What does Break on Through (To the Other Side) mean?

The Doors: Break on Through (To the Other Side) Meaning

Album cover for Break on Through (To the Other Side) album cover

Song Released: 1967


Break on Through (To the Other Side) Lyrics

You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah

We chased our pleasures here
Dug our...

  1. anonymous
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    Apr 30th 2012 !⃝

    Obey propaganda

  2. anonymous
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    Apr 3rd 2012 !⃝

    This is about the corpriates making a buck off all are hard work hes saying that we should stand up and fight for real freedom and get from being a slave.

  3. anonymous
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    Feb 17th 2012 !⃝

    Its about breaking what you think is real,your own reality.. break on through the real truth of it.

  4. anonymous
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    Nov 5th 2011 !⃝

    I think it means that we all have to go to the other side, what im trying to say is that, when we are stuck on a same feeling.. ( depression , love, hate etc. mostly when we don't care about life, or when we focus more in our self and we just don't see the truth or reality , we have to move on.. we deny it because we can't accept it or live with it, so we all know that humans , animals and living things, creates a self mechanism of survival.. which means that our perception of life can be changed, and we just don't see that... In conclusion , when you're lost and find your self again you just pass to the other side.

  5. anonymous
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    Oct 3rd 2011 !⃝

    You'll never be the same after eating the apple in the Garden of Eden. Beware.

  6. anonymous
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    Aug 24th 2011 !⃝

    Break on through is about intensly using whatever means on hand to take a look from the other side

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2011 !⃝

    "It's about breaking through on DMT"

    Thank you, this song is not about L its not about ecstacy or any hallucinogen except DMT. If any one here has actually done DMT and acid, mesc., X, and so on u would know sure on L mushies mesc X u do trip HARD, but when u break through your in a whole other world nothing u see is really there.(if u take a high enough dose) which is usually about three hits out a crack pipe of the shit that SWIM gets(very pure)L is great, LSDISGREATILOVEIT but u aint even close on this guess. people have reported experiences such as meeting machine elves, aliens and other mythical creatures, SWIM has only broken through once(it can be harder for some than others) SWIM doesnt remember much of it seems like a dream now but SWIM does remember meeting god.
    RIP J. Morrison

  8. anonymous
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    Aug 8th 2011 !⃝

    okay my turn
    by thebenhavens
    this song is about the meaning of life, to put it simply, but I'll dissect it too.

    You know the day destroys the night
    Night divides the day
    Tried to run
    Tried to hide...
    this means simply we all know day & night. it will always happen and will keep happening no matter if try to run or hide. that's the truth. break on though. most of us just don't believe that it's that simple but it is.

    We chased our pleasures here
    Dug our treasures there
    But can you still recall
    The time we cried...
    now that we have broken through we can start to see that we can follow our pleasures & treasures, whatever they may be you decide they're yours, because we've broken through already. then Jim asks if you remember when you were on the other side.


    Everybody loves my baby
    She get high...
    Metaphor. The 'baby' & 'she' means the other side. When you break on through you will know and love it and be high off of it because. well that's for you to find out. remember only you can break through and you have to want too. the funny thing is, and I'll tell you a secret, it doesn't take anything but wanting to break on through. but you have to want to for YOURSELF not anyone else. if you let it then it will happen.

    I found an island in your arms
    Country in your eyes
    Arms that chain us
    Eyes that lie...
    this is about how everyone else is going to tell you that you aren't breaking through the 'right' way but by thinking for yourself and through faith in yourself you ARE doing it 'right'. there is no 'wrong' way or 'right' way, as long as your getting off on it, man. just your way might not be the same as insert names but neither of you are actually 'wrong'. and 'right' & 'wrong' are just personal opinions.

    Made the scene
    Week to week
    Day to day
    Hour to hour
    The gate is straight
    Deep and wide...
    this just means you make your own 'scene'. Kinda a dated term but translated means you make your own idea of right and wrong constantly. but it doesn't even matter what you think at the moment because you are aloud to change your views. the gate to break through is right in front of you and its huge just take the step forward and break on through to the other side
    yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ,yeah, yeah!

    Now all this is is an explanation to a song not a how to, that's inside of YOU.

  9. anonymous
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    Jul 7th 2011 !⃝

    Break on through to the other side means to break on through to the dark side of the trip: the 'bad acid trip'.
    It has indeed a lot to do with the whole thing of breaking through the doors of perception, for it is a part of it. But it's a certain aspect of it, one aspect most people tried and always will try to flee, for it is unpleasant.
    You see, an acid trip is not so much another land or another world. It is not just about hallucinations, seeing things that are unreal. It is not being connected with a 'higher truth'. Ofcourse these interpretations are fully understandable, becouse they're no nonsense, but they just give an expression of what people have been through while tripping. Indeed, it is LIKE being connected with a higher truth etc etc. But what it is... it's yourself. The LSD trip is a voyage through your soul.
    Now this may sound a bit stupid, for 'a soul' does not exist but in our experiences, but if you prefer 'the brain' to 'the soul', it's still the same. In that case you could speak about a voyage through your brain.
    See, it's about the subconscious. And here it doesn't matter if you prefer talking in a concrete way about a brain and neurotransmitters, or in a abstract way about experiences and perceptions and souls. Because in both cases we can deal with the subconscious.
    LSD is like a mirror. It reflects parts of yourself that you are not aware of in everyday life. Dreams are alike. But LSD is a bit more stronger than your everynight dreams.
    The subconscious consists of hidden feelings and thoughts, childhood memories and dreams, symbols and images and other things we relate to the idea of 'the soul'.
    LSD will make come out what's inside you. People with a lot of negative emotions putted away, bad memories or anxious dreams will be more likely to have a bad trip and not enjoy the acid trip. Ofcourse these people also have happiness and love inside of them, so it's just as possible to experience a great trip.
    In fact, everybody has a negative side of his of her subconsciousness. So it's possible for everyone to experience a bad trip. The thing is, it is possible to control the way you trip. So most people will wave aside those negative feelings, and enjoy a happy trip. Ofcourse they still will have a lifechanging experience, but the dark side of the subconsciousness will ever be undiscovered.
    Most people will freak out when having a bad trip. Of course. It's your deepest secrest fears, suddenly revealed.
    They will use their ability to control the way they trip to avoid the fears.
    But it is possible, hard and difficult and a enormous challenge for everyone, but possible, to let the bad trip happen. You just break on through to the other side, the dark side of the trip (which is often also experienced a really 'break through', like through a barrier of fears).
    Jim tries to convince us of breaking through. Explore the dark side of yourself.

  10. anonymous
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    Jun 20th 2011 !⃝

    first time i heard it when i was a little kid... and i like it even more after i learned who Jim Morrison is from many reading source. And i (think) i know what Jim trying to say with this great song...

    And here it is: There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first. Yeah, it's Jim words too.

    You're living your life everyday, knowing it as you know it, but then Jim said: There's more of it! If you really want it, just "Break on through to the other side!" If you want a change in your life, then just change it. Something that you think so radical, it might be just in your mind.

    You want a better world. Then you manage to achieved it. Is it over? No, there's a bigger picture for you. Remember when you're trying so hard to achieve what you've got and then you'll realize that it's just how this world works. So "Break on through to the other side!" Find more and more.

    You found peace and secure sometime in your life. But then you realize that that peace and secure is just a state of your mind, it holds down your potential, you know you can do more. so "Break on through to the other side!". Get out of it, it's all lies, find and fulfill your destiny.

    In the end everything that you need is in yourself. Work on it and do your best. If you think that the world is not just like what you think of, then why did you just stand still? If you believe that there's a better world with a lot of opportunity and option in your life, why don't you just "Break on through the other side?"

    I believe that's what was Jim trying to say...

  11. anonymous
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    Apr 22nd 2011 !⃝


    I believe it referres to overcoming false belief man. Like when you're really scared by a bully, (but really he's weak), and you're really being fooled by his act. His face is just a mask. Your powerlessness is just an illusion that he needs you to believe. " Break on throught to the other side " The truth will set you free! You will see how strong you really are.

  12. anonymous
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    Feb 12th 2011 !⃝

    It's about breaking through on DMT

  13. anonymous
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    Feb 5th 2011 !⃝

    it is Jim's interpation of platyos the cave

  14. anonymous
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    Jan 16th 2011 !⃝

    This is honestly funny... its weird how most people who listen to the doors dont whip the horses eyes... i meen seriously... "LSD and PAYOTE." Jim Wrote this songs about breaking through to the other side, breaking through the doors of perception.. that part some people got write.. most people havent done acid so in reality they havent actually broke through to the other side considering if youve ever had sex or done other drugs it is still perceived in your eyes regularly compared to hallucinations on acid or payote. Jim never glorified other drugs other than psycadelics, he wrote songs about them and this is what this song is about hands down even if you interpret it differently.

  15. anonymous
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    Nov 18th 2010 !⃝

    You know the day destroys the night
    Night divides the day
    Tried to run
    Tried to hide
    Break on through to the other side

    The lyrics remind me of having an out of body experience off of salvia. When i smoked the salvia instantly everything changed, me breaking on through to the other side of consciousness felt similar to falling asleep. I tried to fight it but eventually i just let it take me and i broke on through to the other side.




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