The Crystal Ship

Listen while you read:  The Doors

Before you slip into unconsciousness
I'd like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss

The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We'll meet again, we'll meet again

Oh, tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather cry, I'd rather fly

The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I'll drop a line

~  Jim Morrison (The Doors)

You know how some songs can just put you in a certain place in your memory, even if it's not a particularly significant place? When The Doors' "Light My Fire" hit #1 on the charts in the summer of 1967, the excitement over this new band was extreme. In my memory, I am in a sporty car with my high school boyfriend, aimlessly traveling the back roads of our rural community, groovin' to the tune. And then I bought the single and discovered the B-side. "The Crystal Ship" is on The Doors' eponymous first album.

I spent yesterday afternoon sitting on the bleachers overlooking the St. Lucie River on the Treasure Coast, groovin' to a Doors cover band. While I am not a big fan of cover bands, I have to admit that this one was damn good. Not only were the band members exceptionally skilled, but the lead singer's voice was as close to Jim Morrison's as you can get. And, although he did not possess Morrison's good looks, he had a lot of fun acting crazy during his performance. Sporting a too-long pair of brown pleather pants, he was able to perspire profusely, shaking off sprays of sweat from his longish hair. The rest of us stayed relatively cool on the breezy waterfront. People sang along, danced in front of the stage, and generally had a good time. And it was free, thanks to the Stuart Rock'n Riverwalk, which hosts afternoon concerts every Sunday.

In revisiting the lyrics for this song, I couldn't help but laugh at how we would have to listen over and over again to "get" the words correct back in the day. (For you young'uns, there was no Google, no Internet, no Siri to help us out.) Where Morrison sings a thousand girls, I heard "a thousand hells" (which I like better). And that last line? I'll drop a line? I never got that! And I was better off living with the mystery of the line! What a disappointing end to a great song! And what did it mean? Although most people understand that "The Crystal Ship" is about Morrison's break-up with his girlfriend of three years, there are those who insist that it is loaded with drug references. Does drop a line mean, "I'll be in touch" . . . or does it mean that he will "drop a line" of acid?

Only Jim Morrison knows. And he's not talking.