The Mysterious Death of Jim Morrison of The Doors

Starting in the first hour, author R. Gary Patterson was joined by guitarist Robby Krieger and keyboardist Ray Manzarek, both from the legendary Doors. The two musicians discussed being part of the group, working with Jim Morrison, and questions surrounding his death in Paris in 1971. Manzarek said he and Morrison decided to form the Doors after running into each other on the beach in Venice in 1965 (they had gone to school together at UCLA). Two years later, they had a #1 hit with Light My Fire, which was written by Krieger.

Morrison and the Doors sought in their performances to create a ceremony to "release the Dionysian impulse" and offer a "séance to palliate the dead," Manzarek explained, adding that Morrison always had a strong interest in the subject of death. The Doors' manager went to Paris to deal with Morrison's death, but later admitted he never saw the body, and the coffin was sealed, Krieger recounted. Manzarek doubted that he could still be alive, as some have claimed, but that if he had faked his death, it would mean he doesn't want to be found.

Krieger noted that towards the time of Morrison's death, he appeared to have a serious medical condition and was coughing up blood. The condition might have been TB, said Patterson, who commented there were many unanswered questions in the star's death. In the last hour, Patterson took calls about Morrison, and other rock 'n' roll mysteries.

Wikipedia
In the summer of 1965, after graduating with a degree from the UCLA film school, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Living on the rooftop of a building inhabited by his old UCLA cinematography friend, Dennis Jakobs, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Doors would later perform live and record on albums, the most notable being "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You"[citation needed]. According to Jakobs, he lived on canned beans and LSD for several months[citation needed]. Morrison and fellow UCLA student, Ray Manzarek, were the first two members of the Doors, forming the group during that same summer of 1965. They had previously met months earlier as fellow cinematography students. The now-legendary story claims that Manzarek was lying on the beach at Venice one day, where he accidentally encountered Morrison[citation needed]. He was impressed with Morrison's poetic lyrics, claiming that they were "rock group" material. Subsequently, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore's recommendation and was then added to the lineup. All three musicians shared a common interest in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's meditation practices at the time, attending scheduled classes, but Morrison was not involved in this series of classes, claiming later that he "did not meditate"[citation needed].
Promotional photo of the Doors in late 1966

The Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception (a reference to the unlocking of doors of perception through psychedelic drug use). Huxley's own title was a quotation from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." Although Morrison was known as the lyricist of the group, Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Love Her Madly", and "Touch Me". On the other hand, Morrison, who didn't write most songs using an instrument, would come up with vocal melodies for his own lyrics, with the other band members contributing chords and rhythm nor did he play an instrument live (except for maracas and tambourine for most shows, and harmonica on a few occasions) or in the studio (excluding maracas, tambourine, handclaps, and whistling). However, he did play the grand piano on "Orange County Suite" and a Moog synthesizer on "Strange Days". In June 1966, Morrison and the Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison's band Them. Van's influence on Jim's developing stage performance was later noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm: "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near-namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and their two bands jammed together on "Gloria