Rider on the storm

Jim Morrison:
Life, Death and Legend
By Stephen Davis,
Ebury, £ 7.95

Went into the sea of music and poetry;/ Went over the hill, went over the rill ?/ In a bid to avoid the void./ The void never avoided me,/ And in the end I was left devoid of breath?

This is the story of Jim Morrison, the poet and rock star, who enthralled millions. The story has been told and retold several times, but his fans do not seem to have had enough. Morrison dead is more powerful than Morrison alive. This may sound like a clich?, but that?s how it is.

Stephen Davis attempts to portray the life, death and legend of Jim Morrison in a new light. The best thing about the book is that it is not a hagiography. Davis presents Morrison in all his greyness, and also does not damn him. It is a fitting tribute to Morrison who despised his fans for mindlessly consuming all that was fed in his name.

The weakness of the book is that the events are arranged rather arbitrarily. There are too many minute details in the description instead of analysis. Nonetheless, it is a commendable effort by Davis, who has also written a biography of Led Zepplin, The Hammer of the Gods.

Davis attempts to reconstruct the events of the summer of 1971 when Morrison died, supposedly of a heart attack, at the age of 27. It is a coincidence that three of his contemporaries and friends, the rock stars Brian Jones, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix all died at the age of 27 ? the first in 1969, and the latter two in 1970. Taking coincidence a step further, Morrison was born on December 8, the date on which John Lennon had been assassinated. Call it a quirk of fate, or smart manoeuvring by state-aided assassination theorists. It would be a good idea to read the book, Rethinking John Lennon?s Assassination, by Salvador Astucia in conjunction with this book.

Davis?s work draws from various sources in order to deconstruct Morrison?s life in Paris and his relationship with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson. Pamela was the only eyewitness to Morrison?s death. She gave contrary reports of the events of the time and died under mysterious circumstances a few years later.

The book takes a look at Morrison?s troubled childhood and his hatred of his parents. Morrison first awoke to the darker side of life when, as a child, he saw four people in a pool of blood. They had died in a car crash. In his notebook, Morrison says that it was as if their souls had entered him.

Morrison ? the ?Lizard King? in making ? was fascinated by the wild reptiles of New Mexico. The descriptions of Morrison?s childhood are intensely psychological, and quite compelling, even though the analyses might look flawed in places. It is for the reader to sift through these.

Davis sees in Morrison a seer, a bard, a drunk, a bisexual and a victim of child abuse. His book contextualizes Morrison?s fate by delineating his religious visions, the spiritual crisis in society, political unrest, race riots and the assassinations of that era.

Morrison used to say that there?s the known, and there?s the unknown. In between them are the doors of perception. That?s why his band was called The Doors. But in his bid to perceive, Morrison was destroyed.

The book is a soup for the souls of general readers, rock fans and counter culture aficionados. But it must be taken with a pinch of salt.