Jim Morrison : You've Been Dead A Long Time

 On a recent trip to my home town , I stopped by  one of our local cemeteries. I promised my cousin I would stop by and "pay my respects" to a family friend who had recently passed away. By the way , I hate cemeteries  and funerals as well. But a promise is a promise. After a short search , found it stood there for a couple of minutes. Thought about their life for a moment. As I was walking out I passed the grave of an old classmate which caused me a moments delay. I kept walking and then stopped. An odd artifact of sorts on the ground in front of me. Reached down , picked it up. An old Doors LP or as we called them a record. It was weather worn but the label could still be read. It was their first album I believe....the one that featured Light my Fire. Came out around 1967 I believe. The shorter version of light my fire became the big hit of that long ago summer. My first real kiss occurred that summer.....while that song played on the radio. East Hampton Connecticut in July of 1967 while on a  visit to my aunt & uncle's home summer home. Amazing how a memory can be jogged out of ones mind. What this record was doing there , who knows. People do leave all sorts of things on graves for the dead. But of course it is a way to comfort ones self.  Morrison would of course die in July of 1971....purported drug overdose. He is buried in a much different place than a small local cemetery in Schodack , NY. He was buried in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. My daughter while on a semesters study in Italy stopped by his grave while on a visit to the city of light. Believe it or not it is one of the top 10 most visited sites in Paris. Not forgotten after all these yrs. A best selling post card you can buy is Morrison's grave. Imagine that....Jim Morrison's grave up there with National attractions like the Eiffel Tower.  A sustained memory , part talent , part illusion , part lost memory , like along ago lost kiss. I never saw The Doors play live except on the Sullivan Show. Owned their music.  Part of a young life at the time. But the yrs have gone by , you have been dead a long time. I placed the album down on the ground where I found it and continued on my way out.