THE DOORS' "BLUE SUNDAY": A DAYDREAM BY JIM MORRISON

 

A broad unison chord suddenly interrupts the syncopated pace of 'Peace Frog', a rock masterpiece and the fourth track on side A of 'Morrison Hotel', the Doors' fifth LP, released in February 1970.

Emerging from this thin curtain of sound are the reflective thoughts of session musician Ray Neopolitan on the electric bass, transporting us to a slow rock song with a very different atmosphere: 'Blue Sunday' (written by the band's lead singer, Jim Morrison).

This short, poetic song is evocatively set by an instrument that conveys its dreamy musical current with limpid serenity.

This soft luminosity is projected by Ray Manzarek's electric organ (a Gibson G101 in this case), creating a pleasantly pervasive background of high keyboard notes, like the warm light of a summer afternoon.

Against this backdrop of laziness and ecstasy, John Densmore's drums, played with brushes to soften their rhythmic strokes, and Robby Krieger's guitar, treated with reverb to produce delicate arpeggios, make their cautious entrance.

The guitarist embellishes his rhythmic accompaniment with glissandi and vibrato, emphasizing the sentimental and intimate nature of the composition through a smooth emotional quality.

The result is an arrangement that contrasts starkly with that of 'Peace Frog', despite the two pieces flowing seamlessly into each other on the vinyl.

Jim Morrison's dark voice stretches out against this gentle, rarefied soundscape.

This is a far cry from the vitriolic outbursts he had screamed during the Miami concert incident some eight months earlier; here, the musician's vocals are sensitive, calm and composed, as if restrained by the modesty he felt in publicly expressing his feelings.

Overall, the vocal performance is characterized by the famous 'Frank Sinatra-esque' timbre and style of singing, which Morrison also used in some of The Doors' other tunes (here is the link to the article where I discuss this in detail).

Lastly, the abstract vocals from min. 1:21 to min. 1:26 are reminiscent of those used at the end of 'Love Street' almost two years earlier, albeit more poetically subdued here.

A peculiarity of this song lies in its construction.

The verse is the main point of interest, yet it only appears at the beginning of the piece (from min. 0:18 to min. 0:43), followed by a short chorus and two middle eight-chorus sequences.

This unusual structure is varied by Krieger's incisive electric guitar solo. While not one of the most inspired episodes of the guitarist’s career, it realistically evokes the languid gaze of a lover lost in contemplation of his own heart.

This lead guitar part builds prominently on another Krieger solo, the one we hear on "You're Lost Little Girl", a song included on the band's second, wonderful LP ("Strange Days", released on September 25^th, 1967).

This lead guitar part is based on another Krieger solo, which we hear in the song "You're Lost Little Girl" from the band's second LP ("Strange Days", released on 25 September 1967).

'Blue Sunday' was conceived in early summer 1969 as Morrison's romantic declaration of love to Pamela Courson, with whom the frontman had a complicated, on-off relationship for several years.

While the lyrics seem conventional in terms of language and subject matter, they reveal a very personal facet of Morrison's private life.

By celebrating his feelings for Pamela and depicting the gentle hues of their love, he romanticizes a side of his life that was actually fragmented and occasionally marked by clashes.

In fact, the love affair that spanned the final years of Morrison's short life was characterized not only by frequent and violent arguments and misunderstandings, but also by other relationships that were as brief and inconsistent as they were frequent.

This song attempts to conceal the contradiction between the singer's deep affection for Pamela and his transgressive behavior, exacerbated by the fame he had achieved.

The song was first performed in concert at the Aquarius Theatre in Los Angeles in July 1969, long before the recordings of 'Morrison Hotel' (which took place in November and December of that year, link here).

At this stage, the piece is already connected to 'Peace Frog' (which was still being performed in an instrumental version), confirming that the idea of presenting the two compositions seamlessly had matured many months before the official studio recording.

The structure, arrangement and vocal line were fully formed, emphasizing that the Californian group's creative drive had not been exhausted by the gruelling recordings of the previous album, 'The Soft Parade'.

From the summer of 1969 onwards, 'Blue Sunday' was played live several times, particularly during the promotional tour for the 'Morrison Hotel' album, to which it was added (the tour began in January 1970 and ended in August of the same year).

It is worth mentioning the version of the song that appeared in the set list for one of the tour's concerts: the one held at the Felt Forum in New York on 17th and 18th January 1970 (link here).

Often dismissed as filler material, 'Blue Sunday' reveals itself to a more attentive listener as a daydream of evanescent musical nuance, a sweet illusion conveyed by Morrison's tender and deep vocals and translated into heartfelt, vain verses of love.

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is out and available on Amazon.com, uk, mx, ca, it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”