Music as Poetry
"The End" by Jim Morrison of The Doors
PART 1: THE LYRICS-
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Ill never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...strangers hand
In a...desperate land
Lost in a roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
Theres danger on the edge of town
Ride the kings highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...hes old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and well do the rest
The blue bus is callin' us
The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken us
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...fuck you
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 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
This is the end
Part 2: Validation as poetry -
"The End" is poetry by virtue of its intent, and its structures including rhyme, metaphor, and its (although inconsistent) meter. The poem/song is trying to convey an emotion throughout the peace, an emotion of seeming desperation, clearly illustrated through the straightforward opening and closing line "this is the end" and through colorful imagery. Jim Morrison sets pictures of a slithering cold snake in which the snake may symbolize how we go through time. He uses the cold scene of "a killer [waking]... before dawn" illustrating, with relatively simple language the processes of his thinking. This might be a self-reflection of Morrison's own mind, or it could be further illustration of the general theme and mood of the song. Many of the lines in the song rhyme and stanzas seem to alternate, somewhat consistently, between short and long meter. In terms of techniques and structure this would be a very free form poem with a semblance of rhyme and informal meter, but because of the deep emotion, mood, and theme consistently pounded in throughout the duration of the song it would qualify, more so than a narrative song, as poetry, due to the nature of its lyrics.
Part 3: Post a video -
I have no idea of how to post a video, and won't pretend that I do, but I can post this link to a video of The Doors playing "The End." Enjoy...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8480903906215539826&q=The+Doors+The+End&total=1843&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
PART 1: THE LYRICS-
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Ill never look into your eyes...again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...strangers hand
In a...desperate land
Lost in a roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
Theres danger on the edge of town
Ride the kings highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...hes old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and well do the rest
The blue bus is callin' us
The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken us
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...fuck you
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 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
This is the end
Part 2: Validation as poetry -
"The End" is poetry by virtue of its intent, and its structures including rhyme, metaphor, and its (although inconsistent) meter. The poem/song is trying to convey an emotion throughout the peace, an emotion of seeming desperation, clearly illustrated through the straightforward opening and closing line "this is the end" and through colorful imagery. Jim Morrison sets pictures of a slithering cold snake in which the snake may symbolize how we go through time. He uses the cold scene of "a killer [waking]... before dawn" illustrating, with relatively simple language the processes of his thinking. This might be a self-reflection of Morrison's own mind, or it could be further illustration of the general theme and mood of the song. Many of the lines in the song rhyme and stanzas seem to alternate, somewhat consistently, between short and long meter. In terms of techniques and structure this would be a very free form poem with a semblance of rhyme and informal meter, but because of the deep emotion, mood, and theme consistently pounded in throughout the duration of the song it would qualify, more so than a narrative song, as poetry, due to the nature of its lyrics.
Part 3: Post a video -
I have no idea of how to post a video, and won't pretend that I do, but I can post this link to a video of The Doors playing "The End." Enjoy...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8480903906215539826&q=The+Doors+The+End&total=1843&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
posted by Noah Tal Berman at
7:23 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the copy/paste URL. It's a way to get a video. Jim Morrison is indeed quite poetic, and this song in particular reeks of poeticism. I like your look at the snake as symbolic, but more than anything I'm intrigued by your qualification of this work as poetry through more than anything its intent. What do you mean by this?
I guess I'll just reply through the blog. I think that a lot of songs (aka Kanye) are just thrown together as rhyming couplets that might sound good or keep a rhythm and they have very little meaning. While Morrison skips around a lot in imagery and scenes he has a point that everything is focused towards, every word is deliberately placed.
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