About the song
Background
- Posthumous Release: “Newborn Awakening” was released posthumously on the 1978 album “An American Prayer.” It features Morrison’s spoken word poetry set to music created by the remaining members of The Doors.
- A Collage of Work: The piece is comprised of a mix of older poetry and what could be considered improvisational work recorded shortly before Morrison’s death.
- Spiritual Exploration: “Newborn Awakening” reflects Morrison’s fascination with Native American spirituality, shamanism, and altered states of consciousness.
Lyrics
The lyrics of “Newborn Awakening” are fragmented, dreamlike, and laced with recurring imagery:
- Bleeding Ghosts and Scattered Indians: These initial images evoke a sense of violence, death, and perhaps the loss of Native American cultural heritage.
- Blood-soaked locations: References to New Haven, Venice, and Los Angeles suggest a bleak vision of both specific locations and perhaps the landscape of America at large.
- Fragmented phrases: “Blood is the rose of mysterious union”, “Chop off her fingers”, and “The dead are newborn awakening” are jarring and loaded with potential interpretations.
- The Ghost-God: An ambiguous figure, possibly representing a lost spirituality or a force manipulating the events described.
Themes
Several key themes emerge from Morrison’s words:
- Death, Rebirth, and Renewal: The title and the imagery of the “newborn” suggest a cycle, a destruction possibly leading to a new beginning. This plays into notions of shamanic death and rebirth.
- Societal Critique: The references to blood in locations like New Haven and Los Angeles could be read as a commentary on the violence and turmoil Morrison saw within American society.
- Lost Spirituality: The “dead…newborn awakening” alongside mentions of Indians could be lamenting the loss of certain spiritual traditions and alternative ways of understanding the world.
- Ambiguity as Art: “Newborn Awakening” refuses to give easy answers. It’s intended to be provocative and open to multiple interpretations, engaging the listener in the act of seeking meaning.
Important Notes:
- Drugs & Alcohol: Morrison’s use of drugs and alcohol undoubtedly influenced his creative process, and some might find traces of that influence in the work’s fragmented and hallucinogenic nature.
- Not for Everyone: The poetry of “Newborn Awakening” is intentionally unsettling and can be disturbing for some listeners. Its open-ended nature makes it a challenging piece of art.
Video
Lyrics
Indians scattered on dawn’s highway, bleedingGhosts crowd the young child’s fragile egg-shell mind
Blood in the streetsIn the town of New HavenBlood stains the roofsAnd the palm trees of VeniceBlood in my loveIn the terrible summerBloody red sun of fantastic L.A.
Blood screams her brain, chop off her fingersBlood will be born in the birth of a nationBlood is the rose of mysterious unionBlood on the rise, it’s following me
Indian, IndianWhat did you die for?Indian says nothing at all
Gently they stirGently riseThe dead are newborn awakeningWith ravaged limbsAnd wet soulsGently they sighIn rapt funeral amazement
Who called these dead to dance?Was it the young woman learning to play the “Ghost Song” in her baby grand?Was it the wilderness children?Was it the Ghost-God himself, stuttering, cheering, chatting blindly?
I called you up to anoint the earthI called you to announce sadness falling like burned skinI called you to wish you wellTo glory in self like a new monsterAnd now I call on you to pray