JIM MORRISON'S POETRY RECORDINGS


ELEKTRA SOUND STUDIOS - 1969

(THE LOST PARIS TAPES)

Recording Date: February 9th - 1969
Studio: Elektra Sound Studios
Location: 962 N. La Cienega Blvd. - Los Angeles, CA 
Sound Engineer: John Haeny

Commonly known as The Lost Paris Tapes, the exact date for this session is February 9th, 1969, at Elektra Studios, recorded long before Jim Morrison leaves for Paris. Originally scheduled as a demo session for an intended poetry album by Jim Morrison, the recording of this session is later used to make up the raw materials for the posthumous release An American Prayer, featuring The Doors for musical backing. Along with the poetry, Jim recites vocals for various lyrical verses in his notebooksongs that would also receive modern musical backing from various artists. While Jim Morrison does play a piano himself during this session, his composition Orange County Suite released in 1997 features new musical backing added by The Doors.

Details on this session are known from original Sound Engineer John Haeny's diaries, indicating that the session was in fact recorded at Elektra Sound Studios, and that while John had retained the master tapes for many years in a secure private archive, a copy was made for Jim Morrison shortly before leaving for Paris. This was request made by Jim over the phone on March 11th, 1971 in which John was also asked to return a handful of notebooks loaned out for the project. This tape was taken to Paris, later to turn up and become the source of the legendary bootleg 'The Lost Paris Tapes'.



Tracklist:
Sound Engineer (Dialogue)
Far Arden >
      "In that year, we had an intense visitation of energy..."
      "When radio dark night existed & assumed control..."
Sound Engineer (Dialogue)
Orange County Suite* >
Far Arden >
      "In that year, we had an intense visitation of energy..."
      "When radio dark night existed & assumed control..."
      "A vast radiant beach & a cool jewelled moon..."
      "Moonshine night..."
      "Frozen moment by a lake..."
      -Bird Of Prey
      "Indians scattered on dawn's Hiway bleeding..."
      -Underwaterfall
Tape Noon >
      "Tell them you came & saw & looked into my eyes..."
      "Why does my mind circle around you..."
      -Winter Photography
      "Will warm names & faces come again..."
Whiskey, Mystics & Men
Orange County Suite*
Tales Of The American Night >
      "All hail the American night!..."
      "And so I say to you..."
      "Who are our friends?..."
      "My only wish is to see Far Arden again..."
      "Texas Radio & the Big Beat..."
      "The dark Los Angeles evening..."
      -The American Night*
      "What was that?..."
      "My name is the Holy Shay..."
      "Adolf Hitler is still alive..."
      "You favor life..."
      "To come of Age..."
      "Can we resolve the past..."
      "The music was new black polished chrome..."
      "My friend drove an hour each day..."
      "Always a playground instructor..."
      "We could plan a murder, or start a religion..."
      "Search on man..."
      -Jim's Description (Vocal Enactment)
      -Woman In The Window
      -She's Selling News
      "They haven't invented musak yet..."
      "I have a Vision of America..."
      "Motel Money Murder Madness..."
      "Earth Air Fire Water..."
      "Angels & sailors..."
      "Texas Radio & The Big Beat..."
      -Jim's Description (Instructions)
      "Babylon, Fading..."
      -Sound Engineer (Dialogue)
      "Thank You, Oh Lord..."

* Featuring Jim Morrison on Piano


THE VILLAGE RECORDER - 1970

(JIM MORRISON BIRTHDAY TAPES)

Recording Date: December 8th - 1970
Studio: The Village Recorder - Studio B
Location: 1616 Butler Ave. - Los Angeles, CA 
Sound Engineer: John Haeny
Recording Engineer: Baker Bigsby

Jim Morrison, Kathy Lisciandro, and Florentine Pabst - Photograph By Frank Lisciandro

For his birthday in 1970, Frank Lisciandro buys Jim Morrison studio time to record his poems. Like the poetry session from 1969, various portions of these recordings were also used for the raw materials to construct the 1978 poetry album. During this 1970 session, Jim Morrison gives a complete reading of his privately published poetry book An American Prayer, and recites portions of his poetry with Kathy Lisciandro and Florentine Pabst. Jim also attempts acapellas known from the previous 1969 session including Bird Of Prey, Woman In The Window, and Whisky & Mystics & Men. A selection of other finished poems are also attempted, including Cassandra At The Well, The Crossroads, and Lament For The Death Of My Cock.

This recording session takes place over three hours of studio time and produces four reels of tape. Frank Lisciandro is present at the studio with camera in hand. After two hours of recording, a break in the session is called by Jim Morrison, announcing to his friends and studio engineer John Haeny "Okay. Now, let's go get a taco". Following their break at the Lucky U restaurant, Jim Morrison and the group returns to the studio to record for one more hour.

Various poems are attempted more than once, producing outtakes. In 2021, the estate of Jim Morrison and Frank Lisciandro compiles various completed takes for the audiobook version of The Collected Works Of Jim Morrison. Approximately forty minutes of finished or near-finished takes from The Village Recorder tapes are now available for listening by fans and collectors.



Tracklist:
Far Arden
      "In that year we had a great visitation of energy..."
      "Back in those days everything was simpler & more confused..."
      -Bird Of Prey
      -Underwaterfall
      -Winter Photography
Tales of the American Night >
      "& the cool fluttering rotten wind..."*
      "Gently they stir..."*
      "My name is the Holy Shay..."
      -Woman In The Window
      "They haven't invented musak yet..."
Science Of Night
      "Earth Air Fire Water..."
An American Prayer
      "Do you know the warm progress under the stars?..."
      "Do you know we are ruled by television..."
      "I touched her thigh and death smiled..."
      "Resident mockery, give us an hour for magic..."
      "We used to believe in the good old days..."
      "We can invent Kingdoms of our own..."
      "Cruel bindings..."
      "They are waiting to take us into the severed garden..."
      "Great screaming Christ..."
      "An iron chuckle rapped our minds..."
      "Here come the comedians..."
      "I'll be, the Irish loud..."
      "Arrogant prose tied in a network..."
      "Matchbox..."
      "A hot sick lava flowed up..."
      "A ship leaves port..."
Lament For The Death Of My Cock
      "Lament for my cock..."
      "Lost cells..."
      "I can forgive..."
Awake
      "Shake dreams from your hair..."
Curses, Invocations
      "Weird bait-headed mongrels..."
The Crossroads
      "Meeting you at your parents gate..."
Untitled Poems
      "I walked thru the panther's living room..."
      "The flowering of god-like people..."
      "The Wild whore laughs..."
      "Come for all the world lies..."
      "Of the Great Insane American Night..."
      "Blessings..."
Untitled Poems
      "The Politics of ecstacy are real..."
      "Ledger domain..."
      "Cobra sun / Fever smile..."
Cassandra At The Well
      "Help! Help! Save us!..."
Untitled Poems
      "When radio dark night existed..."
      "Where are my dreamers..."
      "It was the greatest night of my life..."
      "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding..."
      "Cemetary cool & quiet..."
      "In this full throated Sex'd cry..." >
      "For those people who died..."
      "All these monstrous apologies..."
      "Argue with breath..."
      "I fell on the earth & raped the snow..."
      "If the writer can write..."
      "To have just come wondering if the world is real..."
      "Round-up, Rondolay, Rhonda..." >
      "Taxi From Africa..." >
      "Feeling streams led to losers..." >
      "Rib-bait squalor the women of the quarter yawned..." >
      "Buildings gilded no interuptions..."
      "Those who Race Toward Death..."
      "The Endless quest a vigil..."
      "Fence my sacred fire..."
Desire For a Perfect Life
      "Why the desire for death..."

* Featuring Kathy Lisciandro & Florentine Pabst On Vocals


NOTE: This tracklisting is incomplete and does not appear in chronological order.





TRANSCRIPTS FROM THE VILLAGE TAPES:


UNTITLED #1

All these monstrous apologies
Words foraken, forgotten
by all Hell
loose walls, falling
Tumbling down into Night
Fast friends
fellows of the one true cross
earthly lovers crash
and sweet sorrow blackness falling
Soft rivers of guilt
on spilled roadside
down, into fire
Silence, cry
    

UNTITLED #2

Argue with breath
nice
while I cry
Midnight!

it must come
like dream
sperm
uncalled
from the center
Borderlands
where liquor's
made
flow

it must come
unbidden
like the dawn
soft haste
No hurry
hairs curl

The phone rings
We create the dawn
    

UNTITLED #3

When radio dark night
existed & assumed control
and we rocked in its web
consumed by static
and stroked w/fear

We were drawn down
the distance of long cities
riding home thru the open
night, alone
launching fever & strange
carnage
from the back seat.


Copyright © James Douglas Morrison