carls July 10th, 2005 10:07PM  

Most of this song, mainly the bloody images ('there's blood in the street it's up to my ankles') came from poetry by Jim Morrison.

The lines 'Indian scattered on dawns highway bleeding/ghosts crowd the young childs fragile eggshell mind' refer to an episode in Morrison's childhood which would have an enormous impact on his life. As a young child, he and his family were driving through the desert when they came across a car accident that had killed several Native Americans. In 'Dawn's Highway' in An American Prayer, he says;

'The souls of those dead Indians... were just running around freaking out, and just leapt into my soul. And they're still in there.'

presence76 November 28th, 2005 10:20AM  

Yes, the middle section about “Indians scattered” is about the accident Morrison witnessed as a child.

As to the meanings of “blood in the streets in the town of …..”

1)Chicago – this is a reference to the 1968 Democratic National Convention – held in Chicago where there was massive rioting.

2) New Haven – Morrison was arrested on stage here in 1967

There are several poems here. One is the “Blood in the streets……”. The second one is the “she came, she same, she came to town and then she drove away sunlight in her hair” – according to Densmore, the two poems were put together while they were in the studio working on this song. The other poem would be the middle section reference talked about earlier “indians scattered…..”

The general flavor of the song is quite paranoid and dark. “Blood on the rise, it’s following me”. To me, this is probably a reflection of Morrison not being able to handle his massive celebrity. It is brutally ironic as this was what he had wanted and felt he was destined for. This was released in 1970, so by that time his celebrity was massive and for the most part unwanted. From everything I have read – he both loved and loathed his own celebrity. In the end, pardon the pun, it seems like the weight of hatred was too heavy which led to his self destruction – although the seeds of that self destruction were probably sown many years earlier. Very sad.

A great song lyrically – definitely an introspection to Morrison’s mind at the time.

Musically? Well, if you listen to the opening guitar riff and change the station, you should be banished to deafness for the rest of your life.

anonymous April 10th, 2007 02:34PM  

I would like to add to the existing interpretations, the fact that the song seems to have undertones of the first sexual intercourse of a woman, that is, the hymen breaking.

This is particularly evident in the line "blood is the rose of mysterious union"

anonymous October 31st, 2007 03:51PM  

It also ties to riders on the storm. The background behind that song is similar.

rockfacts February 1st, 2008 05:49AM  

It's about Jim on tour and running into a lot of chicks on the rag. Also, he does mention his encounter as a child with the dead Native Americans on the highway. It's documented a lot.

scc123 October 25th, 2009 02:24AM  

There is blood everywhere. Where have you been liv'n?
Just look around. We are the people full to the grave and letting a little light shine through the dark capitalistic pop culture hell bent on pursuing despair.