"The End": Chaos, Calm, and Living with Anticipation of Death

**I mentioned in a previous post that I wrote an analysis of "The End" by The Doors for another class. In this analysis, I look at the song's lyrics, instrumentation, and performance to highlight the mixture of chaos and calm, ultimately reflecting the Morrison mindset of living with an acceptance of death. I wish I could have explored this further, but I got an A, so I must've done SOMETHING right. Right?

Ever since the sound of helicopters and the sight of gas choking out palm trees accompanied it’s introduction in Apocalypse Now, ‘The End’ by the Doors has been associated and analyzed as a song about Vietnam. However, the bigger picture reveals that, in what I consider to be Morrison’s greatest lyrics, the song is addressing so much more.  Through the instrumentation, powerful imagery, and the flamboyant live performances, ‘The End’ embodies the strange mix of clam and chaos that is living with the anticipation of death.

            Jim Morrison is obviously one of the greatest frontmen of all time, but the rest of the Doors play a crucial role in many of their songs, especially ‘The End’. Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore all transition so effortlessly from ethereal to eccentric throughout the highs and lows of the piece. Krieger’s opening guitar riffs are scattered in the most magnificent way, constantly taking left turns yet never straying too far to turn the dissonance into discomfort. Manzarek haunts the piece with his typical grace on the organ. It is Densmore who sends the madness into overdrive, as he builds anticipation throughout the whole song.  One little fill here, another one that’s a little longer, and then back to gently ride the cymbals. This constant and intentional build and retreat reminds me of Einstein’s definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

            Personally, this is lyrically my favorite piece by Jim Morrison. Of course, the Oedipus-inspired spoken word section of the song was incredibly controversial at the time, but today it is such a vibrant and gut-wrenching reminder of the carnal desires of man. In relation to Vietnam, Morrison sounds as if he is speaking to you in a dream as he sweetly yet sinisterly sings, “The blue bus is calling us.” The blue bus is a reference to those that would stop in small towns across America to pick up the young draftees headed to boot camp. Yet, my favorite portion of lyrics from the song is at the beginning. Morrison cordially introduces the listener to his only friend, The End. As if he knows this may be jarring, the song takes an optimistic turn as Morrison asks, “Can you picture what will be? So limitless and free.” Morrison, who was obsessed with the idea of death, lived in that mix of calm and chaos; he embraced life but the awareness to an end of pain made death appealing.

            Performing ‘The End’ was a visual representation of the chaos and calm in the song. Morrison was the star of the show, remaining nearly motionless until the break. Then, as he screamed “Fuck” and “Kill” and would finish the Oedipus story, his body would drunkenly flail all over the stage, nearby officers, and crowds. This was just another way that Morrison and the Doors sucked the listener into the song. Fittingly, when the Doors performed for the last time before Morrison’s death in 1971, they closed with ‘The End.’