Looking at Jim Morrison's Poetry ...

[wyattt]

I was reading some Poems/Songs and was wondering most about "Five to One".

I know it's all up to interpretation and the words "No One Here Gets Out Alive" struck me as curious. As it was always said that Jim was always obsessed with death. But maybe as intelligent as he was and a bit lucid it seems to me death represents the old shakespearean image of Sexual Orgasm and Jim was into Sex, so much as we all know. So back to " Five to One" :

"Five to One baby, One in Five, No One Here Gets Out Alive Now,":

Seems to me as he's talking about a sexual act of a hand moving towards grasping his Manhood, Then the Hand has grasped his Manhood, Then the hand helps him acheive Sexual Orgasm.

I look at the verses he writes like that because of his other verse called "Ode to the Death of my Cock", in which Jim writes, "The Death of my Cock gives Life", I can't find any other meaning than the orgasm of the Penis that gives the seed of life. Hence when i apply this theory to most of the verses Jim has written about death it fits seamlessly, but, truly only an interpretation of an observation....I'm sure there are plenty of others and each has it's merits in it's own write.

 

[Kate.E]

one in five

Five to One (Waiting for the Sun) is a ratio that has never fully been explained. It’s certainly a protest song, but one that hasn’t been properly defined. Jim always refused to tell anyone, including the band, what the ratio stood for. Whether it was the proportion of whites to blacks, dope smokers to straights, under 25s to over 25s in the population are all theories.

Was the song was a call to arms against the establishment or a mockery of the failures of counterculture? Jim’s boast that a vast number of people were ready to go up against the authorities’ guns seemed calculated - I think there is an interest in revolution as well as disgust towards the revolutionaries in the lyrics.

I’d say the words are both about the age of the population and a protest about war, but then maybe the lyrics are open to your own interpretation. ‘The old get old and the young get stronger / May take a week and it may take longer / They got the guns but we got the numbers / Gonna win / Yeah, we’re takin over’ – Not so sure he’s talking about the five knuckle shuffle there. Lament on An American Prayer – Now there’s a different story! I don’t know enough to comment on his poetry, although I do love American Prayer album. I have a copy of The Lords / New Creatures but the two times I’ve read it, my head hurt.

Any Americans been to see the 21st Century Doors recently? I’d be interested to hear what you think of them.


ps, Lauren - I LOVE YOU

 

[Maria2394]

JM

OKay, since you posted this thread, I assume you already know he was a spectacular genius, in my opnion. Did you know he had a quirky sense of humor too?

I love the man, he will never be dead I just wanted to say though, that he did do certain things, just to make people think and in the instance of 5 to 1, maybe he just liked the rhyme? I have thought it till my brain froze, but since I was a little child when he wrote it, I cant really compare to experiences of the late 60's. I just remember my mom singing platters songs from the 50's...
Anyway hope you figure it out, but never let his presence or msytery die. maria

 

[wyattt]

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle....

Five To One

Yeah, c'mon
Love my girl
She lookin' good
C'mon
One more

Five to one, baby
One in five
No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try

The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!

Yeah!

Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime

Come together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, aha
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, gotta, get together

Ohhhhhhhh!

Hey, c'mon, honey
You won't have along wait for me, baby
I'll be there in just a little while
You see, I gotta go out in this car with these people and...

Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Take you up in my room and...
Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah
Love my girl
She lookin' good, lookin' real good
Love ya, c'mon

The Doors/JM


Ok I see your point.....and I see the sarcastic humor in everything and that's just why I believe what I first wrote. But what better way to write an anti-war protest song than to base in on the lifestyle of the counterculture by which you live. And now that you've shown me that verse I had to look at the whole song again in it's entirety and I see the central theme of Sex and Power, and Jim laughing at the sarcastic twist he put on it. But just the same as he's mocking power he knows he's in control of his audience. Wait ...oh wait......POWER.......let's look at that just had a thought......Did you ever see the picture Of Jim Staring at his hand ? "5 to 1" Maybe 5 fingers to 1 hand. "1 in 5" one finger on that hand. (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is the Hand that Rules the World). "No one here gets out alive now" How many fingers does it take to push the button to launch a warhead ?
Cold War: "You get yours baby I'll get mine ....gonna make it baby if we try.......c'mon!!!" USA VS. USSR. Maybe a fit there ....ultimately a magical sarcastic fit of utter talent, genius, and mystery. While keeping in line with death and mixed with sex and power. Sorry if I rambled but he's a poetic master in my mind and I love to hear and share thoughts about the man.

Wyattt

 

[Maria2394]

hands

Know what Wyatt? The hand theory makes as much sense to me as anything else!! Cant you just see him, sitting there, tripping on peyote, staring at his hand? God, I love that man..hes even sexy dead....