The End (The Doors song)
Encyclopedia
"The End" is a song by The Doors
. Originally written by Jim Morrison
as a song about breaking up with girlfriend Mary Werbelow, it evolved through months of performances at Los Angeles
' Whisky a Go Go
into a nearly 12-minute opus on their self-titled album
. The band would perform the song to close their last set. It was first released in January 1967. The song was recorded live in the studio with no overdubbing
.
"The End" was ranked at #336 on Rolling Stone's
list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2010).
The song's guitar solo was ranked #93 on Guitar World
's '100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time'.
Shortly past the mid-point of the nearly 12-minute long album version, the song suddenly enters a spoken-word section with the words, "The killer awoke before dawn... " That section of the song reaches a dramatic climax with the lines, "Father/ Yes son?/ I want to kill you/ Mother, I want to ..." (with the next words screamed out unintelligibly). This is often considered a reference to the Oedipus complex
. Ray Manzarek, the former keyboard player for the Doors explained:
The Pop Chronicles
documentary reports that critics found the song "Sophoclean
and Joycean
."
's 1979 film Apocalypse Now
, both in the opening sequence and during the killing of Kurtz
.
This usage has led to other, often satirical usages for the song's appearance:
A significantly shorter edit, sometimes erroneously referred to as a "single version", was released on the Greatest Hits
album. The edited version is almost half the length of the original.
The version used in Francis Ford Coppola
's movie Apocalypse Now
is different from the 1967 release, being a remix specifically made for the movie. The remixed versions emphasizes the vocal track at the final crescendo, highlighting Morrison's liberal use of scat
and expletives
. The vocal track can partly be heard in the 1967 release, although the expletives are effectively buried in the mix (and the scat-singing only faintly audible), and Morrison can only be heard clearly at the end of the crescendo with his repeated line of "Kill! Kill!".
A new 5.1 mix was issued with the 2006 box set Perception
. The new 5.1 mix has more sonic details than the original 1967 mix.
While it is officially recognized that the 1967 version is an edit consisting of two different takes recorded on two consecutive days—the splice being right before the line "The killer awoke before dawn", and easily pinpointed by cut cymbals—the full takes, or the edited parts, have yet to surface.
In the version recorded live in Madison Square Garden, the controversial lyric "Mother, I want to fuck you" can be heard clearly, instead of the unintelligible screaming of the studio version.
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
. Originally written by Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
as a song about breaking up with girlfriend Mary Werbelow, it evolved through months of performances at Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
' Whisky a Go Go
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip.-History:...
into a nearly 12-minute opus on their self-titled album
The Doors (album)
The Doors is the debut album by the American rock band The Doors, recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967. It was originally released in significantly different stereo and mono mixes...
. The band would perform the song to close their last set. It was first released in January 1967. The song was recorded live in the studio with no overdubbing
Overdubbing
Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....
.
"The End" was ranked at #336 on Rolling Stone's
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2010).
The song's guitar solo was ranked #93 on Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
's '100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time'.
Lyrics
In 1969, Morrison statedShortly past the mid-point of the nearly 12-minute long album version, the song suddenly enters a spoken-word section with the words, "The killer awoke before dawn... " That section of the song reaches a dramatic climax with the lines, "Father/ Yes son?/ I want to kill you/ Mother, I want to ..." (with the next words screamed out unintelligibly). This is often considered a reference to the Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
. Ray Manzarek, the former keyboard player for the Doors explained:
He was giving voice in a rock 'n' roll setting to the Oedipus complex, at the time a widely discussed tendency in Freudian psychology. He wasn't saying he wanted to do that to his own mom and dad. He was re-enacting a bit of Greek drama. It was theatre!
The Pop Chronicles
Pop Chronicles
The Pop Chronicles are two radio documentary series which together "may constitute the most complete audio history of 1940s-60s popular music." Both were produced by John Gilliland.-The Pop Chronicles of the 50s and 60s:...
documentary reports that critics found the song "Sophoclean
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
and Joycean
Joycean
A text is deemed Joycean when it is reminiscent of the writings of James Joyce, particularly Ulysses or Finnegans Wake. Joycean fiction exhibits a high degree of verbal play, usually within the framework of stream of consciousness. Works that are "Joycean" may also be technically eclectic,...
."
The Apocalypse Now Sequence
"The End" was used in Francis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
's 1979 film Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
, both in the opening sequence and during the killing of Kurtz
Walter E. Kurtz
Colonel Walter E. Kurtz is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, portrayed by Marlon Brando. Colonel Kurtz is based on the character of a 19th century ivory trader, also called Kurtz, from the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.-Biography:Walter...
.
This usage has led to other, often satirical usages for the song's appearance:
- A 1979 Martin Sheen-hosted Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
sketch satirizing the troubled production of Apocalypse Now uses "The End" in a similar manner as the actual film. - A Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
sketch in which John McCainJohn McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
is driven to madness while campaigning for George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
as a parody of Apocalypse Now. - The final broadcast of ToonamiToonamiToonami was a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing American cartoons and Japanese anime, originating in the United States on March 17, 1997 and ended on September 20, 2008.The...
, specifically Tom's last message, references the song. - It was used in the final episode of The Dennis Miller Show, during another Apocalypse Now parody sequence, in which Dennis was airlifted by (we are led to believe) a helicopter out of the set.
- The song was also referenced in a 2006 episode of The Venture Bros.The Venture Bros.The Venture Bros. is an American animated television series that premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on February 16, 2003. The series mixes action and comedy together while it chronicles the adventures of the Venture family: well-meaning but incompetent teenagers Hank and Dean Venture; their...
entitled "Assassinanny 911", in a scene which also parodied the Apocalypse Now usage, when Hank (under the influence of poison) quotes the Oedipal section of the song and tries to kill his father with a papier-mâché machete while a Doors-influenced score plays in the background. - The song was parodied in an episode of AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, the plot of which was partly a parody of Apocalypse Now. At the start of the episode, a voice actor sings in a Morrison-like voice, "This is the beginning... the beginning of our story...the beginning...". At the middle of the story, the word "beginning" is replaced with the word "middle". At the end of the episode he says "This is the ending...the ending of our story...the ending...the ending...the ending...the ending." and a Jim Morrison character is seen being run over by a golf cart. - Director Martin ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
once used the song in a sex scene montage in his early student film Who's That Knocking at My DoorWho's That Knocking at My DoorWho's That Knocking at My Door, originally titled I Call First, is a 1967 drama film, which marks Martin Scorsese's debut as a director. Exploring themes of Catholic guilt similar to those in his later film Mean Streets, the story follows Italian-American J.R. as he struggles to accept the secret...
(1968). - The song was also used in Oliver StoneOliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's 1991 film The DoorsThe Doors (film)The Doors is a 1991 biopic about the 1960s-1970s rock band of the same name which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison. It was directed by Oliver Stone, and stars Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson , Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger,...
, where it plays while the band explored drugs in the desert. - The early 90s Fox Kids cartoon show Eek! the Cat had an episode based on Apocalypse Now. In the beginning of the episode, the title character sings "This is the beginning of the story."
- The song is used in an episode of SupernaturalSupernatural (TV series)Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
as a title which features Dean WinchesterDean WinchesterDean Winchester is a fictional character from The CW Television Network's Supernatural, portrayed by Jensen Ackles. He hunts demons, spirits and other supernatural creatures with his younger brother Sam.-Background:...
traveling five years into the future and discovering a post-apocalyptic world. - It was played during a promo for the LostLost (TV series)Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
episode, "What They Died ForWhat They Died For"What They Died For" is the 16th and penultimate episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 119th and penultimate episode overall. The episode aired on May 18, 2010 on ABC in the United States...
". - The song was used in one of an episode's final scenes in the TV series Cold Case.
- 21 Jump Street21 Jump Street21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools,...
episode, "Old Haunts in a New Age", referenced this song when a character fakes a trance to deride a phony medium. The trance seems believable enough as he drones "the killer put his boots on" but by the time he recites "father, I want to kill you", using his fingers as puppets, the medium realizes he's being mocked. - Used in the movie "Sinners and Saints" produced in 2010 at the moment of Reily's confession about his family.
- Homer SimpsonHomer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
sings the song as he's walking down the street in the episode Hello Gutter, Hello FadderHello Gutter, Hello Fadder"Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" is the sixth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 1999. In the episode, Homer becomes a local celebrity after bowling a 300 game, but his fame quickly...
Usage in other music
- "Tiny Sick Tears", from Frank Zappa's You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 is a two-CD set of live recordings by Frank Zappa, recorded between 1969 and 1988, and released in 1991.-Disc one:#"Little Rubber Girl" - #*...
, parodies the song's Freudian imagery, and Jim Morrison's portentous delivery;You take a mask from the ancient hallway, and you go down, to your father's room. And you open the door, and your father, your tiny sick father, is beating his meat to a Playboy magazine -- he's got it rolled into a tube and he's got his tiny sick pud stuffed in the middle of it, right flat up against the centerfold! And you say, "Father, I want to kill y—" and he says, "Not now, son, not now!"
- NirvanaNirvana (band)Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
parodied the song live with Kurt CobainKurt CobainKurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
singing normally (although with different lyrics) and Krist NovoselicKrist NovoselicKrist Anthony Novoselic II is a Croatian-American rock musician, best known for being the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana. After Nirvana ended, Novoselic formed Sweet 75 and then Eyes Adrift, releasing one album with each band...
drunkenly doing improvised spoken word parts about the killer awaking in Belgium and craving waffles. - In the March 1, 1997 version of the PhishPhishPhish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
song "Weekapaug Groove", recorded on Slip Stitch and PassSlip Stitch and PassSlip Stitch and Pass is the second official live album by the American rock band Phish. It was released on October 28, 1997, by Elektra Records and has nine tracks from the band's March 1, 1997, show at the Markthalle in Hamburg, Germany, which was part of Phish's 1997 European Tour.Three of the...
, vocalist Trey AnastasioTrey AnastasioTrey Anastasio is an American guitarist, composer, and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish...
starts out by indirectly quoting the Oedipal section of this song, saying, "He walked on down the hall... He said, "Father, I want to kill you... Mother... I want to cook you breakfast.... Then I wanna...I wanna borrow the car.... Then I wanna... Ooooooooooh." - During the ZeitgeistZeitgeist (The Smashing Pumpkins album)Zeitgeist is the seventh album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 10, 2007 in the United States and Canada. It was the first album The Smashing Pumpkins released after their 2000 disbandment and 2005 reunion. The album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Billy...
tour, The Smashing PumpkinsThe Smashing PumpkinsThe Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
used a tease of "The End" as an intro to "Silverfuck". - Rap group Three 6 MafiaThree 6 MafiaThree 6 Mafia are an Academy Award-winning, American rap group originating from Memphis, Tennessee. Formed in 1991 as Triple 6 Mafia, by DJ Paul, Juicy J, & Lord Infamous, the group at its most featured six members including; Crunchy Black, Gangsta Boo and Koopsta Knicca...
sampled this song for their song "I'm So Hi" on their album When the Smoke ClearsWhen the Smoke ClearsWhen the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 is the fourth full length album from Three 6 Mafia. It is their first platinum album.-Tracklisting:-Album:-Trivia:...
. - Chris CornellChris CornellChris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and as the former lead vocalist for Audioslave. He is also known for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998...
, both solo recently and while fronting the band SoundgardenSoundgardenSoundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
, would tag portions of "The End", among other songs, onto the breakdown of the Soundgarden opus "Slaves & Bulldozers" during live performances. - Metal group BloodsimpleBloodsimpleBloodsimple is an American heavy metal band from New York City that formed in 2002. They were signed to Warner Bros. Records.The band's name, Bloodsimple, comes from a term coined by detective novelist Dashiell Hammett. The term apparently describes the addled, fearful mindset people are in after...
sampled lines from "The End" in their song "Ride With MeRed Harvest (bloodsimple album)Red Harvest is the second album by New York Alternative metal band Bloodsimple. It was released on October 30, 2007. Will Hunt of the band Dark New Day played drums on this album...
". - Norwegian Pop/Rock singer Marion RavenMarion RavenMarion Elise Ravn, born 25 May 1984 in Lørenskog, Norway, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter, and former child actress. Her surname is of Norse origin, with Ravn meaning Raven, which she adopted as her stage name Marion Raven as well as her trademark raven logo. She was one-half of the now defunct...
sampled lines from "The End" in her song, "For You I'd Die", written about Jim Morrison and girlfriend Pamela CoursonPamela CoursonPamela Susan Courson was the long-term companion of Jim Morrison, vocalist of The Doors. After the deaths of Morrison and Courson, her parents petitioned an out-of-state court to declare that the couple had a common-law marriage.-Early life and involvement with Morrison:Courson was born in Weed,...
. In it she sings the lines "Oh, this is the end / My only friend the end / Are words from my favorite band." - Morrison's one-time lover NicoNicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
covered the song for her fourth album, which shared the title. - Marilyn MansonMarilyn MansonMarilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
's cover version of "Five to OneFive To One"Five to One" is a song by The Doors, from their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun.-Origin:"Five to one" is rumored to be the approximate ratio of whites to blacks, old to young, or non-pot smokers to pot smokers in the US in 1967, depending on whom you ask. A further urban legend has it as the ratio...
," also by The Doors, ends in him referencing the "Mother, I want to fuck you" lyrics. - Even touted as one of the best covers of the song by the surviving members, Travis MeeksTravis MeeksTravis Shane Meeks , is an American musician, and is the lead singer, guitarist and song writer for acoustic rock band Days of the New.-Early life and career:...
of the rock band Days of the NewDays of the NewDays of the New is an American alternative rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1995. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Travis Meeks and a variety of supporting musicians...
covered the song with the remaining members on VH1 StorytellersVH1 StorytellersStorytellers is a television music series produced by the VH1 network.In each episode artists perform in front of a live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat similar to MTV Unplugged...
. The song was later recorded for the Doors tribute album, Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The DoorsStoned Immaculate: The Music of the DoorsStoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors is a tribute album dedicated to The Doors. Producer Ralph Sall gathered an assortment of new, classic and iconic artists for the record. Unusually, the surviving members of The Doors played on this "tribute" record. In addition, recordings of Jim Morrison...
. - Butthole SurfersButthole SurfersButthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
vocalist Gibby HaynesGibby HaynesGibson Jerome "Gibby" Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, and painter, and the lead singer of the group Butthole Surfers.-Early life and career:...
parodied the "Walk down the hall" section as a sort of speech on their live album Double LiveDouble Live (Butthole Surfers album)Double Live is a live double album by American punk band Butthole Surfers, released on vinyl and cassette tape in 1989. An expanded CD edition followed in 1990...
. - Half Man Half BiscuitHalf Man Half BiscuitHalf Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...
parodied the "Walk down the hall..." section on "Footprints", the final track of the 1993 album This Leaden PallThis Leaden PallThis Leaden Pall is the fourth album released by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit in 1993.The album cover features a bleak overdeveloped picture of the now demolished Hale Wood pub in Halewood, Merseyside...
. The droning, raga influenced song concludes with the lyrics "The teenager awoke at mid-day. He walked into the back-garden, everything was peaceful except for the complaining note of a Woodcrest dying in the leafy thickness. He walked up to the patio chair where his father sat. Father?, Yes son, I want to borrow your golf clubsGolf club (equipment)A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
. - The Box TopsThe Box TopsThe Box Tops were a Memphis rock group of the second half of the 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Neon Rainbow," "Soul Deep," "I Met Her in Church," and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period...
In their cover version of "You Keep Me Hangin' OnYou Keep Me Hangin' OnVanilla Fudge's 1967 psychedelic/hard rock remake of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" reached #6 on the Hot 100 chart two years after the release of the Supremes' recording. While the version released on 45 RPM single was under three minutes long, the album version was extended to six minutes and...
" takes the line "And he walked on down the hall" - Hungarian Alternative/Metal group Subscribe used "The killer awoke before down..." section in their song Oidipus Abortion Clinic.
- Famous rap group CYACYACYA may stand for:* Canadian Yachting Association, Canada's organization for controlling the water* California Youth Authority, renamed California Division of Juvenile Justice in 2004...
from Serbia, sampled this song for their song "Metak" which means "Bullet".
Versions
While the 1967 release of the song is the best known version, there are other, slightly different versions available.A significantly shorter edit, sometimes erroneously referred to as a "single version", was released on the Greatest Hits
The Doors Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by The Doors, released in 1980. The album was re-released in 1996 as an enhanced CD with a different track listing and cover art....
album. The edited version is almost half the length of the original.
The version used in Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
's movie Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
is different from the 1967 release, being a remix specifically made for the movie. The remixed versions emphasizes the vocal track at the final crescendo, highlighting Morrison's liberal use of scat
Scat singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...
and expletives
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
. The vocal track can partly be heard in the 1967 release, although the expletives are effectively buried in the mix (and the scat-singing only faintly audible), and Morrison can only be heard clearly at the end of the crescendo with his repeated line of "Kill! Kill!".
A new 5.1 mix was issued with the 2006 box set Perception
Perception (The Doors album)
Perception is a fortieth-anniversary edition twelve-disc box set by The Doors. The CDs contain the 1999 remastered editions of all the Jim Morrison albums, while the DVD-Audio discs contain new "40th Anniversary" surround remixes of them as well as visual extras. Each album includes extra tracks...
. The new 5.1 mix has more sonic details than the original 1967 mix.
While it is officially recognized that the 1967 version is an edit consisting of two different takes recorded on two consecutive days—the splice being right before the line "The killer awoke before dawn", and easily pinpointed by cut cymbals—the full takes, or the edited parts, have yet to surface.
In the version recorded live in Madison Square Garden, the controversial lyric "Mother, I want to fuck you" can be heard clearly, instead of the unintelligible screaming of the studio version.
Live versions
- March 1967 (13:54), released on Live at the MatrixLive at the Matrix 1967Live at the Matrix 1967 is a double live album by The Doors, compiled and resequenced from recordings made on March 7 and 10, 1967 at The Matrix in San Francisco by club co-owner Peter Abram...
- July 5, 1968, Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl (15:42), released on In ConcertIn Concert (The Doors album)In Concert is a live double album, recorded by The Doors. The album's performances are culled from a variety of different concerts and releases. In Concert includes all the tracks from Absolutely Live and Alive, She Cried...
- January 17, 1970, New York, Show 2 (17:46), released on Live in New YorkLive in New York (The Doors album)Live in New York is a six-disc box set of the final four concerts performed by The Doors on January 17 and 18, 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York City...
- May 8, 1970, Cobo Arena, Detroit (17:35), released on Live in DetroitLive in Detroit (The Doors album)Live in Detroit is a double live album by American rock band The Doors. The tracks were recorded on May 8, 1970 at Cobo Arena in Detroit. It is one of the first releases from the Bright Midnight Archives. The album is spread out over two CDs. It is widely regarded as one of the best and longest...
- June 6, 1970, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver BC, Canada (17:58), released on Live in Vancouver 1970Live in Vancouver 1970Live in Vancouver 1970 is a 2 disc live album from the rock band The Doors. It was recorded on June 6th, 1970 in Vancouver, Canada. Vince Treanor, The Doors’ tour manager, recorded the show for the band on a Sony reel-to-reel using two microphones placed on the stage...