Deceased--Ray Manzarek

Ray Manzarek
February 12th, 1939 to May 20th, 2013

From left: Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Jim Morrison.

"Ray Manzarek, 74, Keyboardist and a Founder of the Doors, Is Dead"

by

Jon Pareles

May 20th, 2013

The New York Times

Ray Manzarek, who as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the Doors helped shape one of the indelible bands of the psychedelic era, died on Monday at a clinic in Rosenheim, Germany. He was 74.

The cause was bile duct cancer, according to his manager, Tom Vitorino. Mr. Manzarek lived in Napa, Calif.

Mr. Manzarek founded the Doors in 1965 with the singer and lyricist Jim Morrison, whom he would describe decades later as “the personification of the Dionysian impulse each of us has inside.” They would go on to recruit the drummer John Densmore and the guitarist Robby Krieger.

Mr. Manzarek played a crucial role in creating music that was hugely popular and widely imitated, selling tens of millions of albums. It was a lean, transparent sound that could be swinging, haunted, meditative, suspenseful or circuslike. The Doors’ songs were generally credited to the entire group. Long after the death of Mr. Morrison in 1971, the music of the Doors remained synonymous with the darker, more primal impulses unleashed by psychedelia. In his 1998 autobiography, “Light My Fire,” Mr. Manzarek wrote: “We knew what the people wanted: the same thing the Doors wanted. Freedom.”

The quasi-Baroque introduction Mr. Manzarek brought to the Doors’ 1967 single “Light My Fire“ — a song primarily written by Mr. Krieger — helped make it a million-seller. Along with classical music, Mr. Manzarek also drew on jazz, R&B, cabaret and ragtime. His main instrument was the Vox Continental electric organ, which he claimed to have chosen, Mr. Vitorino said, because it was “easy to carry.”

The Doors’ four-man lineup did not include a bass player; onstage, Mr. Manzarek supplied the bass lines with his left hand, using a Fender Rhodes piano bass, though the band’s studio recordings often added a bassist.

Mr. Densmore said, via e-mail: “There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison’s words. Ray, I felt totally in sync with you musically. It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother.”
After Mr. Morrison’s death, Mr. Manzarek strove to keep the Doors together, led his own bands and continued to influence the Los Angeles underground. He produced “Los Angeles,” the 1980 debut album by the leading Southern California punk band X. But he also kept returning to the music of the Doors, rejoining Mr. Krieger in 2002 in a band whose name became the subject of a long legal battle with Mr. Densmore over use of the Doors’ name. Manzarek-Krieger, as the band was finally named, had more dates booked this year, Mr. Vitorino said.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,“ Mr. Krieger said in a statement. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.“

Mr. Densmore had also hinted publicly that the surviving Doors might reunite. “The Doors are back on their hinges,“ he told the talk-show host Tavis Smiley earlier this month.

Mr. Manzarek was born Raymond Daniel Manczarek Jr. on Feb. 12, 1939, in Chicago and grew up there on the South Side, taking classical piano lessons. In 1962-65, he attended film school at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he met Mr. Morrison, a fellow film student who was writing poetry.

In a chance encounter on Venice Beach during the summer after graduation, Mr. Morrison mentioned that he had some possible song lyrics; they included “Moonlight Drive,” prompting Mr. Manzarek to suggest that they start a band. “Ray was the catalyst, he was the galvanizer,” said Jeff Jampol, who manages the Doors’ estate. “He was the one that took Jim by the hand and took the band by the hand and always kept pushing. Without that guiding force, I don’t know if the Doors would have been.”

Mr. Manzarek had joined his two younger brothers, Rick and Jim Manczarek, in a surf-rock band, Rick and the Ravens, that initially worked with Mr. Morrison. (Rick and Jim Manczarek survive him along with Mr. Manzarek’s wife, Dorothy; his son, Pablo; his daughter-in-law, Sharmin; and three grandchildren.) But two musicians Mr. Manzarek met in a transcendental meditation class, Mr. Densmore and Mr. Krieger, ended up becoming the Doors, named after the Aldous Huxley book on the psychedelic experience, “The Doors of Perception” (quoting William Blake).

They honed their music through club dates in Los Angeles, including a residency at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip. In 1966 they were signed to Elektra Records, two months before they were fired by the Whisky when Mr. Morrison unveiled the crudely Oedipal lyrics of “The End.” They recorded their 1967 debut album, “The Doors,” in a week; it included “Light My Fire,” and an edited version of the song, without a jazzy instrumental interlude, became a No. 1 hit and part of the ubiquitous soundtrack of the Summer of Love and the Vietnam War.

From 1967 to 1971, the Doors had a prolific and stormy career. In the volatile culture of the late 1960s Mr. Morrison strove to test taboos, defying television censorship — singing the word “higher” on “The Ed Sullivan Show” — and drawing prosecution for obscenity. Alcohol and drugs made him unreliable onstage and in the studio, but the Doors would end up recording six studio albums and a string of hits including “Hello, I Love You” and “Riders on the Storm,” which featured Mr. Manzarek’s electric piano. The Doors’ catalog has never left rock radio and has been endlessly repackaged, most recently as an iPad app.

After Mr. Morrison’s death, the band made albums without him before disbanding. In 1977, the surviving Doors reunited to record backup tracks to poetry that Mr. Morrison had recorded; the resulting album, “An American Prayer” sold a million copies.

Mr. Manzarek made solo albums and led the band Nite City during 1970s, and in 1983 he recorded a rock adaptation of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” with the composer Philip Glass. In 2002 he and Mr. Krieger began touring as The Doors of the 21st Century. Mr. Densmore and the Morrison estate sued to prevent them from using the Doors name and eventually prevailed. According to Mr. Vitorino, the Manzarek-Krieger band has made unreleased recordings.

Mr. Manzarek had other projects. He made music to back up the poet Michael McClure, and he worked with the blues slide guitarist Roy Rogers. His last studio album was “Translucent Blues,” a collaboration with Mr. Rogers that was released in 2011. “He was always stretching boundaries,” Mr. Rogers said.

"The Doors' Keyboard Counterpoint Goes Silent: Remembering Ray Manzarek"

by

Mandilit del Barco

May 21st, 2013

NPR

Ray Manzarek, the founding keyboardist of the Los Angeles rock band , died in a clinic in Germany on Monday after a lengthy battle with cancer, according to his publicist. He was 74.

One of the biggest-selling bands of all time — and one of the most controversial — The Doors came together in 1965, after Manzarek moved to Los Angeles and recruited Jim Morrison to sing with his college band. Manzarek grew up on Chicago's south side and resisted piano lessons when he was young, until he heard Chicago blues and jazz on the radio. His keyboard playing on such Doors classics as "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm," "Break on Through (to the Other Side)" and more provided a blues and jazz counterpoint to Morrison's poetic swagger.

After Morrison died in 1971, The Doors recorded two albums with Manzarek singing some of the lead vocals, but the band eventually broke up. Manzarek recorded several solo albums, collaborated with poets, and produced for other bands, including X, another trailblazing Los Angeles group. In 1998, Putnam published Manzarek's autobiography to critical acclaim, though Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors, was more about Morrison than Manzarek. He also wrote two novels. In 2002, Manzarek reunited with The Doors' guitarist Robby Krieger to play the band's songs live.

"Ray Manzarek, Doors Keyboardist, Dead at 74"

'Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him,' says Doors guitarist Robby Krieger

by 
 
Andy Greene

May 20th, 2013

The Rolling Stone

Doors co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek died today in Rosenheim, Germany, after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74.

"I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," Doors guitarist Robby Krieger said in a statement.  "I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."

Manzarek grew up in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles in 1962 to study film at UCLA. It was there he first met Doors singer Jim Morrison, though they didn't talk about forming a band until they bumped into each other on a beach in Venice, California, in the summer of 1965 and Morrison told Manzarek that he had been working on some music. "And there it was!" Manzarek wrote in his 1998 biography, Light My Fire. "It dropped quite simply, quite innocently from his lips, but it changed our collective destinies."

They quickly teamed up with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger and began playing gigs around Los Angeles. About a year later, the Doors recorded their debut album for Elektra Records. "We knew once people heard us, we'd be unstoppable," Manzarek wrote in his memoir. "We knew what the people wanted: the same thing the Doors wanted. Freedom."

The Doors didn't have a bassist, so Manzarek often played the bass parts on his Fender Rhodes piano. He also played a Vox Continental organ, which can be heard on the famous intro to "Light My Fire" and numerous other Doors classics. The group shared credit on most songs and split all profits evenly.

The group carried on for two more albums after Jim Morrison died in July of 1971, but they split in 1973. Manzarek remained extremely busy, producing albums for X and playing with Iggy Pop, Echo and the Bunnymen and others. In 2002, he began touring as the Doors of the 21st Century with Krieger and Cult frontman Ian Astbury. Doors drummer John Densmore filed a lawsuit over the use of the name and it lead to a protracted legal battle.

"Morrison required all three of us diving into his lyrics and creating music that would swirl around him," Manzarek told Rolling Stone in 2006. "Without Jim, everybody started shooting off in different directions. . . The Doors was the perfect mixture of four guys, four egos that balanced each other. There were never any problems with 'You wrote this' or 'I wrote that.' But [after Jim died] the whole dynamic was screwed up, because the fourth guy wasn't there."

Roadhouse Blues

Ray Manzarek [Wikipedia]

The Doors [Wikipedia]

Deceased--Jon Lord

Jon Lord
June 9th, 1941 to July 16th, 2012

Jon Lord obituary

Organist who infused Deep Purple with classical influences, helping to make them one of the world's biggest rock bands

by

Joel McIver   

July 16th, 2012

guardian.co.uk

'We're as valid as anything by Beethoven," declared Jon Lord of his band, Deep Purple, in an interview with the New Musical Express in 1973. Lord, who has died aged 71 after suffering from pancreatic cancer, was not merely adopting a rebellious stance. An accomplished classical composer as well as rock musician, he believed with some justification that his group's music was as profound in structure and as significant in cultural impact as any work from the symphonic canon. At the time, Deep Purple were among the world's biggest rock bands, having built an enormous fanbase on the strength of their classically influenced songs, which lent further weight to Lord's statement.

Born in Leicester, Lord studied classical piano from the age of five. In his teens, the then-new rock'n'roll and R&B movements made a deep impression on him, in particular the music recorded by blues pianists and organists such as Jimmy McGriff and Jerry Lee Lewis. The contemporary combination of Hammond B3 and C3 organs with Leslie speakers appealed to him, and this became an instrumental setup that remained integral to Lord's signature keyboard style for the rest of his career.

In 1959, he moved to London to pursue acting, which he studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He played the piano and Hammond organ in clubs to pay the bills, initially with a jazz band called the Bill Ashton Combo and then with Red Bludd's Bluesicians, featuring the vocalist Art Wood. While recording occasional sessions (he contributed keyboards to the Kinks' 1964 hit You Really Got Me), Lord pursued pop success in the Art Wood Combo, who later renamed themselves the Artwoods and appeared on TV. I Take What I Want was the group's only charting single.

Lord discovered his trademark sound when he formed Santa Barbara Machine Head, which also featured Wood's brother and future Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood. The key to this group's success was its powerful, organ- and guitar-driven formula, which pointed at the future musical recipe of Deep Purple, and also the meeting of Lord and the bassist Nick Simper. The duo were the backbone of Deep Purple, who formed when the businessman and manager Tony Edwards invested in the new group and auditioned the cream of London's young talent – the guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, the singer Rod Evans and the drummer Ian Paice among them. This quintet formed Purple's first lineup in 1968.

Deep Purple spent the following eight years on a path that took them around the world on several occasions, playing the world's largest stadiums and issuing a series of classic LPs – In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), Machine Head (1972) and Burn (1974) among them. Personnel came and went, but Lord and Paice remained constant members until the group's dissolution amid a haze of drug addiction and exhaustion in 1976.

Of the great British rock bands of the 70s, only Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the Stones were able to operate on as grand a scale: unlike any of those groups, Deep Purple took regular time out to indulge in classical projects initiated and directed by Lord. The most notable of these was the live Concerto for Group and Orchestra, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969.

It was this equal passion for rock bombast and classical finesse that made Lord such an unusual musician. During Deep Purple's glory days, he often infused the songs with classical influences, as in the song April from the group's eponymous album in 1969. His organ playing, which often counterpointed Blackmore's virtuoso lead guitar, was unique and often copied.

After the split, Lord formed a group with the rock singer Tony Ashton and Deep Purple's ex-drummer Paice entitled Paice, Ashton & Lord. They released one album, Malice in Wonderland, in 1977. He then joined Whitesnake, the band formed by Deep Purple's last lead singer, David Coverdale. This group, not to be confused with the 1980s reincarnation that played stadium rock and met with huge success, was an earthy, blues-rock band in which Lord's organ playing was an essential element. His stint in Whitesnake ended when he rejoined a reformed lineup of Deep Purple in 1984 alongside Blackmore, Paice, the singer Ian Gillan and the bassist Roger Glover.

Many solo projects and collaborations came during and between Lord's membership of these bands, including Before I Forget (1982), which featured classical piano music; a commission to compose the soundtrack of Central Television's 1984 series The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady; and guest spots on albums by rock luminaries such as Lord's Oxfordshire neighbour George Harrison and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.

Eight more years of recording and tours followed before Lord felt he had had enough of life on the road. In a letter to his bandmates in 2002, he requested that Deep Purple take a year off. When this request was declined, he amicably left the group. Solo projects followed, including a collaboration in 2004 with sometime Abba singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and the formation of a blues band, Hoochie Coochie Men, three years later. In 2010, Lord was made an honorary fellow of Stevenson College, Edinburgh, and the following year he was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by the University of Leicester.

He is survived by his wife, Vicky, and their daughter, Amy; and a daughter, Sara, by his first wife, Judith, from whom he was divorced.

Jon Lord

Deep Purple keyboard player

July 17th, 2012

Los Angeles Times

Jon Lord, 71, a British keyboardist for Deep Purple and Whitesnake, died in London on Monday of a pulmonary embolism after a battle with pancreatic cancer, said a statement on his official website.

Lord co-wrote some of Deep Purple's most famous tunes, including "Smoke on the Water," and later had a successful solo career after his retirement from the band in 2002.

The Leicester, England-born musician got his start playing piano, first taking classical music lessons before shifting to rock 'n' roll.

After moving to London to attend drama school, he joined blues band the Artwoods in 1964 and later toured with the Flowerpot Men — known for their hit "Let's Go to San Francisco" — before joining Deep Purple in 1968.

Deep Purple — which at its peak featured Lord along with singer Ian Gillan, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice and bassist Roger Glover — was one of the top hard-rock bands of the 1970s. Influenced by classical music, blues and jazz, Lord took his Hammond organ and distorted its sound to powerful effect on songs including "Hush," "Highway Star," "Lazy" and "Child in Time."

The group sold more than 100 million albums before splitting in 1976.

Lord went on to play with hard rock group Whitesnake in the late '70s and early '80s and, later, a re-formed Deep Purple.

"Deep Purple founder Jon Lord, who co-wrote Smoke on the Water, dies aged 71"

English rocker Jon Lord, who founded Deep Purple and co-wrote their most famous song, Smoke On The Water, has died aged 71.

July 16th, 2012

The Telegraph

The Leicester-born keyboard player, who had pancreatic cancer, died in London today.

A statement on his website said he had passed "from Darkness to Light".

The statement said Lord was "surrounded by his loving family" when he died.

Last year, Lord told fans he was "fighting cancer and will therefore be taking a break from performing while getting the treatment and cure".

In a message on his website dated August 9, 2011, he added: "I shall of course be continuing to write music - in my world it just has to be part of the therapy - and I fully expect to be back in good shape next year."

Lord started playing the piano in his family home and took classical music lessons before turning to jazz and rock 'n' roll.

He moved to London at 19 to go to drama school, but was soon playing piano in pubs and bars and in 1964 joined cult blues band the Artwoods - formed by Ronnie Wood's brother Art.

The band were critical favourites but never translated that into commercial success and split up.

Lord then went on tour with manufactured psychedelic pop combo The Flowerpot Men, who had scored a hit with Let's Go To San Francisco, before joining Deep Purple in 1968.

The heavy rockers sold more than 100 million albums - many featuring Lord's classically inspired keyboards.

But their most famous song was the simple Smoke On The Water with its trademark riff.

The band split in 1976 and Lord joined bandmate Ian Paice in Paice Ashton Lord before playing with Whitesnake and a reformed Deep Purple.

Jon Lord [Wikipedia]

Deep Purple [Wikipedia]

Hush

1968

Smoke on the Water

1973 

Woodstock amendment

USA Today interviewed four of the participants at Woodstock and their current status. [Current photos not provided...reality can be too sobering.]

CANNED HEAT

Woodstock rewind: Drummer Fito de la Parra was so tired from the band's gig at Fillmore East the night before in New York that he literally had to be dragged out of bed. "I didn't want to go," he says. "I didn't know how big it would be or how important. I even tried to quit that day." To get to the site, the band caught a ride on a press plane from which de la Parra could see the crowd. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is the biggest show ever.' " When the band arrived, "we were asked when we wanted to go on and we said 'now.' Fifteen or 20 minutes after getting off the helicopter, we were performing. It was great energy, we did an hour set or so, and we played the famous Woodstock Boogie."

Recent adventures: The band has been active the entire time since Woodstock, albeit with numerous personnel changes, playing an average of 100 shows a year. "We're happy to be able to still make a living and have a good, solid fan base," de la Parra says. They record an album just about every year. "It's new music but very much blues-oriented," he says. "We don't conform to the trends - we stick to the music we believe in."

• Founding member Bob "The Bear" Hite died of a heart attack in 1981.
• Co-founder Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson died in 1970 of a suspected suicide.
• Henry Vestine quit the band a week before Woodstock. He died in 1997 in a Paris hotel from respiratory failure as his European tour with Canned Heat ended.
•Larry Taylor has occasionally played with the band and is a member of the Hollywood Blue Flames, which is a band formed of the surviving members of the Hollywood Fats Band.

Does Woodstock still matter? "It relates to the problems this country has now," de la Parra says. "We were looking for peace in Vietnam, and now we're desperate for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. We used to talk about caring for Mother Earth and (now) even our own government is going green. The message of 'Let's work together' still stands."

COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH

Woodstock rewind: Country Joe McDonald performed both with his band and in a solo acoustic set, but the latter performance is arguably best remembered for what he describes as the "infamous cheer." "The weather was great and the audience didn't pay any attention to me," he says. Out of desperation, he walked offstage mid-act and asked road manager Bill Belmont if it was OK to do an obscene variation on the call-and-response cheer that leads into I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'- to-Die. Belmont's response: "No one's paying attention to you, so what difference does it make?"

Recent adventures: Country Joe is playing at the Heroes of Woodstock show Saturday at the concert site in Bethel, N.Y. He has spent much of the past five years doing a one-man speaking show about Woody Guthrie and will be doing a show about the life of Florence Nightingale. Barry "The Fish" Melton, who became a public defender in Yolo County, Calif., recently retired. Fish and Joe have reunited occasionally over the years to perform.

Does Woodstock still matter? "I think Woodstock is very important, but I'm personally quite surprised by the response it's getting. The change of generations took place at Woodstock — politics, culture, art, technology, lifestyle, everything — and it's still extremely controversial. Woodstock is the American dream manifested in a new chapter."

MELANIE

Woodstock rewind: Since Melanie's performance was simply her and a guitar, with no elaborate stage setup, her time slot changed several times. Right before she went on, rain started falling and candles were passed out. "I saw the whole hillside lit up, and it was the most inspirational moment of my life," she says, prompting her to write Candles in the Rain. Before her set, she developed a deep, hacking cough, prompting Joan Baez to send an assistant over with a pot of tea. "She was my hero, anyway, and I couldn't believe I was on the same stage as her." Relatively unknown prior to the festival, Melanie received many offers after. "They all wanted to sign me and superimpose my voice, but I stayed true to who I was. I thought, 'It's hard enough for me to get up on the stage and do things I love, but to get on the stage to do things I really don't even like would be unbearable.' To me, I made it."

Recent adventures: She's on tour and writing songs with her son, Beau. "I have never been more inspired because he's so musical and he takes songs and brings them in a whole other direction." She's also writing a play about a woman who has seven days to save the planet, which she describes as being based on life's events and circumstances.

Does Woodstock still matter? "Woodstock is a living thing because it's been coming with me all through my 40 years of performing. It was more of a spiritual gathering than it was a rock concert, and that's what promoters tend to forget. It was all the makings of peace and love, but it's not just a catchphrase — it has traveled with me."

SHA NA NA

Woodstock rewind: Sha Na Na was one of the newer bands on the bill, and Woodstock was just its eighth gig. Most of the members hailed from Columbia University and were a part of The Kingsmen, a glee club ensemble. Woodstock paid the dozen-member band $350 — and the check bounced. The Woodstock movie paid the group $1. "It was the greatest 8 cents I ever made," says drummer Jocko Marcellino, now in his fourth decade with the band. They played right before Jimi Hendrix and heard his rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner as they drove off in a rented van. "The feeling of brotherly love in the air made it so magical that it became legendary," says bandmate Donny York.

Recent adventures: The band, best known to subsequent generations for appearing in Grease, is in the midst of a 40-show tour for its 40th anniversary and recently released a collector's edition anniversary disc. Many original members have gone on to have impressive careers, the majority outside of music:

• Alan Cooper is a professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
• Joe Witkin is an emergency room physician and plays keyboard for The Corvettes.
• George Leonard is a professor of interdisciplinary humanities at San Francisco State University. He has sold novels and screenplays to Universal Pictures.
• Richard Joffe is a lawyer for Labaton Sucharow LLC.
• Elliot Cahn was the first manager of Green Day.
• Orthopedic surgeon Scott Powell is the team physician for the United States Soccer Federation Women's National Team, a clinical professor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and on United Cerebral Palsy's board of directors.
• Denny Greene became vice president of production and features at Columbia Pictures and later president of Lenox/Greene Films. He's a professor of law at the University of Dayton.
• Robert Leonard is one of the founding fathers of forensic linguistics. He's director of the Forensic Linguistics Project at Hofstra University.
• Henry Gross had a hit with Shannon.
• Bruce Clarke is a professor of literature and science at Texas Tech University.

Does Woodstock still matter? "I think it does," Marcellino says. "We had our dreams and aspirations, and maybe that's overwhelming for a younger generation now." Says York: "I find it remarkable that kids today are interested, because in 1969, I can't think any of us were nostalgic about 1929. The number of years between historical periods seems to be not important as much as the texture that was so different."


Woodstock--40 years ago

Break time--

Not much going on save X-Ray evidence of an 88 million year old supernova.

Ah, the memories. The Chiffon's One Fine Day was my bumper music when I was in radio many years ago.

And here is a fine recording of The Ronettes' Be My Baby...a product of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.

The Ronettes

Be My baby

1963



The night we met
I knew I needed you so
And if I ever had the chance
I'd never let you go
So won't you say you love me
I'll make you so proud of me
We'll make 'em turn their heads
Every place we go
So won't you please

(chorus)
Be my, be my baby
Be my little baby
My one and only baby
Say you'll be my darling
Be my, be my baby
Be my baby now
My one and only baby

I'll make you happy, baby
just wait and see
For every kiss you give me
I'll give you three
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you
Till eternity so won't you please

And yes, I was a hippie too...I'm the one sitting...playing the sitar--hahahahaha!

The Rolling Stones

Paint It Black

1966



I see a red door and I want it painted black,
no colors anymore I want them to turn black.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes,
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black,
with flowers and my love, both never to come back.
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away,
like a newborn baby it just happens every day.

I look inside my self and see my heart is black,
I see my red door and I want it painted black.
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts,
it's not easy facing up when your whole world is black.

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue,
I could not forsee this thing happening to you.
If I look hard enough into the setting sun,
my love will laugh with me before the morning comes.

I see a red door and I want it painted black,
no colours anymore I want them to turn black.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes,
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.