Too Close To The Sun (Version 1.2)

psychedelic video

Ray Manzarek/Joe Rossi -- lyrical interpretation of Ray Manzarek's instrumental song "Too Close To The Sun" from his CD "Love Her Madly."

As fast as light across the sky
As fast as summer left behind
The music takes & shakes the ground
In this erotic night of colored sound

Icarus falls like the moon from the sky
& it's so quiet you can hear a raindrop cry
a blanket of stars on our midnight ride
like Paul Revere but we've got no place to hide

We were warned not to get too close to the sun
But we were lost even before we begun
& I never really did listen to no one
that did not speak with a fork for a tongue

As fast as light across the sky
As fast as summer left behind
The music takes & shakes the ground
In this erotic night of colored sound

For all intents and purposes this is a Doors song, I say that at great risk of attacks on my vanity and insanity, but I wouldn't really be who I am, if I actually gave a fuck as to what those who dislike me think of me. There is footage of Jim in the back of a car during the filming of what I believe was "Feast of Friends" where he says of the film "we're not making it. It's making itself." Kind of how life really happens. This song made itself.

The song came together quickly and smoothly, myself letting the muse take over and render words that embraced the spirit of the song. Ray's music is classic Doors, really amazing music. The words came to me in a few bursts of spontaneous composition, jotting down ideas as the song played, realizing there were spots where words would fit, and most places where the song needed that sparse exploratory psychedelic feel sans words, just a few that belong to tell the story of Icarus, the Greek mythological character, whose tragedy is suggested by the title, as the young prince given wings held together by wax who was warned that by getting to close to the sun the wax would melt and he would plummet into the sea.

Of course, he didn't listen. Allusions to the whole notion of predesination and the idea of original sin, that mankind from the get go was inclined to break the rules and learn the difference between good and evil, to risk adventure into the unknown, forbidden zone. Heeding the words of the serpent in the pursuit of the unknown: Campbell's Hero's journey; the shamanic adventure; to see his unborn soul.

Imagery really mean to suggest a flight through night after the fall, a
desperate ride through darkness, unable to hide from the pandora's box of knowledge he has opened.

Doors, because like Morrison epics such as "The End," and "When the music's over," the song becomes with an intro and an outro that are the same bringing the song full circle as to not be a linear journey. The middle section is sparsely sprinkled with one liners from the epics alluded to and introduced by a line a critic once used to describe Jim Morrison's poetic improvisations in "The End."

The instrumentals feature raw intense psychedelic improvisations first by keyboards and then guitar. A image of Jim Morrison flying through space clearly alludes to him as a figure like Icarus. He also did see himself as a shooting star, flying as fast as light across the sky, with little intention of heeding the warnings he was given.

And of course, though he became a memory as fast as most summer vacations fade into the school year, the shooting star or flash of lightning that he was managed to ignite a fire on the ground that shook the world like an earthquake in "an erotic night of colored sound," the insane maelstrom of psychedelic music and surreal visual imagery that was the 1960s.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• tooclose2
• sun
• doors
• god
• icarus
• greek
• song
• sound

[TheNotoriousVandal]

first i thought this is a morrison parody but then i realized its not and i liked it and smoked some pot bout it.

nice tune dude

[looseconnection]

@TheNotoriousVandal thanks ... it's more an original tribute trying to evoke his imagery, style, poetics, timing etc. Glad you like it. Lots of folks fault me for "not being myself" but what can I say, I'm a doors fan, and this is Ray's music and I wanted to create a doors sounding song. at least I'm not using my resemblance and somewhat similar vocal range/style to cash in on JIm's popularity with a tribute act.

[christaoatway]

MALIBU MUSIC ~ the surf sounds loudly

[looseconnection]

@christaoatway thank you

[MrHippycris]

Very very nice !

[looseconnection]

@MrHippycris all right all right all right

[ThirdRomeAquilo]

you mother fuckers need to get a job and start providing something of value to the economy.

the banker man cant get paid if you're all sitting around tripping on 8week old bread.

[zombiestars42]

Did someone tell Ray it was 2011 ?

[DeppmitHelm]

♥_♥

[kkk7hh]

gonna be on my mp3