apocalypse Now version) with a lyrical shock as no other.
  Nihilistic, haunting, sinister, all wrapped together.
• Steve Dotstar from Los Angeles, Cahypnotic!
• William from Pheonix, AzThe doors are instrumental but usually fall around the piano-keyboard sort of sound witch makes them destinctive and awsome
• Steve from Columbia, Mo
  I first heard this song and the album in India in 1967. It is still one of my all time favorite songs and albums. The Morrison vocals are, of course, great but the dreamy instrumental parts of it are out of this world also. I have always thought the song was about a drug trip or trips or a life of drugs. "We'll take care of the rest." A bad trip will produce the kinds of images that sear through the body of the song. It may also be about Oedipal feelings and a 7-mile highway to Santa Monica on the blue city bus, but mostly I think it depicts a drug trip. The downside of the song is that it may glorify tripping out too much, but it also hints at the now widely understood devastation that halucinogens (sp)can cause to the brain chemistry of our kind. Of course a bad trip can also result in the ultimate "The End," death. (Sadly, we cannot confirm this by talking to Jim Morrison but the manner of his own end helps prove it.) Despite all this, I still love this haunting song and the album.
  
• Nady from Adelaide, AustraliaKris,dude,i said it was "originally" written about his girlfriend. By that i also meant that it evolved into something more, something beautiful. I get that its a deep song mate...possibly the most mind blowingly extaordinary song ever to be written. We all interprite the song in our own unique way, and i dont think anyone but Jim Morrison (my own personal god) could really decipher the true meaning. It's a truly beautiful thing and we are all very privalliged to get to experience it. Also, im not a man im a girll!
• Kris from Houston, TxAnd nady, to your comment saying that this is about Jim's highschool girlfriend, all I can do is sit back and laugh..it's amazing how can listen to this song without feeling touched. The message isn't in the lyrics man, and don't take one word of it literally.
• Kris from Houston, TxDon't you see it? I see all these ridiculous comments about it being about Jim Morrison's girlfriend, and about his hang out places, and I am just amazed that someone can listen to that song and not get deep with it. It's one of the deepest songs, and oozes soul, and some people think it's about his day to day experiences, well I'll tell you something- your wrong. You don't just listen to this song's words..you feel it, that's what Jim was trying to get across. So stop being superficial for a moment, and get deep!
• Nady from Adelaide, AustraliaThis is a very special song, I'm absolutley in love with it
• Nady from Adelaide, Australia'THE END' DOES NOT MEAN DEATH!!! this song was originally written about Jim's breakup with his highschool girlfriend Mary Werbelow; Jim broke up with her because she wouldnt move in with him and took up go-go dancing. and i wish people would stop refering to the Jim in oliver Stone's The Doors.
  
• Michael from Oxford, -I've also had a look deeper into Blender magazine's collection of articles online, and I'm pretty sure the "worst song/artist/event" articles are tounge-in-cheek, at least in part. The Doors are featured on the "worst artist" list, but Jim Morrison is also featured on a list called "50 Most Awesomely Dead Stars" or something like that.
• Michael from Oxford, -I agree with Shelby below that this song does not belong on Blender magazine's list of the worst songs ever.
  
  If it's any consolation, here's ultimate proof that they're a bunch of idiots:
  
  Keith Emerson is a famous rock keyboardist, who formed his first band, the Nice, in 1967. This band featured Lee Jackson on bass and vocals (GOD SPARE US!!!) and the late Brian "Blinky" Davison on drums.
  
  Three years later, he formed the better-known Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Greg Lake is an infinitely better singer and bass player than Lee Jackson, and he also plays guitar, while Carl Palmer is likewise better than Blinky.
  
  Therefore, Emerson, Lake & Palmer must be a better band than the Nice.
  
  Now fast-forward a few decades: Blender magazine published a list of the 50 worst artists ever, with Emerson, Lake & Palmer coming in at #2.
  
  The artist in the #1 spot is not the Nice, it's Starship. Or something.
  
  As we have just seen, this doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
  
  Therefore, the idiots at Blender magazine don't know what they're talking about.
  
  Q.E.D.
• Carlos from Miami, FlMy take on the whole snake thing is the snake referring to satan and or evil, the ancient lake referring to the lake of fire, the snake is long old and his skin is cold, well satan has been around since the first humans,
  valid point??
• Lance from Malibu, CaThis song was used in Apocalypse Now. On my cd, the mother part is all frickin' garbled. In the movie it is clearer. Watch the start where Martin Sheen is drunk in the hotel room and you can hear it all.
• Briana from Santa Monica, CaThis is one of the greatest songs ever written in the history of music. Jim Morrison was a genius poet and artist, his words will stand the test of time.
• Peter Griffin from Quahog, RiAnd that comes right after the "doin' a blue rock" part.
• Peter Griffin from Quahog, RiI own the uncensored version. It goes, F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** yeah, c'mon, F*** me baby, F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** me baby! and over and over again like that.
• Peter Griffin from Quahog, RiListen carefully after the "MOTHER! I WANT TO-" part and you can hear him say "F**K YOU!!"
• Tyler from Gorham, NhOne of my favorite songs by my favorite band.
  
  It was on my favorite show The Simpsons twice.
• Vanja from Novi Sad, SerbiaI don`t really think that non of us could propely understand this song. Maybe about life, yeah i think it`s about life. About his own thoughts and all the other people not understandig them... "Weird scenes inside the gold mine" everything it`s in his head, and fother-mother thing it`s hateness. I don`t really think that he loved them, although i think there must be some kind of Oedipus thing.Belive that peyote just helped him to define emotions. Also there is love in this song, what is strange, nice against the bad feelings, but after all that is compozition of life. And in the end "It hurts to set you free..." it`s about dying and taking it as something that`s necessairly... Think that he was very good poet and genius!
• Eric from MaastrichtWhen the Doors recorded this, Jim switched off the lights and lit a candle in the LA studio te create the right recording atmosphere
• Alexander from Brooklyn, NyIt's about "the end."
  
  Every beginning has an end.
• Jason from State Of Fitz, NjErnie: if you don't like him that's fine. but if you don't why are you wasting your time on him and insulting his fans. Almost everyone here thinks Jim/The doors were great. You rip someone because of how they treated their parents? What do you care? Not to mention the man's dead, show a little bit of respect
• Eric from Old Bridge, NjI dont think its possible to overanalyze any doors songs. I think The doors wrote their songs with the intention to make people think. In my opinion they would want us to look into the song and any other of their beautiful timeless songs. In my opinion, i think he is just talking about the end. The end of anything. It could be death, it could be a relationship, a friendship. All i know is whenever you look into a doors song, always look twice.
• Ernie from Dover, DeMr. Mojo Risin' had a little trouble rising from a toilet at The Rock 'N' Roll Circus when The End came for him. He needed a few drug dealers to carry his silly dead ass out. Whaddya mean there, Shelby, by "Keep on risin', Mr. Mojo, wherever the h-ll you are."? Is there any question? Do you not know where he is? He's dead and buried in a cemetery that is too good for the likes of him. Those gents should've hacked him up and flushed him into the Paris sewers, thereby sparing his common-law wife the expense of interring the bloated turd. Anyway, Shelby, he isn't going to rise. Trish, he wasn't a god. He was a little sh*t whose loving parents paid his every expense (all his chinos and leather, argyle socks, tabs of acid, bags of weed, Snausages, textbooks)and he rewarded them with this extreme dishonor-- a mortifyingly revealing, profane and infantile take on a Greek work (and childhood complex that later contributed to one of his disorders of his personality (the other also involved a certain Greek character))--the minute he got his little record deal. The only poetry that self-impressed stinky turdwagon Jim Morrison had for you sad idolators was in his death. It doesn't take any talent to stir up controversy.
• Vincient Black from Eureka, CaThe seven mile snake is a refrence to the seven mile bridge from the mainland of Florida to Key West, a favorite Morrison hangout. Also, the Blue Bus was a bus that ran from the Santa Monica to Venice Beach back in the Sixties. Wikipedia offers alternate theories however.
• Rodney Tavares from Montreal, Canadathe song i think is about the impending changes that people have felt since about the sixties. Morison probably beleived that a major consciousness shift i unfolding and the surviving humans will live in an altered more evolved state of mind. (the next step in human evolution) Jim loved chaos and the song is mostly about the chaos that will occur while people are trying to understand whats happening to their minds and world. we will at once be free. And the modern world will meet ancient mystical emotions and paradigms (hence all the ancient symbolism in tghe song) during the time of the hippies this "world change" seemed imminant. killing the father sybolises doing away with all the preconceived bullsh*t society imbues us with, all the strict morals and rules ou father and society makes us abide (out of fear of change) in this sense he is using his father as a symbol for all the bulcrap we are fed and continue beleiving unquestioning into adulthood. As for f**king the mother, Jim means we must tap the source of our exitence. so forget what weve been told and search out our source is the message. Yes jim was talking about the oedipal complex which is greek mythology and is used by freud, jim was also trying to shock people. all these things are simultaneously true.
• Andrew from Adelaide, AustraliaOkay. i think that "The end" has many different meanings. The first and second verses sound like to lovers splitting for some reason. The third verse "Lost in a roman wilderness of pain" is about war veterans who have so many painful memories that they are "Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain" and that it's driving them insane "all the children are insane" and that they want to get out of this hellhole "waiting for the summer rain". Then it goes into the fourth verse "There's danger on the edge of town" which is an obvious reference to the days when Morrison was hitchhiking. "Ride the snake" is about drugs. "The west is the best" is either a). about Morrison's patriotism or B). a sarcastic pledge about how good America is. "The blue bus" is about Depression. The Oedipal section (Mother, i want to, f**k you) is a methaphor meaning that we should kill all things that are unnatural and get back to reality. "C'mon baby take a chance with us" is about having fun in your life before you are too old to enjoy yourself. The verse's "It hurt's to set you free" and "The end of laughter and soft lies" are about death. Then Morrison caps it off with "This is the end"
• Randy from Hagerstown, MdI don't know if this was posted yet or not but i thought when Jim said "Father, I want to kill you. Mother, I want to f--k you!" he was saying he wants to kill or get rid of all the bad things in his life, and f--k or have fun with all the good things in his life. I could be wrong, but im almost positive that i read it in the book "Riders on the Storm" written by John Densmore, drummer of the doors. But I really doubt that anyone will really no the true meanings or most of Jims Poetry. Amazing song by the way.
• Shelby from The Other Side , United StatesI'm listening to this right now and almost always want to cry after hearing it. Keep on risin', Mr. Mojo, wherever the h-ll you are. Blender magazine rated this as one of the worst songs of all time, which is unbelievable. How could you do such a thing?!!
• Axl from Pune, Indiawhat was the line ment killar awake before dawn...i think it meant he knows we were not much ready for what he said afterwords..anyways the whole song is my bible...each word each line...question all ur belifs gives u the freedom..and u realise this is the end
• Heath from Dallas, Txi think that yall look to hard for the meaning to this song. i think that its a love song. but Mr.Mojo Rising is the only one who would trueley know... unfortunately he is dead. How many of you people really know your alive?---The Lizard King
• Dmytro from Kharkiv, EuropeThat's really fantastic song...
  "Father - yes son - I want to kill you. Mother - I want to.........." - I remember about Zigmund Freud, huh.
• Mike from Hueytown , AlJim said meet him in the back of a blue bus and ride the snake. Cool song
• Jessy from A Town, KsWell, it started as a love song about two mariied peoplehaving an affair which they were ending. That's why it says 'I will never look into your eyes again.' Then as the facts say, one night he took 10,000 micrograms of LSD (the average does is about 400 micrograms) and the oedipal part was born. The rest of the song is all symbolism with the symbols being parts from his real life. The 'king's highway' refers to when he was going to college in Florida, and he decided he'd start a new life in LA. He hitchiked on the highway all the way there. The blue bus is something that they all did. Every night, they'd watch a blue bus pick people up and leave with them. Something that happens all the time. But it symbnolizes true knowledge. You must let go completely of all you thoughts and conceptions and go with it. It might even be your death. But it will be the true knowledge of everything. The father killing is also symbolic. It has nothing to do with his actual childhood, although it probably would have never been made if he hadn't had such a bad childhood with his father. It is a symbol of ultimate rebellion. Killing off al the preconcieved ideas forced upon you form birth. And the F*ck the mother is about the realization of all true love. The lake and the great snake are actually stemming from his firm beliefs in shamanism. The great lake was basically the heaven in Indian folklore. And the Great Snake was also a big figure in indian folklore.
• Shannon from Tampa, FlI think we can take this song alot of ways. However, my question is what should I do that a man wanted me to here this song. Freaks me out just a little.
  
  I am a psychology major and can't help to think that this song has alot of sympolism related to the theory of Frued.
  
  The song is good.
• Malicious Matt from Squatney"I'll never look into your eyes again" is one of the most beautiful lines I ever heard in a song. Its bittersweet, very melancholy. The sadness of it cant help but affect you when you realise that it can be applied to every living being in the world in one circumstance or another. It could easily be about soldiers in Vietnam (or any war), it could be about losing a loved one, it could be about suicide, death, whatever. I think its a song about the sadness of inevitability.
• Nicholas from A Small Town, IlThe Doors are awesome. You guys need to get the shirt thats got Jim Morrison passed out on stage or his mug shot photo.
• Eric from Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaI have a different interpretation for this song. I agree that the second part is about Oedipus, but the first part sounds like a marine talking to a severely wounded fellow marine in the deep jungles of Vietnam. He's dying, and so his friend is saying how it's the end, he'll never look into his eyes again, and it hurts to set him free (meaning it hurts to watch him pass away).
• Kara from San Francisco, Cai think you are all overanalyzing this. it's just a great song, interpret it as you will.
• Zach from Boston, MaPeople are wondering what the Blue bus lyrics reference. There are a few interpretations,"the Blue Bus" is almost certainly a reference to Indian mystic Meher Baba's "Blue Bus" tours of the 1930s. However, it may also be a reference to Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus public bus lines or Fetrow's blue bus which they took many trips in(to the beach as someone as said). This song was not "banned" because it was never released as a single designated for radio play. It was 11 minutes long.
  
• Joe from Belfast, EuropeI don't think this is about death at all. I think that it's about the end of the 60's. Jim knew that no decade would ever be the same.
• Alex from Buenos Aires, Argentinahey look, I think this song is based on independence and on finishing with the limits put by parents. If you see the movie, in the part of the dessert Robbie Krieger says that his father is ashamed of him, Jim suggests to kill him and after that you here the track.
  I dont know, it is very difficult because we could discuss for years
• Taylor from Barnum, Mni read that the end was a song about hating your parents
• Taylor from Barnum, Mnthis is one of my favorite. the doors rock. morrison was a genius.forever 27
• Pascal from Dallas, TxPerhaps The whole song is a joke.
  One great big joke. People "end" because they perceive that. I cant say for sure, but I think Morrison was poking fun at his fans, and calling them "followers" for eating up anything he trew out. Perhaps the song is sang from the perspective of the "negative" so called people here in america. "west is the best.. blah blah blah the whole song" It seems he laughed at everyone. His band.ect.. Because they were serious about creating "enlightening music" Wbat are we supposed to realize... The only true knowledge is that we know nothing? He hated the fact people ate anything he threw out, so why not make something with an inside joke.
  I think the music was the only good thing, and it was to be made as a audience perception of what his message was. Im just saying.. I wouldnt take morrisons word on things without verifying it. He was a prankster, and hated sheep. What not a better cozmic joke. If I didnt respect them.. that would sound like a good idea to do to them.
• Max from Sydney, AustraliaThis has to be one of my favorite song of all time.and i find it ironic that this was the song he listened to before he died. and it's sad to see that such a Great musisionpoetsinger gone
• John from St. Louis, MoThe whole song is mainly about Jims first love. They were described as soul mates, and to this day the girl still regrets having ever broken up with Jim. The Blue Bus was a reference to some time him and his love had hung out
• Joey D from Detroit, Miit wasnt out of place at all in the simpsons. it was part of an apocalipse now parady. so if youv never seen that movie you wouldnt get it.
• Jeef from San Francisco, CaThis song was on the Simpsons for a second time just a few weeks ago. Instead of Homer singing it they played the real song, it was only a 30 second clip, and it was very out of place, they were riding in a boat on a river in India and it started playing.It was awesome though. I Think its one of the greatest songs of all time.
• Michael from Lexington, MaWords just dont discribe one, it opens the DOORS to deeper understanding and meaning.
• Trish from East Grand Forks, MnJim could possibly be god. The Doors music is just...amazing. this is my fave. song of all time
• Chris from Sunnyvale, CaThis is my favorite Doors song. I think the lyrics were changed a little in many of their live versions(?)
• Jim from Kapiti/wellington, New ZealandThis is the sound track to the opening of Apocalpse Now.Martin Sheen is off his nut in his cheap hotel room.
  Not the worst sing ever made?
• Colin from Litchfield, CtI think the end of this song is just the lizard kings pure hatred of his parents expressed in song, or it could just mean the end of innocence or the end of the fear of pain or emotion
• Cameron from Irvine, CaThe version that the Doors played on Canadian television in May 1967 was a great version. You can see on the dvd Soundstage Performances. I never really appreciated Robby Krieger until I saw this performance.
• Johnny from Los Angeles, CaThomas, Iwas gonna do that. But the song is over now. Anyway, I hated this song up until today. Itz so weird that this was Jims last song (Heard) and the Cowles Mountain thing. For real Doors suckitude, listen to "Celebration of the Lizard". It's terrible! My only comment: Weird F_ck-n song. The End.
• Dev01d from Wollongong, AustraliaALSO which slipped my mind.. I think the line 'The west is the best' is meant to be sarcasm about the westernisation of the greater world and probably something to do with the Vetnam war.
• Dev01d from Wollongong, AustraliaThis song is deffinately one of The Doors best. Everytime I listen to it, it brings all these images and emotions from nowhere. How many songs can do that these days? I could listen to this song forever and never get sick of it.. Also I feel it is very open to personal interpretation rather than having one set meaning...
  As for the talk of doing drugs and being gods.. Someone said people can only be called god if they are 'THE ALMIGHTY' which is one of the dumbest things I've heard, what is a god other than a figure people look up to.. And drugs; If someone did/does drugs it is their choice and you can't hold that against their art.
• Paul from Cincinnati, OhI'm really amazed that this song made it onto an album from 1967 and was not banned. I'm also surprised that its not now been labeled parental advisory. I guess this album got grandfathered in.
• Kayla from LondonThis message is in regards to a message written by Reme from Michigan.
  You say that artists are just regular people who can sing well, well I?m afraid I strongly disagree with you. If a person could be named an artist simply by ?singing well? than the term would be used a lot more loosely. A person can learn to sing, just as a person can learn to play an instrument, but that doesn?t make them an artist. Artists are born not made. Although yes, they are ?regular? people, you can not under value the incredible work that they did. If it wasn?t for ?the gods of music? (I?d like to point out that it is spelt without a capital G, there fore not referring to them as THE God), we would not have any of the music we have today. An artist is someone who creates their art, whether it be physical or musical, for themselves and not for others, and if people happen to like it, then great, that artist becomes famous. But I?d like YOU to keep in mind that we are the ones who create fame, therefore just because we praise a certain persons work, does not mean that that work should be under valued for any reason. The Doors created incredible music and just because they did drugs and were promiscuous is no reason for us to devalue the amazing art that they created and performed. Ones personal choices and lifestyle is none of our business and does not change the work that they do. Going around with the attitude that everyone is just a ?regular? person must be such a boring way to look at the world. If everyone were ?regular? than that would make everyone the same, but I believe it is our differences that make the world interesting. While we, who actually appreciate good music and talent, see the world in colour, you look at it in black and white and for this, I feel sorry for you.
• Brett from Regina, CanadaWhen Jim talks about riding the snake the the snake the you to the "garden" a type of heaven but if the snake sences any fear he eats you. The snake is seven miles long and its scales are covered with everything that ever happened in hte world.
• Keith from Cincinnati, OhThe BLUE BUS, according to an interview with a member of the Doors, was a bus near where they were living for a while which would take you to the beach.
• Keith from Cincinnati, OhWhat does the "blue bus" mean? A member of the Doors in an interview said that where they were
  living , the blue bus was the one which took
  you to the seashore (the beach).
• Lou Siffer from Denver, Dc sometimes we can't "interpret" art or songs or poems or whatever, because we haven't lived thru what the "artist" has. period!!!! sometimes we should just take it for what it is, good or bad. that, i think, can be our decision. is it good or bad, to me? is it right or wrong, to me? what does it mean to me? maybe sometimes we're not supposed to try to wonder what art means to the artist. only what it means to me. i dunno, i'm probably wrong. as for this "hunky" english fella, there is nothing anyone from "over here" can ever say to you to make you understand what it's like to defend yourself much less someone who can't defend themselves. i may be reaching here but i'd venture to guess that you've never served in a military. you may be to young, or too rich,if your situation is similar to the u.s. but i ask you what you would like us to do about bush and his "Twatty Dictatorship", realisticaly? for us to effectively take arms against the government we must first convince an adequate number of civilians and an impossible number of politicians to give up their almost instinctive capitalist notions and remember that the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." i'm not saying i'm right and you're wrong or even that you're right and i'm wrong. i'm just saying that there is so much more to it than just asking about some morons "dictatorship".
• Larry from Newton, NcThis song is what Jim Morrison was all about. I can see how he could mesmerize people with his singing, especially those who were under the influence of "certain things". Morrison had a power over his audience that few performers ever had. I can sink deeply into his music when I am in the right mood and location.
  It's a shame he died so young. I would have loved to see where he would have taken us had he had more time.
• Cameron from Irvine, CaNico covered this song. I just found this out!
• Lauren from London, EnglandFreud also reasoned that girls develop their own 'Elektra' complex and feel they are males that have already been castrated.
  
  And can i just ask, blue bus??? Whats that all about??? I know the mans a poet and all, and this songs great, but please dont try and tell me that a blue bus is a metaphor for something...
• Brian from Mayfield Heights, OhIt's awesome that they recorded it in the studio with just one candle burning by Jim. That's how I always pictured him singing it... alone in an ocean of darkness, singing his requiem for innocence with just the light of his poetry to guide him.
• Cameron from Irvine, CaYes. It's true that Jim Morrison says f**k multiple times. But it's more like 20. If you purchase The Doors fisrt album on CD, it has been rerstored to it's true greatness.
  -Cam, Irvine, California
• Heather from Stony Brook Long Island, NyThis song was on without a trace on CBS
• Paul from Superior, WiThis is my favorite song ever. It's great to get a little background on it too. If you ever wanna check out this song being put to great use then watch the vietnam war epic 'Apocalypse Now' The ending and the beginning both use this song to great effect. I love it.
• Auðurv. from Reykjavik, IcelandAaaah....the end. I think this song is awesome and the beginning is so beautiful, I sometimes get teary eyed. Almost everyone knows that Jim was very interested in death but there´s alot of you out there that think that he WANTED to die!
  He did not want to die, he loved living and he was constantly (according to himself) testing the bounds of reality. And a there´s a thing that makes me laugh, a story of Jim. He´s sitting on bar and all the guys at the bar are teasing Jim about the end, about having sex with your mother (oh, hilarius). And Jim says: Oh come on guys. I don´t wanna f**k my mother!!!. (a moment of silence) I wanna f**k YOUR mother! And he usually started barfights this way.
• Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, Scthe first version of "The End" I heard was shorter and didn't have the "Mother I want to f--k You" part. But I got another version of The Doors' greatest hits and when I heard the version of The End on that, Jim said "Mother I want to..." but the supposed "f--k you" part is very unclear and sounds very garbled.
• Barry from New York, NcThe Doors performed this at the famous Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970, and you can see Jim singing it in the feature MESSAGE TO LOVE. As Jim did not allow director Murray Lerner to use much light, the performance is very dark, which actually creates a great atmosphere for this spine-tingling version.
• Angela from Corpus Christi , Txi love this song its sad a sad song and i like sad songs because they have alot more meaning
• Roger from America, PaThis is ranked 328 on Rolling Stones 500 greatest songs
• Ashley from Moncton, CanadaThe title of The Simpsons episode where Homer is walking down the street and singing The End is "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder." Homer is on his way to commit suicide by jumping off a building.
• Jd from Rio Hondo, TxHey! What about 'Mother, I want to RAVISH you!'
  
  Yea, that's right, go listen to it again.
  
  .........the end (of the debate), jd
• Ashley from Moncton, CanadaI really like the line "the west is best" for some reason. This song flows so well, and it's almost as if the music is some magical thing, I don't even know. This would be the one song I'd wan't to listen to before I die. When I listen to this it's as if I'm sort of floating into nothingness and in a trance. there's just so much music to sink in that the song seems shorter than it is. It's like my favourite Doors song. The music is so perfect for the words, I think it's one of the best pieces of music ever written.
• Reme from Michigan, MiWhat is the title of the Simpson's episode where the song THE END of THE DOORS is featured? Anyhow, I don't think any artists are geniuses. Some of them know how to make great music, and that is all there is to it. I also do not portray any artists as a "GOD", for they are not the "GREAT ONE." I know that referring to somebody as "God" is just a saying, but still, NOBODY can be called that, except the ALMIGHTY ONE. Changing subject, as I stated previously, I believe that Jim Morrison was just like any extraordinary person. Back in those days people used drugs, and had sex with just about anybody. I have to admit his music is alright. Everyone just likes different kinds of music. Some think that music from the 60's or 70's was the best, but that's just an opinion. Times change, but let's just keep in mind that artists are just regular people who can sing well, or whatever.
• Justin from Chicago, IlIn this first album, he praises and falls in love with L.A. ("The West is the best"), but by their last album LA Woman, he rips on the city saying it is the root of most evils. I agree, being from where I'm from.
• Paul from Canton, Ilmorrison was a maniac
• Clb from Woodward, OkFrom what I came to understand is that kill the father and f-ck the mother, means...Kill goverment and get closer to mother nature.
• Tressa from Eaton Rapids, MiJim Morrison was a genius, this song shows that. Its a great song, LONG LIVE THE DOORS!
• Angel from Charleston, ScI just wanted to take a moment to SAY I LOVE THE DOORS- I LOVE JIM MORRISON...even though he came and went before I really got a chance to know of him while he was alive..Today I play his album all the time...Jim Rocks!!! Rock on!
• Nathaniel from Toronto, CanadaI had to get involved in this thread when I read some self-righteous preacher from Dudley, MA and some other dude from TN try to make light of The Door's contributions to popular culture and the general philisophical perspective of the WORLD.
  
  1) We all meet "The End" - sooner or later. No heaven, no hell, just silence.
  2) No matter what drugs you take, you are who you are and you can only try to be what you want to be.
  3) If only we had more thinkers with heart today, we'd probably be in a far better state than we are --> maybe Laura from Dudley should go sign up to be the first contestant in George W's "Who's microchip is it?" gameshow.
• Shawn from So. Portland, Mewhen the doors of perception are cleansed you see things as they truely are. i think the end is a journey that jim went thru spiritualy,he is explaining different wild things. jim wasnt a genious but he was a great poet, thats all he ever wanted to be not a rock star or a god or a genious he just wanted to write his poetry, the father and mother are a odepious story about killing the father , taking over the kingdom and f---ing his mother is about take control over everything. romans and greeks did it all the time. its not sick or perverted.
• Bethany from La, Cathis is to laura, dudley, MA... why would you say that jim isnt a genius... even before he was the out of control alcoholic and rock star he was writing all these poems and songs, its not about the acid its about the words
• Josh from Las Vegas, NvJim = God
• Frank from Fircrest, Waback in 1976, a teen in San Diego was partying on Cowles Mtn, it was a party place. He dropped some acid.He went home and killed his mom,dad, and sister.he also killed the family dog. He went after his brother and brutality attacked him, leaving paralyed. in his court appearance- he said the song "The End" was an influence.
• Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, ScWhat a weird song! I didn't hear the f-ck rhe mother part, but it definitely reminds me of Oedipus. i did clearly hear a part where jim says "Kill kill kill kill."
• Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, Scthiw was the last song Morrison heard? Dude that's weird!
• Steve from Troy, NyEverybody seems to have forgotten to mention that this can be heard in the best Vietnam movie ever..."Apocalypse Now".
• Erica from Hampstead, NcI realy like this song eventhough i don't know what it is about I do Know that Jim Morrison although a drug addict is very hot! and i know lots of people who think the same thing
• Heidi from Santa Barbara, CaI love this song and I believe that everyone has a right to interpret it in their own personal way.
• Colin from Litchfield, CtThis is the end of innocence,stand up to your enemys and get right into there face
• Colin from Litchfield, CtThis song made me relize how much i hate my parents
• Dino from Athens, GreeceIts a pessimistic epic. Morrison is dark and mysterious and his lyrics are not nonsense. The song is created to make you sad, to make you feel awful. Inside the lyrics you find the truth... Death is the end. There is no heaven or hell. Killing your family and f--king your mother are the worst things a man can do. When someone does it, it means his life has no meaning...no reason to live. look, you can decide what you want, See it positively (peace, love, hippy, beatles....)Or see it negatively... i think pessimistic theories are the right ones, but if people could live in love and peace the life would be better before the end...
• Taylor from Austin, TxMorrison was one weird dude, but this song is alright...... I guess..... Besides the F the mother part. LATER!!!!!!!!
• Stephanie from Denver, CoJust imagine having that conversation with your father. He is at the door working on something and you go up to him and say, "Dad" and your father turns his head innocently and says, "Yes son" and you say, "I want to kill you". What a conversation with your old man! lol
• Julia from Newark, De The version I have of this song doesn't have the "F*** you!" part, which confuses me. He says, "Father? 'Yes, son?' I want to kill you! Mother... I want to... AUAGHHHHHHHHHH!"
• Dan from Ipswich, AustraliaKill the father, F**k the mother ultimately means cherish what you really are(the mother) and dissmiss everything that has been passed on to you that you really are not(the father).
• Less from New Castle, Pai've seen the concert version , i have it of film
  
  " Father?"
  
  " Yes , son?"
  
  " I want to kill you"
  
  " MOTHER! I WANT TO F--K YOU!"
• Ruben from Utrecht, NetherlandsThe song is a reference to the end of Western culture. I'ts an allusion to the fall of the Roman Empire. Break on through had a similar theme. Breaking through to another culture.
  Jim was really ahead of his time. He also sang about pollution for example in the song Peace Frog: "The human race was dying out, no one left to scream and shout. People walking on the moon, the smog will get you pretty soon"
  The guy's a legend and one of the best American Poets that ever lived.
• Ben from Encinitas, CaThere's one more song about Morrison's incident as a child that Jim from Delta, Canada forgot. The song is Peace Frog:
  "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding.
  Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind."
• Jim from Delta, CanadaJim Morrison was a genius his I.Q was 178 but the thing was when he was 7 him his mom his and and his two brothers were driving through the desert and a bunch of Indians crashed or something and Jim thought that one of the Indians soul had jumped into his body (Jim wrote two songs about it Riders on The Storm and Dawns Highway on the American Prayer album) and thats why I think Jim was a little screwed up and took a lot of drugs. This song I think it has no meaning I think its just about the end of life and Jim wanted to mention Oedipus in it because Oedipus had a pretty messed up life (kind of like Jim)
• Louis from San Diego, CaI have understand what you are saying about drugs and the way they chnage your mind and perception. I have done plenty of drugs and have written some great poetry that I sometimes have trouble understanding the meaning of when I sober up. But I dont think that we can take away from his ability to write music because of the fact he wrote most of it while trippin on acid. Jim Morrison basically sacraficed his life for us to hear his words and the meaning they carried with them. Don't forget the ery same thing that made him great was, most likly, the same thing that led to his death. I dont think morrison was a genius, but he sure was great in the fact that while on drugs he did something prductive rather than idiotic.
• Thomas from Fargo, Ndi dont think this is what this forum is for but what do you guys think of my paper
  Thomas Johnson
  
  Professor Louis Hall
  
  English 102
  
  Feb 19, 2005
  
  'People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that's bull. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they're afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it. That's what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.' ~ Jim Morrison, The Lizard King
  
  
  During the late 1960's bands sang of love and peace while acid was passed out in there concert halls. But for The Doors it was different. The nights belonged to Pan and Dionysus, the gods of revelry and rebirth, and the songs invoked their passions, like the Oedipal Nightmare of 'The End'. Unfortunately, people never quite understood what he was trying to do, which was religious, and before his time. Critics called him pretentious for taking himself so seriously; few of them new enough about the myths and religions to put all the pieces together the way only Jim could.
  First Jim speaks 'Of our elaborate plans, the end, of everything that stands, the end, no safety or surprise, the end.' He speaks of the undoing of all things as they exist today. Many might take it as if he were speaking of suicide, but it's not the suicide of a man but that of a culture, that of a society. I feel the same as Jim does, his lyrics talk in these lines of all the pieces of society falling away, as he suspects they will. He feels the injustices of society will tear themselves apart. 'No safety or surprise, the end.'
  Jim goes on in the next lyric 'Lost in a Roman' wilderness of pain and all the children are insane all the children are insane waiting for the summer reign, yeah' the lyric 'summer reign' is misinterpreted as summer rain. Jim actually speaks of the reign of Dionysus, the god of revelry who is celebrated on the summer solstice by the Greek pagan religions. He refers to Rome as his own society, in a manner that he means he is an outcast of society and he does not fit in. In the lyric 'all the children are insane' he refers to all the people of society being mad in comparison to he who has been enlightened.
  Jim's next lyric speaks of the danger of fighting the oppression of the mind that existed in society at the time and still today. It's important to note here that Jim speaks as if he were the 'west' or the 'King' in these lyrics, 'There's danger on the edge of town ride the King's highway, baby weird scenes inside the gold mine, ride the highway west, baby' He speaks of society's way of coercing the mind to fall into the track laid for it, telling it what to do, think, wish, want and dream. And of the 'danger at the edge of town' a warning not to wander too far so as to we noticed. He beckons 'ride the highway west, baby' in this lyric calls to the eastern cultures or the 'old ways' to come to the west to merge to our society, to follow the west as it spirals further down the rabbit hole.
  Jim's next lyric is 'Ride the snake, ride the snake to the lake, the ancient lake, baby the snake is long, seven miles ride the snake' he's old, and his skin is cold' when Jim refers to the snake he uses it as a metaphor for the world. 'I used to see the universe as a mammoth snake, and I used to see all the people and objects, landscapes, as little pictures in the facets of their scales. I think peristaltic motion is the basic life movement. Swallowing, digestion, the rhythms of sexual intercourse.' The words of the Lizard King himself.
  Jim's following lyric is, 'The west is the best the west is the best get here, and we'll do the rest' I think this lyric talks about the way western society seems to have of trying to enculturate the rest of the world as we see fit. A rather disgusting habit by Jim's professions and I can't agree more. He speaks of the pompous nature we Americans seem to have, thinking we always know what is best for everybody. For example, America has had its dick in the sand for the last 11 years trying to pump out some oil but succeeding only in a shameful pre-ejaculation that has cost the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent people, not to mention hundreds of billions of my tax dollars. Thank you Bush Regime!
  The next lyric is brief, 'The blue bus is callin us the blue bus is callin us driver, where you taken us' I believe Jim is referring to his depression. I will go into more depth with this later; there is a similar lyric that will help explain this one.
  The next lyric is my favorite part of the song, it may seem shocking and Oedipal but I will explain, at least my interpretation. '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 he walked on down the hall, and and he came to a door...and he looked inside Father, yes son, I want to kill you Mother...I want to...f--k you' My interpretation of this lyric isn't so disturbing. He takes the face from the ancient gallery, the face is just a pseudonym for a personality for himself, if that's what he wants it to mean. When he kills his sister, he is killing his weakness. When he kills his brother he is killing his piers that reject him and his ideas. When he tells his father that he wants to kill him, he is speaking to the part of society that would oppress and punish him. And when he tells his mother he wants to engage in coitus with her, he is embracing all the nurturing influences of the world. Jim did a lot of drugs though maybe he was just an Oedipus case.
  This lyric ties in to the earlier lyric, 'C'mon baby take a chance with us C'mon baby take a chance with us C'mon baby take a chance with us And meet me at the back of the blue bus Doin' a blue rock, on a blue bus Doin' a blue rock, c'mon, yeah Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill'
  This is a morbid lyric I'm rather certain that Jim is speaking of a cult ritual suicide scene. Jim was a crazy guy I think this is a little out of context with the song.
  The final lyrics to the song, 'This is the end, beautiful friend this is the end, my only friend, the end It hurts to set you free but you'll never follow me the end of laughter and soft lies the end of nights we tried to die' Jim talks to the listener, to me here. He tells me that we must now part but assures me that he won't mind when I change the CD, the song happens to be the last song on the CD, every CD it's on. The final lyric is,
  'This is the End'
  
  
  
  
• Roger from Bristol, TnMorrison got his wish...he met "the end".
• Laura from Dudley, MaThe lyrics Ive heard are
  "Father, yes son, I want to kill you
  Mother...i want to...f**k you"
  
  I dont like when people refer to musiciains and such as geniuses... Jim Morrison is cool and everything dont get me wrong, but in No way was he a genius? He took acid and saw things that people didnt usually see, which made a picture in his mind basically and he wrote words to it.
  SoOoOoOo * Jessica, San Jose, CA * If I take some acid am I genius?
• Jessica from San Jose, CaThe End is what you want it to be, good or bad. Jim Morrison wrote this while he was on peyote, so it could have multipe endings. He was a genius in his own time
• Pink from Melbourne, Australiasome described morrison as a drunken bafoon, some a poet. when i saw him live back in the sixties he was a god.
  everone knows the myths about "if you remember the sixties you werent really there" and that is truthfull to an extent.
  we were all triping but that night morrison calmly sang his tunes peacfully almost luring us into a web, and then... the end.
  at first we were all dancing, its actually got pretty cool sound you know.
  but it gradually revealed itself to us as the evil song it is. he sung a harmonic blue bus verse and the music dimmed. at this point we had all stopped dancing we were all eager to hear this morrison fellow improvise, but what followed was wrong, he stood perfectly still and spoke as though nothing was wrong with what he was saying. ."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." - now at this point everyone was exchanging nervous looks, we all knew, even the band knew, that jim had tripped on some serious acid. but jim kept talking without hesitation, and then he said it, "mother i want to f--k you". at that point the band panicked, they just played as fast as they could and everyone was stunned and in awe of this tightly panted fellow singing to us. the bar was pretty packed everyone had been talking about them around town so we all came in groups. we were all high.
  continued below.....
• Pink from Melbourne, Australiato truly be moved by this song, you really had to hear it up close, i live in australia now but back in the day, man morrison was so cool.
  Riding the snake, the serpent, ancient and archetypal, strange yet disturbingly familiar, powerfully evocative, sensuous and evil, strong, forbidding. When Morrison intoned, "The killer awoke before dawn and put his boots on/he took a face from the ancient gallery/and he walked on down the hall," we were walking down that hall with him, in dread, paralyzed, powerless to stop, as the music wove a web of hysteria around us, wrapping us ever tighter in its web, Morrison enacting the tragedy, the patricide, the horror, unspeakable torment. WE SAW IT, WE FELT IT, we were there. We were hypnotized. Reality opened up its gaping maw and swallowed us whole as we tumbled into another dimension. And Morrison was the only guide: "And I'm right here, I'm going too, release control, we're breaking through..." And then we did.
  
  "Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain." It wasn't merely a line in a verse. It was an epitaph for the moment, a photograph of the collective unconscious. The symbols were timeless and the words contained stored-up images and energies thousands of years old, now resurrected. Early in the group's career, Jim tried to explain some of this to a journalist: "A Doors concert is a public meeting called by us for a special dramatic discussion. When we perform, we're participating in the creation of a world and we celebrate that with the crowd." A few days before he flew to Paris, to his death, Jim gave to me what would be his last statement to the press: "For me, it was never really an act, those so-called performances. It was a life-and-death thing; an attempt to communicate, to involve many people in a private world of thought."
  
• Mitch from Winnipeg, CanadaI think the line 'my only friend, the end' represents how the end is the only thing Jim can really rely on. The end of all things are bound to come. When all else fails, at least there is still something that you can, maybe not look forward to, but you know theres something coming that you always know is coming.
• Guy from New York, NyBizarrely, no one here seems to be able to reconcile any of the prevailing theories about this song. Sigmund Freud (note the correct spelling) developed a theory of human mental development which incorporates, at an early age, the Oedipus or Oedipal stage in which male infants as they develop long to supplant their fathers in the power structure of the family by killing the father and possessing the mother sexually, but are restrained by a subconscious fear of castration. Freud suggested that some maladjusted men might never escape from the desires of this stage even as they aged, and so would in later life developed an "Oedipus complex," involving deeply repressed and internalized longings analogous to those Freud alleged were held by infants. This theory has been cross-applied in a number of literary analyses, perhaps most notably (if improbably) in "Hamlet."
  
  The implications of an "Oedipus complex" extend beyond Freud's typical sexual perversions, insofar as the original stage can be interpreted as being a full-scale assault by the infant on the forms of authority in the family. Thus, an adult with such a complex could be characterized by a wholesale disregard for the higher-level forms and structures of social order. If anyone is familiar with Leslie Charteris' "The Saint" short stories (later dreadfully adapted into a Val Kilmer movie of the same name), the central character (the thief/general rabble-rouser Simon Templar) is in one story described as having an Oedipus complex because he deliberately breaks the law simply because it is the law.
  
  Thus, the incorporation of distinctly Oedipal themes into this song seems to imply that, if not describing "The End" of the world, it is at least deliberately describing "The End" of formal social order, as brought about by some powerfully destructive avatar for Entropy - a Lizard King, perhaps? Morrison is reputed to have at some occasions and in the grips of certain drugs have developed a certain megalomania regarding his own world-historical role in overthrowing oppressive societal structures. The man who wants to kill his father and f--k his mother is clearly a wild force of natural rebellion against all authority, matriarchal and patriarchal alike. Only by killing the male principal of force and command and utterly possessing and subjugating the female generative principal can we truly free ourselves.
  
  By the way - while Morrison did love William Blake, Blake was not a philosopher, he was a poet and artist.
  
• Karl from Portland, OrI think that all the stuff in the first half of the song (before the whole daddy-kill, mother-f*** part) Is more interesting. It's all so random. You know Acid and Peyote are the source for most or all of those lines. But still I think the mean something. Epecially, the intro part (beginging up to the line "... in our desparate land". It really a trippy song. Personaly I think its about death. Or the end of the world. But its hard to tell if "the end" that he sings about is a good thing, or a bad thing. "Can you picture, what we'll be, so limitless and free." That sounds good, right? But the whole Oedipus thing is about primal madness (I think). If you've seen Apocolypse Now (the vietnam film) you might know what I mean. The only line in the whole song that I know exactly what he means, and agree with is "The west is the best". It's true. It really is.
• Shana from Pembroke, Canadaits an alright song, very slow and long tho, but i like how it speeds up near the end
• Shannon from Rochester, NyF--k the Mother. Kill the Father.
  This was explained to either Densmore or Rothchild by Jim Morrison. The gist of it is:
  In life, the Mother gives us nourishment, life, warmth... things that make us what we are. These are the things we must embrace. The things we must love.
  The Father gives to us what we learn. The Father teaches us what The Father believes.
  F--- the Mother is to embrace what is you. The essence, reality, nature.
  Kill The Father is to reject everything that is not a part of you; but is instilled into you - alien concepts.
• Marshall from Newburyport, MaI think the line about having sex with your mother and killing your father is a referrence to a Sigmund Froid theory of how in the infantile years, that is a babies wish. But then again he did do alot of Opium.
• Mike from Katy, TxIn essential rarietes its "Hey you old fool i want to kill you" and "Woman, i want to f--k you all night long'
• Janelle from New York City, Nywhat i great song....it is so hard to explain, but it is the type of song that i think is the most under-rated Doors song.
• Mr.gatz from Waterville, MeWhen he's talking about the 7 mile long snake he's refering to his acid trips. He'd see a 7 mile long snake with pale gold skin.
• Simon from Stockholm, SwedenThe original idea with the Oedipus complex goes back to the greeks, where Oedipus was a king who fell in love with his mother and killed his father. The differences is that the "real" Oedipus didn't know that they were his parents. Besides, this has been called the "Oedipus complex" by Sigmund Freud. He had the theory that young boys feel jealous with their father and want to have their mother for themselves. That's about it, I guess. I don't know if William Blake also has mentioned the Oedipus complex in a poem or such.
• Brittany from San Diego, CaJim Morrison wrote this song while on peyote.
• Al from Olympia, WaThe ending track to their first full-length album, it was meant to be the ending of something, lets say a phase in life or this life. Then if the album is played again than it goes to "break on though", so it is as if you have gone through a door at the end to just break on through to the other side.
• Adrian from Wilmington, DeDoes anyone else hear Jim drop the F-bomb like five or ten times during the musical haze that follows the lines "...blue rock, come on yeah!" At some points he just says it alone, but two times he can clearly be heard saying, "F--k me baby!" And then he says "Kill" several times. This same section shows up in the Apocolypse Now version. This doesn't surprise me since it's Jim Morrison but such an onslaught of cursing on albums was unheard of in 1967.
• Cynthia from Oxnard, Cai heard that jim morrison got the idea of F**king your mother all night long from on of William blakes(one of jim morrison's favorite philosphors) theories....william thought that when we are children we have crushes on our mom or father...in jim morrisons case it was the opposite sex his mother....and when he would see his mother with his father he felf jealous..thats why he says in the song "father i want to kill you"
• Zak from Ganisville, Fli think in "the end" that jim makes some sort of deeper real conection to anyone who truely admires him anyone who has been ready to meet the end themselfs would get so much from this song and definetly a real conection.......but other than that this is one of the best peices of music ever to exist noone will ever be able to make something that compares.
• Ian from Urbana, IlHomer sings this to himself in an episode of The Simpsons while he is walking around town.
• Russ from Prince George, CanadaIsn't the line more like, "mother I want to f--k you all night long"? In the studio version, he sings, "mother, I want to.......all night, baby"
  I don't recall hearing, "screw the mother", or"f--k the mother" in the live versions.
  

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