I am in a car driven by a dude who is kinda high on something (I know, dumb of me -hey! it was my first year of engineering-crazy things were the rule:)) We were speaking of some upcoming collegiate rock show and I speak about my absolute ignorance of rock and metal. He pops in a cassette and his speakers start vibrating a deep rumble - dhumpa dhumpa dhumpa dhummmm - and the drums kick in followed by a rocking leads. Before I can get my bearings Mr. Mojo Risin's hypnotic drawl assaults me with a lazy "A-keep yar eyes on the road yar hands upon the wheeal..." I am caught in the magic of The Doors: hook, line and sinker!!!
The dude was very interested in educating me about the Doors and Morracca. Luckily I made the right choice borrowing the cassette(the latter choice was some kinda cannabis version - I think.) Borrowed it for a couple of weeks but ended up returning it to him after many a month. All Venks fault! I enjoyed the cassette for a couple of days and it felt great. So immediately I took it over to Venk's place (this will be a recurring motif. I am a philistine when it comes to critical appreciation of music. So whenever I wanted some deeper understanding I would hop over to one of the three audiophiles in my group, Venks, Sarat and Sujith. Later on Raoul would be another person who would help me out)
Well dragging the story on I was surprised when it did not make an impression on Venks the first time he heard it. (Please remember that these were virgin days for us. We were still pop fans with the only expectation being Metallica. In fact we were HUGE MJ fans those days) Then I did one of the stupidest things in my life. I forced him to keep the cassette for a couple of days. By the next day he was an all-out fan and I never saw the cassette again for a long long time:(:)
Songs always remind me of the circumstances it made an impact on me, kinda gives a mood to it. After this first foray Venks went all out such that he now has all Doors and Jim Morrison's work and is quite an expert on it. I remember many many afternoons and nights lolling in his house just getting high on Morrison. Man those were the days!!! And I relieve them every time I hear this song
That's the magic of songs I guess. This song is not the best work of the Doors, it is just a good rocking number but man, does it have MAGIC for me.
Of course it does not hurt that it has one of the best ends of any song: "The future's uncertain and the end is always near" Thanks Jim, Ray, Robby and John.
I was such a big fan that the only website I ever made was dedicated to them. Though I have forgotten my access to it, it still exists! Here is the link Interestingly I seem to have lost the link to JIM :)
What do you feel when you hear this song? Please do not feel shy to use the comments link;)
