# "Riders on the storm"-Profound poetry or dreck? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720 "2009-02-13T18:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/61 "2009-02-14T14:28:53Z")
So do any of Morrison’s critics in this thread have some poetry of their own they’d like us to evaluate? (Y’know, just for comparison’s sake…) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/62 "2009-02-14T15:01:15Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > So do any of Morrison’s critics in this thread have some poetry of their own they’d like us to evaluate? (Y’know, just for comparison’s sake…) This is akin to saying one can’t critique a movie, a book, a poem, etc unless one is a director or author or poet. You don’t need to be a poet to recognize bad poetry. I loved Jim Morrison when I was young, but he was a pop singer not a poet. Divorced from the music his words fall completely flat. Profound? Deep? Only in the sense [bathetic.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathos) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/63 "2009-02-14T15:12:03Z")
> [@Quint](#): > > Mmm bop, ba duba dop > Ba du bop, Ba du dop > Ba du bop, Ba du dop > Ba du… You see any bad imagery in that?? I didn’t think so! It’s definitely the work of the Devil. Can’t you see? If you know how to look, the Evil One is everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/64 "2009-02-14T15:42:56Z")
I’ve always heard, “memory”. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/65 "2009-02-14T15:57:46Z")
> [@sweepkick](#): > > AC/DC? > > _snerk_ Snerk away, dude. YMMV and all that, but Bon Scott wrote hilarious, wonderful lyrics. > [@](#): > > I’m dirty, mean, mighty and clean > I am wanted man > Public enemy #1 - understand? > So lock up your daughters, lock up your wife > Lock up your back door - run for your life > The Man is back in town - so don’t you mess around > > 'cuz I’m TNT. For what AC/DC was trying to do - which happens to be to write, big, dumb, swaggering boogie rock - those lyrics are **perfect**. If Morrison took himself and his art a bit more seriously, bore down and practiced a bit, etc., then he might’ve had potential…again YMMV… ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/66 "2009-02-14T16:03:12Z")
"Lying on stained, wretched sheets with a bleeding virgin We could plan a murder or start a religion. I’ll tell you this: No eternal reward will fogive us now for wasting the dawn" The guy only lived to be 27 years old. I can forgive him being sophomoric, seeing as his best work came form someone in his early to mid 20’s. Jim Morison could turn a phrase as well as anyone. Had he lived longer and the drugs not wrecked his brain, he could have been a great poet. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/67 "2009-02-14T16:17:24Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > "Lying on stained, wretched sheets with a bleeding virgin > We could plan a murder or start a religion. > > I’ll tell you this: No eternal reward will fogive us now > for wasting the dawn" > > The guy only lived to be 27 years old. I can forgive him being sophomoric, seeing as his best work came form someone in his early to mid 20’s. Jim Morison could turn a phrase as well as anyone. Had he lived longer and the drugs not wrecked his brain, he could have been a great poet. Not on the strength of your quoted lines, he wouldn’t. How does a reward forgive anybody? This is typical of the sort of stuff that people write when they’re eight miles high, sounds fantastic when you write it, doesn’t make a lick of sense after. Sticking to the realm of popular music, just compare it to people like Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, any of the writers of the Great American Songbook, and guys like Chuck Berry later. These are the true lyrucists. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/68 "2009-02-14T16:21:58Z")
Darn that should be ‘lyricists’ in the last sentence. Missed the edit window the second time. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/69 "2009-02-14T16:54:31Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Yes, but then you’d have to change the lyric to > > …_there’s a killer on the take, > his brain is squirming like a snake_… Or _…there’s a killer with a gizzard his brain is squirming like a lizard…_ ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/70 "2009-02-14T17:00:28Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > **ivan astikov** > > Sophomoric in the extreme. But only when written down and read as poetry. While I’m sure \*he \*thought he was a poet, he clearly wasn’t. He was a very successful rock lyric writer, some of whose words, when sung - or intoned - to music, came across very memorably. To try to elevate him above that is pointless. Hey, I’m sure he’d have preferred sophomoric to soporific. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Night\_so\_be\_it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@Night\_so\_be\_it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Night_so_be_it)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/71 "2009-02-14T17:07:58Z")
It’s not worthy of being called poetry. It’s awful. And don’t bring up the age thing either, just think of Shelley and Keats, or even Rimbaud. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/72 "2009-02-14T17:14:12Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Hey, I’m sure he’d have preferred sophomoric to soporific. 🙂 To be absolutely honest, I’d never heard of sophomoric before this. I’m familiar with sophomore (as in the second year student - although it’s not used in UK english). So thank you for adding a word to my vocabulary. 🙂 I’m a great fan of the Doors, and as I’ve said - _in context_ - Jim Morrison’s lyrics are wonderful. As poetry they’re crap. Certainly not soporific, though. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/73 "2009-02-14T17:14:40Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > For real? > So sorry I ate your plums in the freezer but they was yummy? > > How profound. Perhaps you’d prefer the [reply poem](http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/poem191.html) by Koch? ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/74 "2009-02-14T18:42:07Z")
Dammit I can’t think of the rock critic’s name. He was one of the earliest rambling, off-the-wall rock writers, sorta Lester Bangs godfather. Anyway… I still remember his comment on the _L.A. Woman_ album, that every track contained at least one substantial yuk. He was right that the album works better if you view the questionable calls as intentional humor. So… Jimbo’s lines about “squirming like a toad,” and “a dog without a bone” should be regarded as deliberate tomfoolery. Other bits of rock comedy included: “I see the bathroom is clear.” The over-the-top blues solo on _I Been Down So Goddamn Long_ (or whatever the title is.) The whole poppy froth of _Love Her Madly_ (“wanna meet her daddy.”) “The negroes in the forest are brightly feathered.” I think that in _Cars Hiss By My Window_ Morrison intones “Right on” a few times. There’s a silly line or lick in nearly every song. And…another vote for “Sweet Emily will die.” If that wasn’t what he sang, it should have been. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/75 "2009-02-14T18:45:35Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > I don’t really envision a toad as squirming though. Snake or lizard yes but a toad not so much. YMMV. Trap one in your hands. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/76 "2009-02-14T19:29:07Z")
Song lyrics aren’t poetry; they are song lyrics. Their purpose is different. It’s unfair to both art forms to demand each do the work of the other. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/77 "2009-02-14T19:45:34Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > And…another vote for “Sweet Emily will die.” If that wasn’t what he sang, it should have been. I disagree with you on this point. The actual lyric is far more evocative of the despair that one would suffer over the violent loss of someone. You may have wonderful memories of the lives of a family brutally murdered, but those memories would always be overshadowed by the horrifying knowledge of their untimely deaths. If you give this man a ride, Sweet memories will die Your revised lyric lacks an aftermath. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/78 "2009-02-14T20:00:54Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Song lyrics aren’t poetry; they are song lyrics. Their purpose is different. It’s unfair to both art forms to demand each do the work of the other. I’m sure his stuff on An American Prayer was specifically meant to be ‘poetry’ though. The music was added years after his death. I still like this, whether he was a William Yeats, or not. And it works for me, even without its usual accompanying music. \*The movie will begin in five moments The mindless voice announced All those unseated will await the next show. We filed slowly, languidly into the hall The auditorium was vast and silent As we seated and were darkened, the voice continued. The program for this evening is not new You’ve seen this entertainment through and through You’ve seen your birth your life and death you might recall all of the rest Did you have a good world when you died? Enough to base a movie on?. I’m getting out of here Where are you going? To the other side of morning Please don’t chase the clouds, pagodas Her cunt gripped him like a warm, friendly hand. It’s alright, all your friends are here When can I meet them? After you’ve eaten I’m not hungry Uh, we meant beaten Silver stream, silvery screen Oooooh, impossible concentration.\* ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/79 "2009-02-14T20:04:00Z")
I think of Morrison’s poetry as way more poetic than that dreck read (poorly) at the inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/80 "2009-02-14T20:06:07Z")
After listening to that line 1,024 times with headphones, I conclude that is “Sweet mamily will die.” 🙂 I must agree that the lyric is “family” although I think “memory” sounds better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720.md?page=5)