Might be wrong.). Mary has kept quiet, until now. It was not until six days later that the Doors' manager announced Morrison's death to the world. Toss the dude out of your home and two years later he goes iconic, and four years after he becomes a superstar, he then dies and becomes legendary. If anything, there is more echo on Densmores drums than any other track, but man does it work, from the opening snare whack on the four beat, and on. A recording musician since the 70s and radio broadcaster in multiple fields in the '80s and '90s, Kyle sometimes supports himself part time as a Union film crew member in Hollywood. Have you read the interview done with her a few years ago by the Saint Petersburg Times and if so, what do you think about it? The names listed below are alumni who have been searched for on this site from Clearwater High Schoolin Clearwater, Florida . Mary Werbelow was his long-term girlfriend at the time, as far as I understand. She was just finishing her junior year at Clearwater High, where all the boys had flattops; she was not going to be seen with such a hairy mess. On her beach towel, Mary turned to her friend and uttered the first sexual comment of her life: Jim tagged along when his friend came over to flirt with Mary Wilkin. Instead, she drove out a week early and surprised him. They would rag Jim that the books crowding his living space were for show. If he won? Some guy was bending over to talk to her and Jim got jealous. Kyle K. Mann is the pen name of a contributor to, and publisher of, Gonzo Today. There wasn't a single damning photo. Limitless and free. This is directed to Mary Werbelow, has to be, as she planned to be a model or movie star. July 3, 1971. No doubt about it, she was a knockout. ", The third and final night of competition, more than 1,000 people packed Clearwater Municipal Auditorium. Werbelow, TamaraJuly 21, 1971 - July 26, 2017Tamara Werbelow, 46, of Sarasota, FL, died on July 26, 2017. The two young men quickly bonded. The darkness she had always seen seemed to be overtaking him, and she didn't want to watch him explore his self-destructive bent. Only two people, maybe three, know how that happened: the two surviving Doors, and possibly Manzareks wife Dorothy, a crucial component of the early band in terms of support and positive vibes. She needed more time to explore her own identity. That arc, from Werbelow meeting Morrison on the beach in Florida in 1962, to his death in 1971 at age 27, is a story of overwhelming intensity. Different indeed! On July 3, 1971, Pamela Courson reported that she found him dead in the bathtub of their apartment in Paris. And here was the soundtrack to the opening months of 1967. I smiled in anticipation, my memory of that poker-game tape still fresh. Its a new year, and there is some amazing music floating around, like nothing we had ever heard before. The bottom four sections are from FSU, where he got A's in Collective Behavior and Essentials of Acting, and a B in Philosophy of Protest. Did you check your W-2? We managed it, and the ominous beginning of Willie Dixons fine writing effort thrums out. Then Densmores drums kick in, the first two snare hits pounding with the bass line. My only friend, the end, of our elaborate plans, the end, of everything that stands, the end, no safety or surprise, the end, Ill never look into your eyes again.. Probably another jab at Mary Werbelow. Cymbals crash fade. With it tinkling sweetly, we go bar-hopping with band, into a land that precedes Lucy in the Sky and is much, much darker, a morphing cross of psychedelia and alcoholism, that cheesy Vox Continental rock organ mixed with the mad son of a hammer dulcimer. This week, we're thrilled to hear from Bill Cosgrave, author of Love Her Madly, a lyrical and moving account of the days before legendary rock band The Doors became a worldwide phenomenonthe days before the shy, quiet Jim Morrison, who hadn't ever been heard to hum a tune, became a . Sitting through other contestants' routines, Mary scanned the darkened hall until she spotted Jim, bored senseless. Pre-Mary, Jim's buddy Phil Anderson brought him to a house party on Clearwater Beach. The End remains another shoulda-been single hit, as the tune was originally a melodic break up tune for Mary Werbelow without the later-added and notorious Oedipal Section. . When he started film school at UCLA and Mary announced she was following him to Los Angeles, they were devastated. The large diverse crowd loved it all. His second cousin, Gail Swift, who lived in Clearwater, says their relationship was intense: "I think they answered a lonely call inside each other." Go to photo gallery I had read about this instrument, which producer Rothschild brought into the studio for the quasi-merry tune, in the various Doors books. By July, Light My Fire hits No. General CommentAnd then I found THIS COMMENT: This song came from poetry written in Jim Morrison's notebooks. She says she's not sure if she has done right by talking so much. "Oh, yeah," mom said, "she'll be happy to do it. Jim had been sent here by his father, then a Navy captain, after he blew off his high school graduation ceremony in Virginia. Jim and Mary had a romantic relationship before the band formed in 1965. No, not Electra Records head honcho Jac Holtzman, though that would have been nice. Often I begin with When the Musics Over. Yes, Ive written about this before. Mary Werbelow photo shoot. Mary says he rarely drank in her presence. They started the band that became the Doors. He was drinking hard and taking psychedelic drugs. Travis Barker's Finger Is Now the Enema of Blink-182 Fans; She had heard Doors songs on the radio, but she didn't go to his concerts, she didn't keep up with his career. I couldn't shut the door.". And wash her black Plymouth, a.k.a. Hit a pothole and bang! Jim brought her to a party. Not well recorded, but highly instructive. Gradually over the decades we discovered it was about Olivias, a special Venice Beach hang of the Doors before they were the Doors, when they were low on cash and wanted a big filling home cooked meal. A choogling jazz-folk odyssey driven by buoyant piano, the title track of LA Woman finds the Doors in a loose, rambunctious mood. "Write this!" But there. The cover boy, 26 now, has a paunch and beard, a cowboy hat with a skull and crossbones and noticeably slurred speech. Can you picture what will be, so limitless and free, desperately in need, of some strangers hand, in a desperate land.. With the country debating indecency run amok, Jim Morrison was Exhibit A. Girls? All my lifes a torn curtain..As I have noted elsewhere, there are a couple early versions of the song performed at the Matrix in San Francisco. ", What a stupid question, she thought, and answered: "I'd let him grow it. He and I met by telephone in 1996, when I was serving as pop music critic for the St. Petersburg. He was 27. To write this mad half-century-later review, I looked up marxophone on Wikipedia. This was a crucial time for the band, as Morrison had suddenly developed his singing chops to a startling degree, literally a quantum leap in his vocal prowess. Mary vehemently denies it, but Manzarek says she told Jim, "The band is no good and you'll never make it." WHERE THEY MET: Clearwater Beach, Pier 60. "I looked at you, you looked at me." Hmmrocking track though. Confused silence. Up here in the Santa Monica Mountains, location of my Topanga home, the only couple L.A. radio stations I can stand dont always get good reception. He lives high atop Topanga, California, where owls hoot and coyotes howl. Cosgrave states in his book that neither he nor Mary Werbelow ever heard Jim Morrison sing a note. They don't even mention Kennealy by name." At Jim's direction, she wrote once a week and included the number of a public telephone in Clearwater and a time he should call. But what the hell. He wails about loneliness and rants about love. That intensity is reflected in the music of the Doors, especially the early albums and performances. Cool photo, these guys looked hip. More than once, she says, he asked her to marry. Didn't you know that?". Clearwater High School Alumni Class List. I'm in love with you.". Too long for an unknown bands first hit single. They would talk for hours. A click on my car stereo instantly starts the track over. I find it reassures me, somehow. He recited long poems from memory. Mary is now married. It's super easy, we promise! An artist herself, she didn't want to spoil people's various interpretations. He took up with other women, notably with longtime companion Pamela Courson, but Mary says she and Jim kept up with each other. They were virtually soul mates for three or four years.". 6 pictures of Mary Werbelow. She always assumed he had her wait at different phones for her protection; now she's thinking it was his way of making sure she wrote him at least once a week. She painted, mostly realistic oil portraits. She did the bossa nova. Sept. 23, 1970. Ill spare you, and me. I bought and downloaded it and read it avidly. Covers. A month after performing before a television audience of 27-million on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the Doors play to a sellout crowd of more than 20,000 at New York's Madison Square Garden. The days are bright, and filled with pain Morrison sings in The Crystal Ship. What are you gonna do about it? Facts About "1999" "1999" was the lead single from Prince's 1982 album of the same name "1999" placed 339th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; Following Prince's 2016 death, the song hit the Billboard Hot 100 again, eventually rising to number 27 Thats some severe karma. Wild insanity: this, along with Jimi Hendrix, was peak psychedelia from the summer of 1967. The End remains another shoulda-been single hit, as the tune was originally a melodic break up tune for Mary Werbelow without the later-added and notorious Oedipal Section. Promoters in city after city cancel scheduled Doors concerts. And she left Morrison in the mire, stunned, angry, and finally homeless . She considered writing about the references but decided against it. Summer 1962. Jim had just finished the year at St. Petersburg Junior College. The days are bright, and filled with pain he sings, working to let her go but still gutted, reminding her that the time you ran was too insane and making us wonder what the hell it was that happened that provoked the running. Its anger, self pity, some spiritual recognition, and never-ending grief. In the song Soul Kitchen, for example, Manzarek said the reference to "minarets" came from the University of Tampa. ", The Doors' 11-minute ballad The End, Manzarek says, originally was "a short goodbye love song to Mary." Around Jim, you always felt watched. She never saw him again. What they didn't know was how out of place Mary felt in her social circle. Now many years later, Morrison has raised his head again last month when I heard that Canadian Bill Cosgrave - who is a brother of another friend here in British Columbia - had written a book about his friendship with Jim Morrison and his then partner, Mary Werbelow. As Mary's first command, she marched Jim to the barber. 1 on the charts and Jim was the "King of Orgasmic Rock," the brooding heartthrob staring from the covers of Rolling Stone and Life. . I really hurt him. Jim Morrison is one of the most famous rock singers in the world. Morrison sang the original line instead, much to Sullivan's chagrin. That bass line is hypnotic, compelling and maddening. She wants to forget, and still she feels his ghost checking on her. Again, this is just two Doors we are hearing at the start, Densmores hi-hat cymbals briefly stuttering along with Manzareks keys, which include that evil Fender Rhodes bass keyboard atop the Vox. An incredible accomplishment! What are you gonna do about it? 2: Iron and clean. Yes, I miss the old school technology of vinyl, but skipping records used to really bum me out. How very cool indeed. Some little promo shots for "Before The End: Searching For Jim Morrison" with people talking a bit about she and Jim, and there is some guy holding a picture of her talking about how she was Jim Morrison's first love. Ill play the song on to where the music momentarily stops, at about the 2:40 mark. He went from zero to sixty as a singer in a single year. Funeral arrangements by: Gendron Funeral & Cremation . You can hear the potential, but its still weak and undeveloped. It makes it difficult to be around scented products, and she gave up her art. More about Mary Werbelow edit Dating History Grid # 1 Jim Morrison 19 2 1962 - 1965 On his end, Jim would put in a dime for the first two minutes. Together again, in an exciting, intimidating city, they kept separate apartments. It was a largely uneventful visit, but one that introduced him to Mary Werbelow and her boyfriend, Jim Morrison. A new world was dawning in my brain, in our beings, despite teachers, despite Vietnam, despite cops and nagging parents. He got epically drunk on Chianti at the all-day car races in Sebring, crawled around in a white fake fur coat like a polar bear covered in dirt and tried to launch himself onto the track. Mary says Jim asked her to wear "something floaty" when she arrived in Los Angeles. What I want is Morrison singing confusion, Thats right, I prefer much of the original 1966-early 67 lyrics, with the slower, scarier tempo. I see now it wasn't.". Without Mary Werbelow, there would be no Doors lyrics agonizing over her loss: therefore, no Doors. Steve Morrison, a graduate of the U.S. Morrison convicted of indecent exposure. "I had to go out and see what parts of that were me. Honed on the Sunset Strip, developed and expanded on acid, the song that got them a record deal and ejected The Doors from the womb of The Whisky. But the witch flies back to New York and Jim goes back to Pam. Its impossible to overstate how important this was. State witnesses saw what they saw. Movie posters. The organ solo is spare, clean, more Latin Rocky, Morrison yelling She gets They couldnt say high so Morrison just howls, but we get it. 16 Magazine's Gloria Stavers. Billy was Canadian, but he finagled his way into his parents allowing him to finish up high school in Florida. People don't really know Jim. "Jim, no, he was a poet. Trust me, it can not get any more spaced out than this crazed music by the three Doors. It is the truth according to what I know. The whole dramatic section about What have we done to the Earth and We want the world and we want it now was a later revision. Over the decades, there have been a number of insider accounts of the pre-Doors era of Jim Morrison, but this one shoots to the top of my list. Doors drummer John Densmore responded with a letter of his own: "Jim wrote The Crystal Ship for Mary Worbelo (sic), a girlfriend with whom he was breaking up. She discovers Jim sleeping with a woman who claims they were married in a Pagan witch ceremony. If she won? Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and erratic performances, and the dramatic circumstances . It was on the Doors first album, along with The End, which also was to/about Mary. And it still sounds good. Relationships Mary Werbelow has been in a relationship with Jim Morrison (1962 - 1965). Previous to Mary's current city of Panorama City, CA, Mary Werbelow lived in North Hollywood CA and Boca Raton FL. Married and divorced three times, she has no children. So, then, what you are holding, here, is testimony as to how Dennis Jakob is, by fluke, . And she felt he had swallowed her identity. "So that crowd control works," Kallivokas teased, talking about theories that intrigued Jim in Collective Behavior class at FSU. Bill and Jim were still in contact with the beautiful, radiant Mary who had now dropped-out and was performing as . Instantly smitten, he doesn't act on it, but a friendship forms, and she will remain in his thoughts for years to come. It developed into an 11-minute epic. . By phone she is told that back in Clearwater, they're tearing down the house on N Osceola Avenue, the place Jim lived in when they met, to make way for condos. Its too bizarre, edgy, freaky. . 1 Light My Fire. Since she was the same age as Jim Morrison, Mary Werbelow may have passed away by now. I realized drinking made him crazy. It stands up after 50 years of overplaying all right, the long version! Always that tension hearing it on the radio, waiting to see if its cut. It has also been used in numerous video games and movies. The Doors release their first album. A million light-years from the teeny bopper music ruling the airwaves. He didn't even appear to have rhythm. Mary had to watch beach basketball with him. Read more Product details Publisher : Dundurn Press (November 3, 2020) Language : English Paperback : 224 pages ISBN-10 : 1459746600 Stills. The End was not among the first songs rehearsed by the band in its early days, but I believe the words were in a note book. Maybe you love getting your face stuck in the s - - -. What are you gonna do about it? At FSU, he had a girlfriend, Mary Werbelow. Fast cut, sexy, about making love and prolonging it, Dont move too fast stuff, modal organ solo. Mary has kept quiet, until now. Death. He lives in Kelowna, British Columbia. The Werbelow family name was found in the USA between 1880 and 1920. Back then, Jim didn't have much interest in music. I'm surprised he held out that long. But I know right now, and I listen. I can listen now thanks to Densmore and Krieger, but this might be the weakest cut on the record. Where was Mary Werbelow when she got the news from Paris? "No, I'm not. It was a razor blade, actually. Mary's father banned Jim from the Werbelow house. Playing-wise, Krieger and Densmore command this epic work. The coffin was sealed before his family or the American Embassy were notified. Because nobody could ever fully understand him, or her, or them. . . Deadline reports . Morrison doesnt kick in with vocals until nearly a half minute of this power trios music, underpinned by an actual bassist, Larry Knechtel, who lays down an unspectacular if thoroughly solid funky bass pattern over Manzareks Rhodes Piano Bass. he'd say, dictating an observation. Its soothing music, even tranquilizing in spots. Some 15,000 fans cram into the 10,000-capacity Dinner Key Auditorium, a sweaty, converted seaplane hangar in Miami. "She was the love of his life in those days. Conspiracy theorists had a field day. Unexpected ending! "So, now you live in a screened-in porch?" . Butter didnt like the way The Doors handled the blues. On August 21, 1966, Jim Morrison didn't show up for The Doors gig at the Whisky a Go Go. As the song builds, Morrison brings you down and . One of the most heartbreaking songs of all time, if you listen to the lyrics at the start and ending. "It was too much for me to bear.". I never gave him that second chance. Music is your only friend The song there halts completely for about 4 seconds. One of the most fantastic opening sides of any record is over. Kyle K. Mann Then I start the whole song over when Morrison starts singing again, about canceling his subscription to the resurrection. This is a scream to end all screams. It was the best money Ive ever lost. Nice generous expanded song track, with time to let it tingle along, Densmores tubs thumping away, and the entire band, even Rothschild, singing in the background. From drug abuse to repeated infidelities to explosive arguments, their relationship was the definition of tumultuous and sometimes even escalated into violence. General CommentIt's about Mary Werbelow. For a long time, any time I would think about him, or anyone would talk about him, I'd cry. Fate then handed him the drug-addled enabler Pamela Courson, who arguably killed him. Mary is 61, unemployed and rarely leaves her mobile home. What an illustration of the Law of Unintended Consequences. In 1963, a sixteen-year-old Billy left his native Toronto and headed south to Florida to spend some time with family friends. The other members were jazz drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. I will do this repeatedly. In Polyphonic's explainer video on "The End," he pulls apart The Doors' magnum opus, the closer to its 1967 debut album, analyzing the song in real time as it unspools. Don't have an account? "I hated to let him go at night. When they performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS censors demanded that the band change the lyrics in Light My Fire from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much better." Genres: Funk, Minneapolis Sound. Trick or Treat! Therefore, the couple shared the same tragic end at the same . He was 27. Friends from Clearwater say that for three years in the. Love Her Madly - Jim Morrison, Mary, and Me, the book recounting the author's times with his friends, is born. They were nearly inseperable for 3-4 years and their breakup was so hurtful to Jim it prompted him writing "Crystal ship" and "the end". How cool. Lets move to the end of The End. They skipped dances and football games and hung out, at her house, his grandparents' house, wherever. I once read an interview with white bluesman Paul Butterfield, who Rothschild also produced, before The Doors. Jim slinked forward, a hand towel around him. The chords are strange, the mood brittle, yet it all works to perfection. Not to mention how painful it is, even 40 years later, to relive something she would rather forget. Jim challenged Mary and suggested they spice things up with a wager. For decades, she says, she brooded over how things might have turned out had they stayed together but finally concluded it was destiny. Maniacal? Yet, without the commission of her harsh act, the crucial early Morrison lyrics dont get written, much less sung and sold for lots of money and lasting fame. Mary Werbelow Death Fact Check Mary is alive and kicking and is currently 78 years old. Whatever he liked, she liked. "That was a lovely home," Mary says. Its authentic and swinging, and then that damn keyboard bass of Ray Manzareks kicks in. The song is based on Jim Morrison's story of his break up with a long-time girlfriend, Mary Werbelow. On Oct. 30, 1970, he was sentenced to six months of "confinement at hard labor" in the Dade County Jail. Or he'd pull over and scribble himself. I loved that Ray Manzareks wife Dorothy was there as well. The local law stopped him multiple times to check his ID. What was it like for her these past 50 years, one wonders? I actually restart Musics Over at various points over and over. She lives in California, alone, in an aging mobile home park. Drummer John Densmores opening bossa nova beat simply rocks. The listed cause of death was heart attack; many suspect drugs. A marxophone! Yah, his first song in front of an audience, according to Manzareks book. Mary didn't have heroes like that. What could that moment have been like? You can see how Werbelow families moved over time by selecting different census years. Its a story, a cascade, with Densmore making comments and interacting. "We're just going to talk in rhymes now," he . Shes turning her back on James Douglas Morrison, who not much later conquered the world, an Icon forever. Blues rock. If she won, it was on to Miss Florida. Some older kids invited me to play poker, and one had some friend down there who had given him a dub tape of the bands first album. "Why can't we be together now?". He attended St. Petersburg Junior College for the 1961-62 academic year, then transferred to Florida State University. Friends from Clearwater say that for three years in the early 1960s, Jim and Mary were inseparable. She can't see what good could come of it; some things are just meant to be kept private. This is Greek tragedy material, with the cruel Gods above laughing. The third album, Waiting for the Sun (1968), was their first No. The Doors perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. Naval Academy, is called to duty aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. It was composed as a love song to Jim Morrison 's first serious girlfriend, Mary Werbelow, shortly after their relationship ended. He would eventually ask if she had changed her mind. The top section of his transcript shown here is from SPJC, where he got B's and C's in basic classes, including English, math and biology. "He was supposed to go into that deep, dark place.". "We connected on a level where speaking was almost unnecessary. She wasn't much of a letter writer herself. She says she's not sure why she's talking now. But, he was jealous. Think about that for a minute. Jim's was not among them. Jim starts film school at UCLA. Trop dfonc l'acide pour chanter, il saborde la session qui est . Mary was looking good, not that Jim was thrilled. Talk about historic! The day Jim helped her move to a new apartment, she told him she needed a break. Its a big goddamn owy. Mary's father intercepted one, read the page about sex and never got to the part that made clear Jim was writing about a class. Its like a huge long instrumental intro. He said Jim answered: "You've got to make them believe you're doing them a favor by being onstage. "Today I went to visit the building w/ the infamous garage apartment where Jim Morrison hid in the closet w/ Clearwater girlfriend, Mary Werbelow. "Maybe you like it. I particularly enjoy blasting it that way in echoey parking structures, or at stoplights. Morrison for the win. ", "That's a real key to understanding Jim," Gates says. Jim talked like no one she had met. Soul Kitchen starts with one of Manzareks crazy-making riffs, Densmores crashing, spooky rock drums (tuned to within an inch of their lives by Producer Rothschild) and a loopy, freaky guitar solo. "This compilation of Jim Morrison's private communications to me during the years 1969, 1970 and 1971 -- his true 'lost writings' -- save for some confidences which are of such incandescent intimacy as forever to preclude publication poems . She has trouble sleeping. If she had appeared and said a few words, it would have stopped the show. Mary says she is tired. A 1990 letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times suggested that the Doors song Crystal Ship was about crystal methamphetamine: The ship stood for a hypodermic needle, the kiss meant drug injection. And some never would. And it didn't for a long time. Toni Says: What is Medicares creditable prescription drug coverage? When the operator asked him to settle up, he'd take off. Magical, mystical. Hell, he was living it for real, which even in the 60s wasnt that easy. But Morrison is at war with his own dark demons. A popular theory was that to escape the demands of celebrity, Morrison faked his death and vanished. Point being, I play the Doors incessantly while driving. Mary Werbelow pushed Jim Morrison away from her apartment and became a high-class but ultimately cheesy go-go dancer, telling Morrison that they would marry someday after they discovered themselves. Thats a colossal, controlling mind-fuck.