KARTA PRACY UCZNIA – Riders on the Storm – The Doors (Top Musicians 9)

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KARTA PRACY UCZNIA – Riders on the Storm – The Doors (Top Musicians 9)

GROUP 1

Ex.1 Read the part of the story of The Doors. Then match the words highlighted in the text with their definitions.

Some bands think of rock as day-time music, others consider it a road to the blackest part of the night. The Doors always took their inspiration from the darkness. Led by singer Jim Morrison, the band combined poetry and theater, they investigated places where dreams and nightmares collided. They brought an underground vision to the top of the charts. The Doors are legends. This is their story.

The Doors separated themselves from the hippy values of optimism and community and created one of rock’s the most unknown sounds.

Morrison’s emotions were extreme. He reacted against all forms of authority. It made him one of the most provocative and charismatic rock stars we’ve ever seen.

James Douglas Morrison was born in 1943 in Florida. His father, a captain in navy, was fighting on World War II when his son was born. Jim’s middle name was inspired by general Douglas Macarthur, but the discipline of military life wasn’t his destiny. Steve’s Morrison duty often kept him away from his children. The family moved frequently. By the time Jim turned four, they had moved from Florida to DC and then to Mexico. He never settled into one particular environment.

As an adult, Morrison told his friend that he had a life changing experience at the age of four.

One day Morrison family was driving to Santa Fe one day, they came across a crash on a highway. He saw several native Americans at the back of the car. One died in the crash. Some of them were our of the truck, badly injured. The Morrisons stopped to help and Jim couldn’t take his eyes off the scene. Years later he said that an Indian spirit took possession of him that day.

In high school in Virginia, Jim shared hobbies and sports. He was a class clown but managed to get good grades. An IQ test placed him in a genius rage. He investigated philosophy, mysticism and art. Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” was his favourite book. Soon, Nietzsche was also on his reading list. He often rebelled against the middle-class life his family lived.

Later, against his parents’ wishes, he went to L.A. to study film. He was fascinated by the difference between sensual dreams and reality. He fell in with some students really dedicated to art and some who’re making art of parties. One of his pals was Ray Manzarek. Ray liked Jim. He thought Morrison was witty, devilish and smart. Manzarek’s group was a boysband.

One night in the local bar Jim joined them on the stage. But he was shy and he couldn’t do much more than shake a tambourine. After graduation Morrison took an apartment in LA bohemian neighborhood near the beach. There he wrote a poem and told one friend he wanted to start a band. “I never went to concerts”, he said, “but I heard in my head a band and singing in an audience”.

Ray Manzarek: “School was finished, we had nothing to do. Jim was planning to go to New York, I wanted to stay in Los Angeles. A moth later he decided to stay in LA and write some songs. I said then <Well, go ahead. Sing one of the songs>. And then he did Moonlight Drive.

I thought the words are just amazing“.

(Adapted from TV programme - VH 1 Legends)

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lead to become familiar with a place and to feel happy and confident in it combine a very upsetting or frightening dream

nightmare to be the main person in the band frequently morally bad but in an attractive way settle into somewhere to become friendly with someone badly injured using words in a clever and funny way not take eyes off sb/ sth often

rebel expressing or suggesting physical, especially sexual, pleasure or satisfaction

sensual to exist together, or join together to make a single thing or group fall in with sb to not stop looking at someone or something

witty very much hurt or physically harmed

devilish to fight against the government or to refuse to obey rules bohemian a person who is interested in art, music and/or literature and

lives in a very informal manner, ignoring the usually accepted ways of behaving

Ex. 2 Listen to the song and fill in the spaces.

Riders on the Storm - The Doors

Riders on the _____

Riders on the storm Into this _____we're born Into this world we're thrown Like a dog without a _____

An _____out alone Riders on the storm

There's a killer on the _____

His brain is squirmin' like a toad Take a long _____

Let your _____play If ya give this man a ride Sweet _____will die Killer on the road, yeah Girl ya gotta love your _____

Girl ya gotta love _____man Take _____by the hand Make him _____

The world on you depends Our life will _____end Gotta love your man, yeah _____on the storm

Riders on the storm Into this house we're _____

Into this world we're thrown Like a _____without a bone An actor out _____

Riders on the storm Riders on the _____

GROUP 2

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Jim needed someone to believe in him and help him set his words to music. He moved in with Ray and began to work on songs. They called themselves The Doors, after Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception. At first The Doors had no drummer. That changed when Manzarek met John Densmore at meditation class. John was an inventive drummer without a regular gig. He was playing for small parties for pocket money when he met The Doors.

Together with a bass player, Morrison, Denmore and the Manzarek brothers, The Doors, recorded a tape that included Moonlight Drive, Hello, I love and Go Insane. Columbia Records signed the group, but then didn’t want to invite them to recording sessions. It was clear that the band was not their priority. Disheartened, Ray Manzarek’s brothers went back to their day jobs. It looked like The Doors were finished. In fact, they had not yet started. In the next remarkable year The Doors would bring Jim Morrion’s vision to live.

Densmore said he knew a good guitarist, Robby Krieger. The firs time Robby rehearsed with The Doors, he played the snaky guitar lines which are the signature of the Moonlight Drive.

Everyone knew he was perfect. The Doors were fully formed.

Some of those who came to hear The Doors rehearsed that they were too weird. Morover there was no bass player and Jim was so shy that he didn’t look anyone in the eye.

But their songs made plenty of room for poetic and musical improvisations. At first, The Doors were considered the outsiders on the LA scene. But finally, they got a gig in a club called The London Fog. Jim started feeling more confident on stage. Before a long, The Doors became the house band at the prestigious Whiskey a Go Go.

Jim started wearing skin tight leather outfit. Already dangerous looking, Jim took on a legal air. He was a young man with a sexual magnetism of early Elvis. Women made up much of the band’s audience. Pam Courson made a point of being at every The Doors gig. It wasn’t long before she became Morrison’s girlfriend.

In 1967 they were signed to Elektra Records. Their first result was one of the most rock electrifying albums. With all the studio lights off and a single candle burning, The Doors recorded The End – 11 minutes long song was a testimony to brutal self examination. It was full of anger, mystery and distraction. The Doors had captured their essence on tape.

The End gave the group the confidence they needed to enter the theatrical territory.

Break on Through was The Doors first single. It was a local hit in L.A. and struggled to get on the national charts. When they got to New York, the press was waiting for them. Critics said that the band was a great underground group. The Doors got back to California triumphed.

Their next single Light my Fire became a number one in the country. In the matter of weeks The Doors were rock stars. The wild ride had begun.

Many of the lyrics for The Doors second album were taken from the Jim Morrison’s notebooks. Musically, the band wanted to enhance the sound of their first album.

At the age of 23, Jim was becoming one of the most influential singers in America. This power expanded his already healthy sense of self-confidence. Jim’s singing became more expressive. He was called a showman who could take the audience to a mystical journey. But he was also an aggressive drunker and took drugs. Once he was even arrested for badmouthing the police to the audience from the stage. As a result FBI opened a file on Jim Morrison.

moved in angry

pocket money without confidence, hope and energy gig to go to a different place to live or work

disheartened to record

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priority money for spending on your own personal things

remarkable to begin

snaky to move somewhere with great effort

signature very strange and unusual, unexpected or not natural weird a melody used to identify a performer

get a gig get a job (for musicians)

outfit unusual or special and therefore surprising and worth mentioning

take sth on something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things

testimony a set of clothes worn for a particular occasion or activity self examination to increase in size, number or importance

capture to improve the quality, amount or strength of something

struggle to criticize (someone or something) in a very unpleasant manner enhance spoken or written statements that something is true

expand a single performance by a musician or group of musicians, especially playing modern or pop music

badmouth when someone looks at or considers something carefully in order to discover something about himself

GROUP 3

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Now, known by every rock fan in the world, The Doors began work on their third album, Waiting for the Sun. But not everything was so great. Pam was urging Jim to quit The Doors and live a quiet life as a poet. John Densmore lost patience with The Doors lack of focus in the studio. Densmore’s action send a message to the others. Jim was losing control so the band hired a bodyguard to keep him away from whiskey.

Morrison didn’t seem to care about chart success. He made a game out of testing his own physical limits- he jumped out of moving cars, provoked the audience to rush into stage. The Doors concerts began to generate riots.

The Doors hadn’t had a hit song in the years since Light my fire. They released Hello, I Love You and in 1968 it was their second number one. But its simplicity caused many fans to wonder about the band’s direction. Waiting for the Sun came out a few weeks later. And went gold quickly.

In the following months Jim’s constant drinking made him look heady. He wore a thick beard and sunglasses. The sex symbol was turning into a haunted recluse. He was 26 years old and was having a breakdown.

In 1970 The Doors were suffering from the critical backlash and Jim Morrison was facing felony charges for unlimitedly exposing himself in Miami. The Doors knew they had to make a musical statement, strong enough to silence the accusations. Their new record Morrison Hotel avoided cosmic lyrics and jazz cords. The message was clear: the band was concentrating on their down and dirty rock. As Morrison Hotel was pushing the way up the charts, a book of Jim’s poetry was released, The Lords and the New Creatures.

Jim Morrison was burned out and facing jail. The Doors had completed their obligation to Elektra Records. Morrison told his band mates and friends that he and Pam are going to Paris to be alone. He wanted to spent time reading and writing. He had to get away from the trappings of rock. L.A. Woman was released and the song Love Her Madly was a hit. But Jim was enjoying the calm of French bohemia and freedom of anonymity. He told friends that

“People think of me as a rock star. I don’t wanna have anything to do with it”. Back in L.A., The Doors rehearsed without him. Even when his life was calm, Jim had to contend with alcoholism. After a couple of months of casual living, he slipped into his manic behaviour once again. On July 2, 1971 in Paris, he went to see a movie a came back home, complaining of chest pains. In the middle of that night Pam found him death in the bathroom.

Only Pam and a doctor who signed a death certificate saw Jim Morrison’s body. There was no autopsy. That prompted endless speculation: did Morrison fake his death and disappear together away from the courts and the spotlight? He was already a national star. Death made Jim Morrison a legend.

With his death, the future of The Doors was uncertain. After a long debate, Ray Manzarek, Roby Krieger and John Densmore decided to continue as a trio. They released two records after Morrison’s death. Ray sang most of the songs. Neither album had much commercial success. They split up in 1973.

In April of 1974, Pamela Morrison was found dead from a heroine overdoes in Los Angeles.

The fans who believed Jim was still alive thought she’d faked her death to join him. In 1878 The Doors created new music and sound collusions to go along with the poetry tapes Jim recorded during his 27 birthday session in 1970. They were released by Elektra as An American Prayer.

The legacy of The Doors continues. In 1979 Francis Ford Coppola used The End to set the mood of horror and devastation in his Vietnam opus Apocalypse Now.

In 1991, director Oliver Stone released his film The Doors which tells the story of Jim Morrison and his band.

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In 1997, Ray, Roby and John went into a Los Angeles studio to put music to a newly discovered Morrison song, called Orange County Suite.

urge to move up forcefully

loose patience loose the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties

lack of sth a noisy, violent, and uncontrolled public gathering hire to quickly put on a piece of clothing

riot the absence of something or when there is not enough of it heady when two people end their relationship

recluse to employ someone or pay them to do a particular job have a breakdown when someone's name is not given or known

backlash to have to deal with a difficult or unpleasant situation felony to take to much of heroine so that you become addicted push the way up having a powerful effect, making you feel slightly drunk or

excited

bohemia to strongly advise or try to persuade someone to do a particular thing

anonymity a group of artists and writers with an unconventional life style contend with a person who lives alone and avoids going outside or talking to

other people

slip into to have a period of mental illness, usually without a physical cause, which results in anxiety, difficulty in sleeping and thinking clearly serious crime which can be punished by one or more years in prison

heroine overdoes a strong feeling among a group of people in reaction to a tendency or recent events in society or politics

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Aleksandra Kazimierczyk Nauczyciel języka angielskiego British School Warszawa