Jax May 3rd, 2008 07:22PM  
This is just an educated opinion. While I know that it is widely believed that the end started out as a love song, I think that the beginning has a deeper metaphysical meaning. Jim Morrison was greatly influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger. For Heidegger, death, the end, was the completion of one's essence of one's Dasein. Perhaps this is what he means by "my only friend" and "of our elaborate plans," since Heidegger believed that a person's being was defined by a combination of past-present-future much like Sartre. Anyways...the reason I think this song has much to with Heidegger is by the use of the word "stands" in reference to what is ending. During Heidegger's etymology of the word Being, he concluded that the word Being as originally meant by the Greeks (pre Plato) was that which stands erect. Further more, Heidegger believed that that meaning was distorted and lost when it was translated into Latin and then abused by the philosophers that followed, perhaps the insane children. This could account for "lost in a Roman wilderness of pain." Being is what is lost and then the rest of the song could be Jim's poetic instructions to regain Being.

anonymous October 20th, 2008 03:25AM  
I've always understood it to be about the end of a relationship with a girlfriend of Jim's at the time -- although it has obvious Vietnam War and drug connotations. If Jim used to take a blue bus out to the desert to get stoned, "ride the snake to the lake" could refer to the winding highway itself. Vietnam is suggested in "desperately in need of some strangers hand in a desperate land" and "lost in a Roman wilderness of pain and all the children are insane waiting for the summer rain". During the war period in Vietnam (and Cambodia), children were often schooled/indoctrinated with Communist party ideology -- sometimes to the point of denying their parents and treating the Communist leaders as their moral guides. The summer rain in the summer monsoon season. The "desperate land" and the "Roman wilderness of pain" are Vietnam -- analogies to the cruelties of war. Alternatively, they could just mean the desert.

anonymous February 13th, 2009 11:16PM  
I first heard this song and the album in India in 1967. It is still one of my all time favorite songs and albums. The Morrison vocals are, of course, great but the dreamy instrumental parts of it are out of this world also. I have always thought the song was about a drug trip or trips or a life of drugs. "We'll take care of the rest." A bad trip will produce the kinds of images that sear through the body of the song. It may also be about Oedipal feelings and a 7-mile highway to Santa Monica on the blue city bus, but mostly I think it depicts a drug trip. The downside of the song is that it may glorify tripping out too much, but it also hints at the now widely understood devastation that halucinogens (sp)can cause to the brain chemistry of our kind. Of course a bad trip can also result in the ultimate "The End," death. (Sadly, we cannot confirm this by talking to Jim Morrison but the manner of his own end helps prove it. Despite all this, I still love this haunting song and the album.

anonymous February 13th, 2009 11:28PM  
I first heard this song and the album in India in 1967. It is still one of my all time favorite songs and albums. The Morrison vocals are, of course, great but the dreamy instrumental parts of it are out of this world also. I have always thought the song was about a drug trip or trips or a life of drugs. "We'll take care of the rest." A bad trip will produce the kinds of images that sear through the body of the song. It may also be about Oedipal feelings and a 7-mile highway to Santa Monica on the blue city bus, but mostly I think it depicts a drug trip. The downside of the song is that it may glorify tripping out too much, but it also hints at the now widely understood devastation that halucinogens (sp)can cause to the brain chemistry of our kind. Of course a bad trip can also result in the ultimate "The End," death. (Sadly, we cannot confirm this by talking to Jim Morrison but the manner of his own end helps prove it.) Despite all this, I still love this haunting song and the album.

anonymous July 30th, 2009 02:29PM  
To me, this isn't about death, but about a relationship breakout. Long ago I had a very possessive and jealous girlfriend, our relationship was so deep it still shivers me to this day. She treated us both as one, but most likely it was like she treated ME as becoming part of HER(thus "this is the end my only friend"). I then felt like I was sacrificing my own self to fuel the plans of the unique individual she had created. At first I thought that could be some selfish thinking of mine and that she wasnt that.. 'evil', but this was reviewed later.
Anyway, most of my thoughts at that time were about my childhood, as in 'how did I went from that beauty, bright, active and strong-willed kid into this depressed zombie-worker?'. That was just the point were many of my old dreams were brought back to the surface and helped me become what I am now ("all the children are insane, waiting for the summer rain").
I wanted to break up, but I was really uncertain about her real intentions. I didn't want to be mean, as I realized that all the flaws I could now see could had just have been her true self during all the long time we spent together. I liked her so much, but I really couldn't sacrifice my own life to live hers, we had many superficial compatibilities, but this was a major flaw that made it all unbearable ("It hurts to set you free, but you will never follow me"). The whole kill father/fuck mother paragraph fits this, also.

I still have no clue about the snake and the lake (maybe an aerial view of a mass of zombies, like the one I was, walking towards their doom?) and the blue bus.

DAn973 September 14th, 2009 10:05AM  
It is cool to read all the different insights of what a person was thinking when they write. I write poetry and I am thinking many things and feelings at the same time. I read that he wrote the beginning of the song to his first girlfriend, not Pam, I forget her name. So the end was about the end of a relationship. I thought at one time it was death, it was not. I think that Oliver Stone movie was a sham. People think that Jim Morrison was the person in the movie. Just like Natural Born Killers is just how a serial killer act. He did the same crap in JFK Compare NBK to The Doors movie and you will see the BS about Jim Morrison. The band members even said it.

anonymous September 21st, 2009 06:31PM  
The blue bus could be representative of the nam bus or the bus to the insane asylum

anonymous December 27th, 2009 07:53PM  
Think there's more than meet the eyes in this song. To get a real feel, think you need to understand occultism. During his time there was a lot 'crossing over' rituals practised, mainly all with Satan worshipping. The song is extremely similar to Stairway to Heaven with hidden meanings. The forest, West, snake, women, mother, shininess, mountain, road, pathway, all follow occultism. It's about transisting over to the other side, the evil in the passover of death. Supposivly there are certain ways to get in tune with Satan when you die according to their ways. Jim's talkin about meeting that side when its all said and done. He's telling you how, or reciting the passages of versus in practises. Making a song out of it.

dylanmason January 10th, 2010 12:56PM  
this is the end, beautiful end. this is the end, my only friend, the end i think the lyrics means that the end (death) is the final accomplishment. i think what jim is trying to say is the best part of life is death. when u reach the end theres nothing more.the end to him is the perfect peace and happiness he coulld never find in life, thats why he says its his friend. its the comfort everyone needs in life. the end strips u of all worries and struggles and all the bad parts of life,bcuz it all ends at death. death is the perfect peace

anonymous February 8th, 2010 04:01PM  
I just think that Jim was FUBAR on drugs and was rambling, but the music and its poetic nature are truely beautiful; although highly disturbing - oh, the duality of Jim.

anonymous February 23rd, 2010 10:56AM  
The End is actually the beginning. The begining of Morrison's new life with the Doors and the shaking loose of all that happened in Morrison's life before that fateful moment when Morrison and Manzarek met on Venice Beach in the mid sixties. The friend he says goodbye to is himself. Morrison moved forward from that point, never to return or even look back.

anonymous March 6th, 2010 10:47AM  
This is the end interpreted by Buddy Baum.


1. This is the end. The end of time as is predicted in revelation. The last book in the Bible.

2. Beautiful friend. People of the world listen to what I have to say.

3. This is the end. Time to repent.

4. My only friend, the end. Christians. Those who believe in the end times.

5. of our elaborate plans, the end. The plans that God has put down in so many different places in the Bible, and in different cultures around the world.

6. Of everything that stands, the end. This is when you have to put your life on the line. All that you believe in will be tried.

7. No safety or surprise, the end. There will not be any place to hide. God’s wrath will be let loose on the earth. You know what is to come. God has told you so many times. IT IS THE END.

8. I'll never look into your eyes...again. Families will be divided by death. Some will go to heaven. Many will go to hell.

9. & 10. Can you picture what will be? So limitless and free. Do you know about death? Where you are going? For me it is freedom from the captivity of my body. God will free me completely. With a new body, and heavenly home.

11.12. & 13. Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand In a...desperate land. Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain. Lost in a land of sin in need of God's salvation. People are in a lifestyle of sin and debotury. Dieing on the inside. Killing there soles.

14.& 15. And all the children are insane. All the children are insane. All people of the last generation will be lawless, wild people. Reckless in the way they live there lives.
16. Waiting for the summer rain, yeah. Believers are waiting for God to send Jesus back to receive us in the clouds. Relief from the terrors of disasters and persecutions.
17. There's danger on the edge of town. The time is coming now. Stay away from cities. As much as possible.
18. Ride the King's highway, baby. Stay the strait and narrow. Do what God has commanded you. Fallow his commandments.
19. Weird scenes inside the gold mine. I am not sure; the gold mine might be the sun. Or, your mind. Ether way it is a signs. A strange happening witch you will recognize. A warning.
20. Ride the highway west, baby. Go west. In America, the people of God should go west.
21. Ride the snake, ride the snake. Keep surviving live. There is a reword for survivors. Those who help others. Be strong. Take as many people with you as possible. LIVE.
22. to the lake, the ancient lake, baby. There is an ancient lake in south western United States. Go there.
23. The snake is long, seven miles. The time of trial is 7 years.
24. Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold. Keep living. This time was told of since the dawn of human existence. It is a ruthless time. Keep living.
25. 26. & 27. The west is the best. The west is the best. Get here, and we'll do the rest.
28. 29. & 30. The blue bus is callin' us. The blue bus is callin' us. Driver, where you taken' us. God is coming to take us away for some time to the heavens.
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE
ANTICHRIST.
The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door...and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother...I want to...WAAAAAA
The antichrist will be an intelligent motivated man. He will have the spirit of satin. He will make his empire, make the world his family. He will wait till we are all comfortable in his reign of the world, when he kills and rapes the people of the world and destroys the earth scaring it to the core. That is why God has to purify the earth with fire, at the end.
Plea for salvation.
C'mon baby,--------- No "take a chance with us". C'mon baby, take a chance with us. C'mon baby, take a chance with us. And meet me at the back of the blue bus. Doin' a blue rock. On a blue bus. Doin' a blue rock. C'mon, yeah.
All people please listen to the warnings. Repent, fallow Gods path. Believe in the father. Trust in Jesus. Fallow the believers to safety. Stay alive. God will take you to Him. It might hurt. Be prepared. Fear nothing but The Father. Trust in him for all things. You will survive, either on earth or in heaven.

Conclusion

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. This is the end. Beautiful friend. This is the end. My only friend, the end. It hurts to set you free. But you'll never follow me. The end of laughter and soft lies. The end of nights we tried to die. This is the end.
In the end, God cleanses the earth. The earth is lawless and unrepentant. We must be purified. This is that time my fellow Christians. The time to tell others. This will be the most difficult time to live. We will experience pain and persecution. God will save us thru death or rapture, vary few live through Gods tribulation. The time of desperation will end. The time of sin in our lives will end. Freedom form the earthly bonds of life will be ours through salvation. Repent, ask our Heavenly Father, Creator OF ALL Things, Savior, and purify your sole.

Fast and Pray. Love.
This is the end.
Read Isaiah 24
Then keep reading.

I love you thru God.

chexmix23 March 9th, 2010 07:29PM  
when Jim says "this is the end, my only friend the end." i think he is talking about music in general. He is saying that music is his only friend, in another of the doors song "When the music's over" Jim quotes "Music is your only friend, dance on fire as it intends."