The 27’s – Jim Morrison 1943 – 1971

Part 12 in a series on “The 27’s” – notable musicians who have passed away in their 27th year.

James "Jim" Morrison is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history.  He was also the author of several books of poetry and the director of a documentary and short film.  While his antics often thrust him into the spotlight, Jim was a relatively shy person who relished in his own thought and preferred to be working on his poetry rather than on the stage.

Jim’s father was held the rank of Admiral in the Navy and Morrison's early life was typical of military families, constant upheaval and strict discipline.  His parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children, they instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as "dressing down". This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.

By the time Morrison's music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead.  Morrison's father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son's musical talents. One day, an acquaintance brought over a record thought to have Jim on the cover. The young man played the record for Morrison's father and family. After hearing the record, Jim's father wrote Jim a letter telling him to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what he considered to be a complete lack of talent in this direction.  He later said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.

Another incident that Jim claimed to shape his life and art occurred in 1947.  Morrison, then four years old, witnessed a car accident in the desert where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life, and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews.  Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it.  Jim’s sister is quoted as saying, "He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don't even know if that's true."

Morrison had flown to Paris in March 1971 as refuge to his legal troubles, write poetry and relax.  He took up residence in a rented apartment and often went for long walks through the city, admiring the architecture.  During that time Morrison seemed to have found at least part of what he was looking for, he shaved his beard and lost some of the weight he had gained in the previous months.

Jim died on July 3, 1971 and in the official account of his death, Jim was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by his girlfriend Pamela Courson.  According to French law no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison's cause of death.

In his book, “Wonderland Avenue,” Danny Sugerman writes of his meeting with Courson after she returned to the U.S.  According to Sugerman's account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, having inhaled what he believed to be cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison's death, at times saying that she had killed Morrison, or that his death was her fault. However, Courson's story of Morrison's unintentional ingestion of heroin is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson's heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.

The epilogue to the Morrison biography, “No One Here Gets Out Alive,” also gives this account: Alain Ronay and film director Agnès Varda had arrived at the apartment shortly after Morrison's death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and vomited blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive, and so she called for medical assistance.

The first version of “No One Here Gets Out Alive” also gave some credence to the rumor that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem.” This theory led to considerable distress for Morrison's loved ones over the years, notably when fans would stalk them, searching for evidence of Morrison's whereabouts.  In 1995 a new epilogue was added to the book, giving new facts about Morrison's death and discounting the fake death theory saying, “As time passed, some of Jim and Pamela's friends began to talk about what they knew, and although everything they said pointed irrefutably to Jim's demise, there remained and probably always will be those who refuse to believe that Jim is dead and those who will not allow him to rest in peace.”

Lastley, in a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison's, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. He also alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club and that some of the witnesses immediately left the country. However, this is just the latest of many in a long line of old rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding Morrison's death and is less supported by witnesses than are the accounts of Ronay and Courson.

Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years after Jim. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.