I have been told by a few friends not to listen or read him when my mood gets blue, but it's strange... I seem drawn to his work when I AM blue. Go figure...
So today, I read during my lunch. It called to me.
This is the complete poem entitled "An American Prayer", which is but a small part of the album of the same name. (see track listing below)
*Note~ Not all the poem appears on the album*
Background on the album: "In 1978, seven years after Jim Morrison died and five years after the remaining members of the band broke up, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore reunited and recorded backing tracks over Morrison's poetry (originally recorded in a poetry session, in 1969). Other pieces of music and spoken word recorded by the Doors and Morrison were also used in the audio collage, such as dialogue from Morrison's film HWY and snippets from jam sessions. The album received mixed reviews and still divides critics, yet it has managed a platinum certification in the US, placing it roughly as high in US sales as most of the Doors' studio albums (only The Doors and L.A. Woman are so far multi-platinum)."[1]
[1] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Track Listing
Awake1. "Awake" – 0:36
2. "Ghost Song" (edit) – 2:50
3. "Dawn's Highway" – 1:21
4. "Newborn Awakening" – 2:26
To Come of Age
5. "To Come of Age" – 1:01
6. "Black Polished Chrome" – 1:07
7. "Latino Chrome" – 2:14
8. "Angels and Sailors" – 2:46
9. "Stoned Immaculate" – 1:33
The Poet's Dream
10. "The Movie" – 1:35
11. "Curses, Invocations" – 1:57
World on Fire
12. "American Night" – 0:28
13. "Roadhouse Blues" – 5:53
14. "The World On Fire" – 1:06
15. "Lament" – 2:18
16. "The Hitchhiker" – 2:15
An American Prayer
17. "An American Prayer" – 3:04
18. "Hour For Magic" – 1:17
19. "Freedom Exists" – 0:20
20. "A Feast Of Friends" – 2:10 (also known as "The Severed Garden")
Bonus tracks:
21. "Babylon Fading" – 1:40
22. "Bird Of Prey" – 1:03
23. "The Ghost Song" (Extended Version) – 5:16 (There's a "hidden track" 34 seconds after the fade-out.)
An American Prayer
by James Douglas Morrison
I
Do you know the warm progress
under the stars?
Do you know we exist?
Have you forgotten the keys
to the Kingdom?
Have you been borne yet
& are you alive?
Do you know the warm progress
under the stars?
Do you know we exist?
Have you forgotten the keys
to the Kingdom?
Have you been borne yet
& are you alive?
Let's reinvent the gods, all the myths
of the ages
Celebrate symbols from deep elder forests
[Have you forgotten the lessons
of the ancient war]
The fathers are cackling in trees of the forest
Our mother is dead in the sea
Do you know we are being led to
slaughters by placid admirals
& that fat slow generals are getting
obscene on young blood
Do you know we are ruled by T.V.
The moon is a dry blood beast
Guerilla bands are rolling numbers
in the next block of green vine
amassing for warfare on innocent herdsmen
who are just dying
O great creator of being
grant us one more hour to
perform our art
& perfect our lives
The moths & atheists are doubly divine
& dying
We live, we die
& death not ends it
Journey we more into the
Nightmare
Cling to life
our passion'd flower
Cling to c**ts & cocks
of despair
We got our final vision
by clap
Columbus' groin got
filled w/ green death
(I touched her thigh
& death smiled)
We have assembled inside this ancient
& insane theatre
To propagate our lust for life
& flee the swarming wisdom
of the streets
The barns are stormed
The windows kept
& only one of all the rest
To dance & save us
W/ the divine mockery
of words
Music inflames temperament
(When the true King's murderers
are allowed to roam free
a 1000 magicians arise
in the land)
Where are the feasts
we were promised
Where is the wine
The New Wine
(dying on the vine)
resident mockery
give us an hour for magic
We of the purple glove
We of the starling flight
& velvet hour
We of arabic pleasure's breed
We of sundome & the night
Give us a creed
To believe
A night of Lust
Give us trust in
The Night
Give of color
hundred hues
a rich Mandala
for me & you
& for your silky
pillowed house
a head, wisdom
& a bed
Troubled decree
Resident mockery
has claimed thee
We used to believe
in the good old days
We still receive
In little ways
The Things of Kindness
& unsporting brow
Forget & allow
Did you know freedom exists
in a school book
Did you know madmen are
running our prison
w/in a jail, w/in a gaol
w/in a white free protestant
Maelstrom
We're perched headlong
on the edge of boredom
We're reaching for death
on the end of a candle
We're trying for something
That's already found us
We can invent Kingdoms of our own
grand purple thrones, those chairs of lust
& love we must, in beds of rust
Steel doors lock in prisoner's screams
& muzak, AM, rocks their dreams
No black men's pride to hoist the beams
while mocking angels sift what seems
To be a collage of magazine dust
Scratched on foreheads of walls of trust
This is just jail for those who must
get up in the morning & fight for such
unusable standards
while weeping maidens
show-off penury & pout
ravings for a mad
staff
Wow, I'm sick of doubt
Live in the light of certain
South
Cruel bindings
The servants have the power
dog-men & their mean women
pulling poor blankets over
our sailors
(& where were you in our
lean hour)
Milking your moustache?
or grinding a flower?
I'm sick of dour faces
Staring at me from the T.V.
Tower. I want roses in
my garden bower; dig?
Royal babies, rubies
must now replace aborted
Strangers in the mud
These mutants, blood-meal
for the plant that's plowed
They are waiting to take us into
the severed garden
Do you know how pale & wanton thrillful
comes death on strange hour
unannounced, unplanned for
like a scaring over-friendly guest you've
brought to bed
Death makes angels of us all
& gives us wings
where we had shoulders
smooth as raven's
claws
No more money, no more fancy dress
This other Kingdom seems by far the best
until its other jaw reveals incest
& loose obedience to a vegetable law
I will not go
Prefer a Feast of Friends
To the Giant family
II
Great screaming Christ
Upsy-daisy
Lazy Mary will get you up
upon a Sunday morning
"The movie will begin in 5 moments"
The mindless Voice announced
"All those unseated, will await
The next show"
We filed slowly, languidly
into the hall. The auditorium
was vast, & silent.
As we seated & were darkened
The Voice continued:
"The program for this evening
is not new. You have seen
This entertainment thru & thru.
You've seen your birth, your
life & death; you might recall
all of the rest -- (did you
have a good world when you
died?) -- enough to base
a movie on?"
An iron chuckle rapped our
minds like a fist.
I'm getting out of here
Where're you going?
To the other side of the morning
Please don't chase the clouds
pagodas, temples
Her c**t gripped him
like a warm friendly
hand.
"It's all right.
All your friends are here."
When can I meet them?
"After you've eaten"
I'm not hungry
"O, we meant beaten"
Silver stream, silvery scream,
impossible concentration
Here come the comedians
look at them smile
Watch them dance
an indian mile
Look at them gesture
How aplomb
So to gesture everyone
Words dissemble
Words be quick
Words resemble walking sticks
Plant them
They will grow
Watch them waver so
I'll always be
a word-man
Better than a birdman
But I'll charge
Won't get away
w/out lodging a dollar
Shall I say it again
aloud, you get the point
No food w/out fuel's gain
I'll be, the irish loud
unleashed my beak
at peak of powers
O girl, unleash
your worried comb
O worried mind
Sin in the fallen
Backwoods by the blind
She smells debt
on my new collar
Arrogant prose
Tied in a network of fast quest
Hence the obsession
Its quick to admit
Fats borrowed rhythm
Woman came between them
Women of the world unite
Make the world safe
For a scandalous life
Hee Heee
Cut your throat
Life is a joke
Your wife's in a moat
The same boat
Here comes the goat
Blood Blood Blood Blood
They're making a joke
of our universe
III
Matchbox
Are you more real than me
I'll burn you, & set you free
Wept bitter tears
Excessive courtesy
I won't forget
IV
A hot sick lava flowed up,
Rustling & bubbling.
The paper-face.
Mirror-mask, I love you mirror.
He had been brainwashed for 4 hrs.
The LT. puzzled in again
"ready to talk"
"No sir" -- was all he'd say.
Go back to the gym.
Very peaceful
Meditation
Air base in the desert
looking out venetian blinds
a plane
a desert flower
cool cartoon
The rest of the World
is reckless & dangerous
Look at the
brothels
Stag films
Exploration
V
A ship leaves port
mean horse of another thicket
wishbone of desire
decry the metal fox
(Copyright 1990 by Wilderness Publications)
No comments:
Post a Comment