Jim Reviews I Remember Jim Morrison

Alan Graham's I Remember Jim Morrison

In Alan Graham’s, I Remember Jim Morrison, there is an afterword by Scott Graves which says, “The statement, “I remember,” is an existential one…” and Graham has stated that he would like the reader to consider I Remember Jim Morrison; “I wanted to present the book as if it were just a group of people at a gathering sitting around telling memorable stories, tales, anecdotes, jokes, etc.,” these states of remembrance can add shadings of their own. The hearth may provide the warm softening glow of nostalgia, or hardens with bias, the picture of Jim Morrison may or may not be “factual,” but it is Alan Graham’s Jim Morrison.

Alan Graham was Jim Morrison’s brother-in-law, he married Morrison’s sister Anne in 1966, and he and Anne lived in close proximity to the Morrison’s parents. Graham met Jim in 1968 and they seemed to have hit it off pretty well, Graham provides quite a few anecdotes about him and Morrison taking off and having adventures (or misadventures) that perhaps only someone like Jim Morrison was able to provide. Al Graham’s Jim Morrison isn’t one we’re unfamiliar with, the Jim Morrison who is erudite, quick witted, the Jim Morrison who does something outrageous and laughs at the situation.

There’s no linear narrative in I Remember. The book also strives to give us a feeling for and some insight into the players we haven’t seen much of before namely, Jim’s parents, and Anne and Andy Morrison, each are given a couple page synopsis of their lives and what they’re like. Graham also offers the origins and meanings behind some of Morrison’s lyrics. Jim Morrison may well have told Graham these anecdotes on how the songs were created but Morrison had a habit of telling different people different stories about the origins of the songs. Just about every book you read on Morrison and The Doors will have witnesses testifying about the origin or meanings of songs, some more authoritatively than others, and every story will be different!

I Remember falls into the same trap as other books that say “the real story of Jim Morrison has never been told! Other books only tell of the drunken, sensationalized stories of Jim Morrison, this is the first book that tells the whole truth about Jim Morrison.” And they proceed to tell their Jim Morrison stories that have exactly that, the author going out with Morrison and the trouble they got into, or the outrageous situation they found themselves in because of something Morrison did. That’s exactly what happens here, the first sixty pages are stories of Graham roaring off into the night with Morrison and drinking.

A problem I had in reading I Remember Jim Morrison is that Alan Graham seems to have a lot of axe’s to grind and grind them he does. Pam Courson seems to be nothing more than a grasping, shrewish, drug addict, which it may have seemed to Graham, but at some point, if your brother-in-law is hanging around with this type of person, wouldn’t you ask him why? Obviously, Jim Morrison saw much more in Pam Courson than this, but if Jim ever mentioned it to Alan Graham it’s not reported for us. Regarding others that surrounded Jim, Graham doesn’t have a good word to say about any of them. Ray, Robby and John seem nothing more than Morrison’s backing band and Graham does refer to them this way even though Graham puts himself at a couple recording sessions with The Doors. The only people who do seem to come off well are Graham, Anne Morrison, and Jim’s parents who Graham seems to have a lot of respect for (especially Jim’s father). Some of these family anecdotes are endearing and funny but some times they left me mystified as to why they were included.

The structure of the book seems a little ad-hoc, it jumps from one section to another and back without much reason. It may adhere to the spirit of the book like sitting around a table and telling stories but Jim Morrison remains out of focus, a fuzzy silhouette of memory, it doesn’t allow us to see the real Jim Morrison or even the one Alan Graham knew.

The persona Jim Morrison presented to the world is a fictional character, everyone who knew Jim Morrison knew a different Jim Morrison, but it is the persona Jim Morrison created for public consumption. For those of us who didn’t know the living breathing man and try to figure out “who the real Jim Morrison was,” perhaps it’s like trying to figure out what Shakespeare’s voice sounded like. Soon all we’ll have left are these not so silent witnesses to Morrison and it will be left to us to puzzle which is the “real” Jim. That proposition may only be possible through reading about the “Jim Morrison” each author knew and come to your own conclusions on who Jim Morrison was.

Michael White’s Review                                                                     Return To Main Page