When the lead singer of The Doors died in 1971, he left behind boxes filled with poetry, journals and handwritten lyrics of what would become some of the era’s most memorable songs – now compiled into a new book, “The Collected Works of Jim Morrison.”
Anne Morrison Chewning is a guardian of some significant rock ‘n’ roll history, held in a highly-secure, climate-controlled vault in Los Angeles: The Jim Morrison Archive. Her brother, Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, died 50 years ago; he was just 27. But he left behind boxes filled with journals, poems and handwritten lyrics of what would become hit songs. There’s Morrison’s passport and family photos, and a drawing he made of his younger sister when he was about 18. Chewning has now put much of what she found in the vault into a nearly 600-page book: “The Collected Works of Jim Morrison” (Harper Design). Along with lyrics and journals, the book includes poetry by Morrison never before published. Growing up, Morrison seemed destined to be a poet, which Chewning didn’t think was a good idea. “No!” she laughed. “Who thinks their brother can make it as a poet, you know?” Morrison suddenly became famous in 1967 with The Doors’ first hit, “Light My Fire”: It happened so fast Chewning didn’t even realize who she was hearing on the radio: “I got a package from my mom, it was just an album, an album cover. And I opened it up, and the front was my brother, front-and-center. And so, I knew then that he was Jim Morrison of The Doors.” Correspondent John Blackstone asked, “How surprised were you?” “Awestruck,” she said. “I mean, who would have guessed it?” Morrison had just graduated from film school at UCLA when another graduate, keyboard player Ray Manzarek, invited him to form a band. (Manzarek.) Blackstone met the two remaining members of The Doors, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger, at Sunset Sound, the studio where they recorded their first album in 1966. “So, ‘Light My Fire’ was recorded in here, in this room?” asked Blackstone.
