"You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah"
It's hard saying the definite meaning of day destroying the night and night dividing the day. I think he is talking about how the night time is when people truly begin to start going out and being themselves. I think he's saying that the day could be boring, destroying the outgoing, social atmosphere of the night. And that the night divides the day and gives us something to look forward to. When i here the next part I think of the writer (Jim Morrison), experiencing the onset of an LSD trip or hallucination. I picture him being nervous, sick-feeling, confused and slightly scared. I think when he says "Tried to run, Tried to Hide" he is talking about about fear, and fear of not knowing what is going to happen to him next. Fear and doubt of whether he is wanting to go on the trip in the first place. However he follows these lines with "Break on through to the other side" repeated 3 times. By repeating this phrase right after he is telling us that the trip is going to happen nomatter what, we must embrace, take it on without fear, so that it can take us to the the other side. yeah.
"God, he's big, he's moving, devouring consciousness, digesting power. Monster of energy. It's a monster. We're going to kiss the snake on the tongue. Kiss the serpent. But if it senses fear, it'll eat us instantly. But if we kiss it without fear, it'll take us through the garden, through the gate, to the other side. Ride the snake... until the end of time."
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
responses to d.malone & ashlyn childs
Thanks for the comments!
I'm glad you guys found the blog interesting. The song title relates directly to the stanza meaning that the 'person' or 'drug' he is referring to has opened his eyes to a whole new world of experiences, breaking him through the doors of perception.
I don't think the song is just about his relationship with drugs. I think it's nearly impossible to really know what Jim Morrison meant when writing this song. Poetry can mean a thousand things to a thousand people. I think the song is more about breaking through whatever is holding you back from achieving personal happiness. Jim just happened to use LSD as a means to break through.
Whether or not Jim Morrison ever broke it off with the drug is hard to say. Whether he wanted to or not is even harder to say. Jim died July 3rd, 1971 in Paris due to liver failure caused by heavy drinking.
I'm glad you guys found the blog interesting. The song title relates directly to the stanza meaning that the 'person' or 'drug' he is referring to has opened his eyes to a whole new world of experiences, breaking him through the doors of perception.
I don't think the song is just about his relationship with drugs. I think it's nearly impossible to really know what Jim Morrison meant when writing this song. Poetry can mean a thousand things to a thousand people. I think the song is more about breaking through whatever is holding you back from achieving personal happiness. Jim just happened to use LSD as a means to break through.
Whether or not Jim Morrison ever broke it off with the drug is hard to say. Whether he wanted to or not is even harder to say. Jim died July 3rd, 1971 in Paris due to liver failure caused by heavy drinking.
Breaking'
"We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side"
In this, the second verse of Break On Through I believe Jim Morrison is speaking about adventure, danger and hope. I think in the other verses he is more so talking about drug hallucinogens, death and a lover. In this verse I think he is referring to breaking through the barriers life/society sets for you and starting a new.
Jim grew up in a fairly well to do family. His father was an admiral in the United States Army and he went to Florida State University at the age of 18. These were Jim's treasures. However they weren't enough, Jim needed more-needed to do something more important-needed to experience more of what this world has to offer. Jim dug his treasures in Florida, buried them, and never looked back.
He then chased his pleasures by reportedly hitch-hiking to California, Las Angeles to be specific. He enrolled in UCLA's film school but soon dropped out, not before meeting future band-mate Ray Manzarak and forming what was to be one America's most influential rock n' roll bands.
This never would have happened to Jim however without taking a risk within himself. Exploring ones own self and truly being who you want to be. In this verse Jim encourages us to leave it behind, embrace your feelings and make your own footsteps. Essentially. Break on Through.
“That's what real love amounts to- letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending- performing. You get to love your pretence. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act-” - Jim Morrison
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side"
In this, the second verse of Break On Through I believe Jim Morrison is speaking about adventure, danger and hope. I think in the other verses he is more so talking about drug hallucinogens, death and a lover. In this verse I think he is referring to breaking through the barriers life/society sets for you and starting a new.
Jim grew up in a fairly well to do family. His father was an admiral in the United States Army and he went to Florida State University at the age of 18. These were Jim's treasures. However they weren't enough, Jim needed more-needed to do something more important-needed to experience more of what this world has to offer. Jim dug his treasures in Florida, buried them, and never looked back.
He then chased his pleasures by reportedly hitch-hiking to California, Las Angeles to be specific. He enrolled in UCLA's film school but soon dropped out, not before meeting future band-mate Ray Manzarak and forming what was to be one America's most influential rock n' roll bands.
This never would have happened to Jim however without taking a risk within himself. Exploring ones own self and truly being who you want to be. In this verse Jim encourages us to leave it behind, embrace your feelings and make your own footsteps. Essentially. Break on Through.
“That's what real love amounts to- letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending- performing. You get to love your pretence. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act-” - Jim Morrison
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Breaking On Through
"I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side"
This is the third and final verse to the song Break On Through. I believe Jim Morrison is speaking on the effects of LSD and also death. Jim was an avid drug user who claimed he used to expand his mind, rather than escape pain. When he is saying an "I found an island in your arms" and "country in your eyes" I believe he is almost communicating to the drug as if it were a human being. Showing him new things and revealing more than any one "person" could do with actual arms and eyes. Morrison was obsessed with the unknown, the dark, and the mysterious. I think drugs were his outlet to this new world and his saying “I believe in a long, prolonged derangement of the senses to attain the unknown. Our pale reasoning hides the infinite from us.” explains it perfectly.
The second half of this verse I believe is about death. Jim Morrison claimed not to be afraid of death, saying "Life hurts a lot more." Jim saw death as a new beginning, rather than an end. When he says "arms that chain us" and "eyes that lie" he refers to the bounds of society. How we are held back by those around us and how we essentially hold ourselves back. "Chain us" is a metaphor, nothing is literally chaining us, but rather limiting our freedom and self expression, and filling us with "Eyes that lie". Morrison lived his life to the fullest. He experienced all the things a Rock N' Roll star can. I think he viewed death as the one thing he hadn't done, the Door he hadn't yet opened. He often said he didn't want to die in his sleep or of old age, but rather in a fiery plane crash so that he could hear, smell, taste and feel death, claiming "Death is only going to happen to you once; I don't want to miss it.”
The other side could be many things to many people. To Jim it was the unknown. Whether that was death, an acid peak, or a personal revelation we'll never know. What we do know is that Jim broke on through, and wants us to as well. He wants us to set ourselves free, releasing our fears of the earthly world. He used very complex metaphors and imagery in his writings. To some this could seem confusing, stupid or just gibberish from a hippie. To others his words live on, and shape our lives every day.
"We're going to kiss the snake on the tongue. Kiss the serpent. But if it senses fear, it'll eat us instantly. But if we kiss it without fear, it'll take us through the garden, through the gate, to the other side. Ride the snake... until the end of time."
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side"
This is the third and final verse to the song Break On Through. I believe Jim Morrison is speaking on the effects of LSD and also death. Jim was an avid drug user who claimed he used to expand his mind, rather than escape pain. When he is saying an "I found an island in your arms" and "country in your eyes" I believe he is almost communicating to the drug as if it were a human being. Showing him new things and revealing more than any one "person" could do with actual arms and eyes. Morrison was obsessed with the unknown, the dark, and the mysterious. I think drugs were his outlet to this new world and his saying “I believe in a long, prolonged derangement of the senses to attain the unknown. Our pale reasoning hides the infinite from us.” explains it perfectly.
The second half of this verse I believe is about death. Jim Morrison claimed not to be afraid of death, saying "Life hurts a lot more." Jim saw death as a new beginning, rather than an end. When he says "arms that chain us" and "eyes that lie" he refers to the bounds of society. How we are held back by those around us and how we essentially hold ourselves back. "Chain us" is a metaphor, nothing is literally chaining us, but rather limiting our freedom and self expression, and filling us with "Eyes that lie". Morrison lived his life to the fullest. He experienced all the things a Rock N' Roll star can. I think he viewed death as the one thing he hadn't done, the Door he hadn't yet opened. He often said he didn't want to die in his sleep or of old age, but rather in a fiery plane crash so that he could hear, smell, taste and feel death, claiming "Death is only going to happen to you once; I don't want to miss it.”
The other side could be many things to many people. To Jim it was the unknown. Whether that was death, an acid peak, or a personal revelation we'll never know. What we do know is that Jim broke on through, and wants us to as well. He wants us to set ourselves free, releasing our fears of the earthly world. He used very complex metaphors and imagery in his writings. To some this could seem confusing, stupid or just gibberish from a hippie. To others his words live on, and shape our lives every day.
"We're going to kiss the snake on the tongue. Kiss the serpent. But if it senses fear, it'll eat us instantly. But if we kiss it without fear, it'll take us through the garden, through the gate, to the other side. Ride the snake... until the end of time."
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Analysis of Break On Through
This blog is a student run project to delve into Break on Through written by Jim Morrison and performed by The Doors. The posts that follow will contain a textual and contextual analysis of the lyrics, the writer’s word choice, how the music emphasizes certain lyrics, and how those lyrics function in the world.
The Doors were formed in 1966 in Las Angeles, California. Lead by controversial frontman Jim Morrison The Doors broke into the American rock scene in the summer of 1967 with their self entitled album. It would instantly become a classic, chaning the face of rock n' roll forever. The album is haunted by Jim Morrison's dark poetry focusing around subjects such as death, war, revolt and revolution. One of the first singles on their album was "Break On Through", a heavily guitar / drum based song with lyrics about breaking through the doors in your life.
The band is named after a qoute by poet / writer William Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite", Blake said. This means that man must "break through" the doors of his mind so that he can truly live his life as it were intended. Everyone could have their own set of doors, different things that limit them or keep them from being happy or sincerely living their life to the fullest. Since their are different doors for each of us, we each have our own ways or means to break through. Jim Morrison was a regular drug user and heavy drinker. To him breaking through could have been a revalation obtained through the use of hallucinogens, or an overcoming of the feeling of pain he constantly said he had.
To me the song essentially is about letting go. Letting go of yourself so that you can be free, and eventually get back more of yourself than you knew you had. Finding something deeper about yourself, your beliefs, and the ones you love. Break On Through.
The Doors were formed in 1966 in Las Angeles, California. Lead by controversial frontman Jim Morrison The Doors broke into the American rock scene in the summer of 1967 with their self entitled album. It would instantly become a classic, chaning the face of rock n' roll forever. The album is haunted by Jim Morrison's dark poetry focusing around subjects such as death, war, revolt and revolution. One of the first singles on their album was "Break On Through", a heavily guitar / drum based song with lyrics about breaking through the doors in your life.
The band is named after a qoute by poet / writer William Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite", Blake said. This means that man must "break through" the doors of his mind so that he can truly live his life as it were intended. Everyone could have their own set of doors, different things that limit them or keep them from being happy or sincerely living their life to the fullest. Since their are different doors for each of us, we each have our own ways or means to break through. Jim Morrison was a regular drug user and heavy drinker. To him breaking through could have been a revalation obtained through the use of hallucinogens, or an overcoming of the feeling of pain he constantly said he had.
To me the song essentially is about letting go. Letting go of yourself so that you can be free, and eventually get back more of yourself than you knew you had. Finding something deeper about yourself, your beliefs, and the ones you love. Break On Through.
Break On Through
You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
yeah
We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Yeah!
C'mon, yeah
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She gets high
She gets highs
She gets high
She get high
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, oww!
Oh, yeah!
Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
yeah
We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Yeah!
C'mon, yeah
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She gets high
She gets highs
She gets high
She get high
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, oww!
Oh, yeah!
Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
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