Jim must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven. He was rushed to a hospital run by nuns, a source of embarrassment when he came round. Canned Heat’s singer Bob Hite gave him a lump of hash, which he swallowed. Or rather he did, but only during the Jefferson Airplane’s set. Morrison didn’t make it on stage when The Doors played in Amsterdam on their 1968 European tour. He had a big neck and a beautifully developed throat. It must have been from all the singing and shouting he did. He collaborated on both of Jim’s film projects, Feast of Friends and HWY and could match Jim at the bar): “Jim had the most beautiful throat I’ve ever seen. Says Babe Hill (Jim’s closest friend and confidante 1969-71. It’ll just be the phenomenon manifesting itself through me while I’m blotto.” He had “a beautiful throat”

Beforehand Jim told the band, “I’m going to get as drunk as I can possibly get and then I won’t be responsible. Morrison fell off stage at the Shrine Auditorium in December 1967. He wasn’t drunk – he was, like, ‘manifesting the phenomenon’ maaan Normally I listen to classical music, or Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.” His favourite blues musician was Jimmy Reed, especially the song Baby What You Want Me to Do. I was just holding on, saying, “Here we go, we’re going to die.” He preferred Peggy Lee to Led ZeppelinĪsked what he thought of Led Zeppelin, Morrison replied, “Tell the truth I don’t listen to rock and roll so I’ve never heard them. “We were right in the back of the Beverly Hills Police Department. Babe Hill recalls him wrecking the Blue Lady by driving into the curb. He enjoyed freaking out fellow passengers, especially the one in what he called “the death seat”, by driving the wrong way down alleyways at top speed. Jim had a Ford Mustang nicknamed the ‘Blue Lady’. And he was deeply disappointed with all of them.” It wasn’t a good idea to ask him for a lift “He wasn’t on good terms with any of them. Would The Doors have recorded after LA Woman? Not according to Eva. Even if he’d survived Paris, The Doors wouldn’t have recorded again

The Gift of a Rose by P.J. Reed