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I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Doors

I grew up listening to my father's music which was mostly jazz and music from the Big Band Era. I can still sing along with or hum the tunes to a ton of the old standards. My love for the music of the '30s and '40s, led to my singing (if only for a short time) in a jazz trio. So when the Beatles arrived on the scene, I didn't get it. I didn't understand all the hoop-la about rock 'n' roll.

Then came the summer of 1967. The Summer of Looooooove.There was a tremendous amount of stuff happening musically; the Beatles came out with Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour and there were hits by, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Small Faces, Cream, Procol Harum, the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, the Who and Jimi Hendrix, just to name a few.

But I still didn't get...
...until the Doors snuck into my room, invading my eardrums with "Light My Fire." They just sounded so different from other bands, no base...it was electric keyboard, guitar, drums and jeese, that guy Jim Morrison singing. I liked their songs. Their lyrics were so... so different and Morrison was so...you know...hot. They didn't have the aura of being light and fun-loving like the Beatles nor did they have the bad-boy image of the Rolling Stones. They were something other, they were moody, dark and mysterious. They appealed to my dark, moody, mysterious teen-aged self.

I loved and had no idea what "Horse Latitudes" meant. I still love it and still don't know what the heck, if anything, it means.

When the still sea conspires an armor
And her sullen and aborted
Currents breed tiny monsters
True sailing is dead
Awkward instant
And the first animal is jettisoned
Legs furiously pumping
Their stiff green gallop
And heads bob up
Poise
Delicate
Pause
Consent
In mute nostril agony
Carefully refined
And sealed over

(Don't ask me why but I laugh every time I hear/read the line, "In mute nostril agony.")
Was there a first group, a first kind of music, that inspired, or moved you along your path in life? I give FULL credit to the Doors for leading me into the mansion called Rock 'n' Roll, but it was the Beatles who eventually won first place in my heart, and in whose room within the mansion, I spent/spend the most time.

13 comments:

  1. Blue October and Nickelback really inspire me. The Doors are great, too :)

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  2. I associate all this music with Michael ... because when I met him, he was listening to this and playing it (serenading me :) ... to this day, rock-n-stirs my heart like nothing else.

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  3. The Doors and The Beatles are great classics. When I met my husband, he had Jim Morrison on an American Flag hanging on the ceiling over his bed. We have a Jim Morrison biography and poetry book too. Good stuff!
    The Beatles are the first group I listened to over and over when I was little. I'd put my mom's records on and dance and sing all by myself!

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  4. I'm pulling out my Doors Greatest Hits CD to listen to tonight!

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  5. That's all my music. And Morrison started out as a poet. He never really wanted to be famous or sing or any of that. He just wanted to write poetry.

    The Beatles are my ALL time fav. I also loved the Stones, Pink Floyd, Grand Funk, Steppenwolf, Creedence, well I could go on and on.

    That's all I listen to on the ipod. When I'm working out.

    Thanks for my little trip down memory lane. :-)

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  6. Victoria, I'm so lame...don't know either of the groups you mention!

    Vijaya, serenade with music from the Doors, how wonderful!

    Ha ha, Kelly! I always get a kick out of you younger folk who call music from that era classics! Am I that old already? When I hear that music I'm a teenager again.

    Oh good J. A. hope you visit with their music was enjoyable.

    Robyn, I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoys the music from that time. I love all those bands you mentioned...on and on. So much good music. The rock 'n' roll mansion is huge with many, many rooms, and more being added. There is room for everyone.

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  7. I find almost all music inspiring and most lyrics fascinating. Although, "In mute nostril agony" kind of escapes me, but it does make me giggle. : )

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  8. Cynthia, I really do love that line, it is SO bizarre.

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  9. Hey! I've been "In mute nostril agony" before and it's not much fun. No laughing, Bish! :)

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  10. Definitely Elvis for me. He was the first concert I ever saw. Funny how my mom listened to Elvis, my sister was a Beatles fanatic, my brother loved Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin ... and yet, I turned out to be the Who fan in the family. Weird. I love the Doors though -- good stuff.

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  11. Oh Lee! Of course! NOW I know what that line means. How is it that without your actually telling me, I get it? Thanks.

    And you, of course Rena, I've known for some time you're a Who and Elvis fan. I loved the Who too (sounds like an African tribe or dance) and still have most of their albums.

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  13. Hi Bish. Every time I come here I learn something or just have fun, so in the spirit of that, I've left something for you on my blog. :)

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Your Random Thoughts are most welcome!