Jim Morrison – Senior Citizen

Much is going across the internet today recognizing that Jim Morrison of “The Doors” fame passed  away 40 years ago on July 3rd, 1971.  His music out lives him as is the case with all great artist and it is his music that will primarily be discussed by those making tributes to a young man who was a part of the boomer generation as we were coming into our own in the late 1960’s.  I’ll leave to others the comments about his music as well as any of the psycho-analytical perceptions of those who would convey what the “real” Jim Morrison was like.  I would like to imagine what Morrison would be like today if he were to have survived.

We would all like to keep our image of the youthful “Doors” lead singer just as we do the skinny Elvis but the fact is,time is not always kind to what our former selves were like.  Had he lived, Morrison would be less than three years away from becoming a septuagenarian?  The picture provided above shows what he might have looked like  two years ago at age 65  through the aging process of today’s technological photographic lens.  This perhaps is too generous a picture of the rock star who was always putting mind-expanding drugs in his body and washing them down with plenty of liquor.

I suspect he might be more balding and obese.  Thus his use of products like Grecian Formula and ROGAINE^®, along with pharmaceuticals that deal with characteristics of obesity like high blood pressure and diabetes would be part of his daily regimen.  Of course we’re assuming he would make enough off of his royalties and income from an occasional nostalgic tour to sustain a lifestyle that he was comfortable with.  However, if somehow that were not the case then he could be dependent on a social security stipend (provided he paid into it all those years his career was successful) and the benefits of health insurance supplied by Medicare

We might also see him supplement his income by doing ads for Attends®  Fitted Briefs while he’s on-stage rhythmically gyrating a sassy but sagging ass that so many women flushed over in his younger days.  Would he be sporting around in a power chair from the Scooter store?

I poke fun at the physical conditions that evolve as we age but you must have a sense of humor to see that we’ve become somewhat like that generation that once shook their heads at us and made asininecomments like “rock and roll has got to go”.  Morrison’s boyish image may have not remained but had he lived to celebrate his 68th birth this December I’m sure we would have seen him belt out “Light my Fire” with little effort on a PBS “Oldies but Goodies” marathon as well as mesmerize us with the engrossing “Riders in the Storm”

There may never be another era in rock and roll quite like that of the 1960’s and the early 70’s or captivating vocalists like Jim Morrison, but music is something that breaks down age barriers, a “special friend” Morrison would refer to it as in his, “When the Music’s Over” – uniting us all and making us feel eternally young.  The body may become broken but the spirit is still aflame in those who reflect back today what it was like to be at a Doors concert and watch Jim Morrison go into a trance like state and lift us all to a transcended place where we could “break on through to the other side.”

Of course today we would have to do so after taking Fish Oil supplements for a healthy heart and glucosamine and chondroitin tabs to be better able to flex our joints to endure the tempo of that time.  But for those sporting hearing aids, you could put them in your pocket for a brief time.  The decibel levels will compensate for any hearing loss it may have cost you at a younger age.