William Blake or Jim Morrison Quote

Garson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sun Aug 29 05:11:38 UTC 2010


Here is a citation to a quotation by The Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek
in Newsweek in 1967. The cite appears in a Master of Arts Thesis by
Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith at Louisiana State University. I will
try to verify it on microfilm tomorrow:

Manzarek suggested the link between the name of the band and its
purpose and function to Newsweek:  “There are things you know about .
. . and things you don’t, the known and the unknown, and in between
are the doors––us.” 1

1 Anon., “This Way to the Egress,” under “Music” in Newsweek (November
6, 1967):  101.

http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11162007-105056/unrestricted/Goldsmith_thesis.pdf

Garson

On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 12:20 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: William Blake or Jim Morrison Quote
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Great topic for investigation, Fred! Thanks for sharing this quotation.
>
> Preliminary exploration suggests that the original version of the
> saying was uttered by Ray Manzarek who was a co-founder of The Doors
> along with Jim Morrison. Manzarek's quote was altered and streamlined
> then it was reassigned to Jim Morrison. Now it is also sometimes
> reassigned to William Blake and/or Aldous Huxley.
>
> This is conjectural and based on aggravating snippets. I will work to
> get you and the list some solid citations.
>
> Thanks to Gregory McNamee for some real Blake.
>
> Garson
>
> On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      William Blake or Jim Morrison Quote
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The line "There are things that are known and things that are unknown; in between are doors" is sometimes said to be the inspiration for the name of the rock group The Doors.  It is sometimes said to be from a writing of William Blake's, sometimes from a writing of Jim Morrison's.  Can anyone provide a precise source?
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>
> On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Gregory McNamee <gm at gregorymcnamee.com> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Gregory McNamee <gm at GREGORYMCNAMEE.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: William Blake or Jim Morrison Quote
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The name of The Doors, I've always understood it, comes from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, which in turn comes from a Blake poem, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (and, within it, from one of the many sections called "A Memorable Fancy"): "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite." (In the little Open University/Penguin anthology I have, it's on page 101.) Hope that helps...
>>
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