From Blake to Burroughs: The Doors Singer Jim Morrison's Favourite Books
- by Staff
We’re digging into our vault of extraordinary musical history to bring you a collection of some of The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison’s favourite books of all time, which include everything from beat novelist William S. Burroughs to the romantic poet William Blake. It’s an essential reading list for any budding Lizard King.
In The Doors drummer John Densmore’s 1990 autobiography, Riders on the Storm, he makes a tongue-in-cheek claim that “Nietzche killed Jim Morrison”, and while it’s certainly inflammatory and likely to make you pick up Densmore’s book, it’s actually far more likely that the controversial philosopher and scholar Nietzche, gave him his life as well. Jim Morrison was not only The Lizard King and enigmatic lead singer of The Doors, but he was also a poet and a lover of literature to his very core.
Morrison was steeped in literature from a very early age and spent much of his formative years with his nose buried in one book or another, transposing his passion for prose into his poetry and his songs later in life. It gave him his undoubted talent for poignant and poetic lyrics, and it also allowed his fans to create wild mythology around his character and intelligence.
