THE SOFT PARADE

This is definitely the least revered Morrison-era Doors album. I would say I could see the reason for that, but I don't, so I don't see the reason for that. Throughout the entire thing, they're trying a generally more poppy sound. It's the first Doors album to have bass on all tracks, there's a lot of horns and such, and... well, the thing of it is, it that, uhh... there's the lemon stuff. And then you got Mac who's a rat, and Dee's body brace, and uh... and that's the thing of it, and... it's good.

Tell All The People triumphantly starts off the album with a tune not unlike what closed their previous album, Five To One. This one is again, a rallying cry. What separates this one from Five To One though is that it's directed at everyone for a better future, "You tell them they don't have to run, we're gonna pick up everyone." Five To One was directed at the youth for taking back the world the past generation destroyed "The old get old and the young get stronger. May take a week and it may take longer. They got the guns but we got the numbers. Gonna win, yeah we're takin' over." The distinction between these two songs that gives Tell All The People its power and triumphantly is the horns featured here. It sounds like they're introducing the (lizard) king, someone we can trust to put everything in its place, someone who can bury all our troubles in the sand, someone who can lead us "across the sea where milky babies seem to be." This song highlights the idea of who Jim Morrison was, someone who will expose and break the bonds of society. That might be stretching it, but you get my point, this song shows a perfect example of who he represented.

Touch Me uses the freer and poppier atmosphere of the album to zoom in and exaggerate the romantic aspect of the lyrics. The strings also do an amazing job of adding to the overall mood here. I wouldn't call it their best love song, I feel like the lyrics aren't as tight as Hello, I Love You or Wintertime Love, but it's an incredible song with all the other parts working amazingly together. And to be fair I like cute silly love songs more than this classic idea of romanticism. But that's just me, if I were the other way around this would probably be up there for one of my favorite love songs.

Shaman's Blues is a mellow, sort of damp tune. I think is about a dude down on his luck, sorta insane, man talking to someone who's either rich or in a high place politically. He's telling them that they could be doing a lot more about helping people like him. Lines like "There will never be another one who can do the things you do" tell us he's pressuring them to get something done. A lot of lines like "Did you stop it to consider how it will feel? Cold, grinding grizzly bear jaws hot on your heels." tell us either he's telling them that they haven't thought about what it's like actually living in these conditions, or that they should think about what hell is like before they go there for not helping more. There are a whole bunch more lines I could quote and how they relate to what I think the song is about, but I ain't an expert in poetry, so it's kind of redundant. Tell me if you think it's something else, I would want to hear other interpretations of the song, 'cause it's a very interesting piece. Or maybe you just want to tell me what a fucking idiot you think I am for interpreting it this way, that's valid as well.

Do It marks where the album goes into the more poppy regions. It's another piece about the generation divide, telling older people to listen to younger people "the child" 'cause it's their world your rising them in. It's a bop, not too complicated, at least I think not. Maybe it's another case of me being a bumbling idiot, tell me about it.

Easy Ride is another one I don't get, it's very comforting, I like the sound of it a lot. The lyrics go over my head. Maybe Jim's just a confident driver and wants to tell us about it, which is cool I guess, good on him, being a good driver is a good skill to have.

Wild Child is (I think) a song about Jim's ideal vision for the future. That everybody is as upfront and forward-looking as this wild child. One thing that gets me about this one is that I DON'T remember when we were in Africa, and that's sorta taking me out of this. He doesn't at least talk about what the trip was like to jog my memory, kinda inconsiderate, but he's also like sorta dead, so there's no point in complaining now.

Runnin' Blue is an extremely fun song. Robby's Dylan impression is awesome, and it's super refreshing hearing him sing. This whole song is hard on the fun pop sound and it turns out great. The fiddle at the end is also pretty cool 'cause it (in one way or another) gets you in the mood for the next track, which has this sort of deeper sound the fiddle portrays. I wish they explored this whole sound more, as good as this song is I feel as if there's a lot of untapped potentials here.

Wishful Sinful is a perfect midway in-between the poppy sound of the last couple of tracks with the rougher and psychedelic sound of the title track. It follows in the lyrical footstep of Touch Me, with these loving, sexual lyrics. This again isn't my thing, but the strings and overall musicianship of the track make it a nice experience regardless. What it does best of all is buffer the first three-quarters of the album with the final track, "The Soft Parade", which is another one of The Doors' long closing tracks, and it very much needed a buffer considering the sound of this album.

The Soft Parade is the closing track and center of the album, it's what a lot of people listen to this album for. And for good reason, it's great. Following suit with their other epics the lyrics are really difficult at first. But if you try hard and never give up you'll get there, I believe in you champ. I think the track is about all of what you do to distance yourself from death. Doesn't matter if you do it via religion, candy, or being nice to your neighbor(?). This is helped by the sonic back-and-forth that this track does. The beginning is the most honest, calling out any bullshit that tries to convince you there's warmth in life separate from the cold and harshness of death. It's saying that you can't make whatever higher power there is to give you enteral life or a sufficient afterlife. The Next part has a bit of a less honest sound, but is still very honest in content, asking for warmth to hide from the ever marching presents of death. The next part is that warmth, candy, being nice to your neighbor, community, and such. The next part is joining the "Soft Parade". I think being part of the Soft Parade represents a manic acceptance of death, you're expecting it and waiting, but you have to force yourself to think that it's going to be okay. The sound of this section is not very honest at all, it's lying to yourself but the very essence of what life is, and the sound captures that perfectly. As for the horse and the whipping of its eyes, I couldn't tell you. The dude who annotated this line on Genius recommends a book to fully help understand this line. But I can only (for the most part) understand poetry when it's sung to me, I can't imagine reading an entire book of it. I bet the line is important, if someone wants to tell me their thoughts on it please do. Or if you want to call me an idiot for not understanding it you can do that too, I'll take all sorts of criticism.

Great album. I wish this one wasn't as poorly received as it was, because they sorta gave up on the pop and orchestral sound after this. It would've been super cool to see a version of Morrison Hotel with horns and strings. And why was Who Scared You not on this record? That's an incredible song. But I guess it is what it is. And again, if you want to call me a shitbag for not interpreting a song the way you would've wanted me to, you know where to get in contact with me, at [email protected]