A frequent highlight of The Doors’ live set, this section of the song featured Densmore’s rattling military snare reaching a crescendo before Krieger simulated shooting Morrison with his guitar. Musically, the verses were nervous and cagey, and the band upped the ante further by inserting a theatrical “mock execution” midway through the track. Sitting in rock music’s long lineage of protest songs, his words clearly galvanised the band, who responded by working up a dark, psychedelic-tinged rock backdrop to support them. Lines such as “Breakfast where the news is read/Television, children fed/Unborn living, living dead/Bullets strike the helmet’s head” were suitably stark and devoid of the poetic flourishes distinguishing earlier works such as Light My Fire and Break On Through (To The Other Side). The lyrics: “I was proud of Jim’s first obviously political statement”įor the most part, Morrison’s lyrics were atypically direct. The visit inspired him to pen the lyrics for the song of the same name, which The Doors worked up on the road before recording it as the follow-up single to their Top 30 hit Love Me Two Times. As their second album, Strange Days, elevated them to superstar status in the autumn of 1967, an estimated 35,000 people marched on the Pentagon to protest North America’s involvement in Vietnam, and The Doors also felt compelled to make their voices heard.Ĭonsequently, after the band played the International Ballroom at the Hilton Hotel, in Arlington, Virginia, in November 1967, Morrison visited the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier in the nearby Arlington Cemetery. Despite this, none of the band were political animals, and they were well aware of the depth of anti-war feeling in US society. Most famously, Jim Morrison’s father was an Admiral in the US Navy, though keyboardist Ray Manzarek also did a stint in the Army Security Agency in the early 60s.

The Doors had some direct links with the military. The Doors’ first anti-war song: “Anti-Vietnam sentiment was at its peak”

Who is the unknown soldier