Hi all,

Bit microcosmic for a topic thread maybe, but I've been needing to talk about this.

I finally listened to the song, "Ships w/ Sails" from the album, Other Voices, about 3 weeks ago. The last two Doors albums have often been derided by people as a product that shouldn't have been made, including by Ray Manzarek himself. Well, Ray stated (albeit a very long time ago) that the two albums should maybe have been released under a different name, but anyway I twitter on...and in this rare instance, I think Ray was utterly wrong - these albums deserve their Doors label if you ask me.

If any of you guys and girls want proof of the ultimate genius of Ray Manzarek, it is neatly packaged within this 7 minute, 34 second track. Ships w/ Sails to me serves as a showcase not only to Ray's musical abilities on the organ and piano, as well as to Robby Krieger's amazing versatility and talent, but also as a window to look through to see Ray's abilities as a singer and as a poet.

The opening lyrics go something like this:

"Well you asked how much I love you?
Why do ships w/ sails love the wind?
And will I be thinking of you?
Will I ever pass this way again?

I'll be returning some day
Until then
Please don't ask me my direction
May my tracks be buried in the sea...
'Cos to wander's my infection
'Till the four winds bring you back to me

Don't count your memories
Think of me as just a dream
Just like this memory
I see...

I am hoping beyond hope that at some point, Ray will be in a position to answer questions that are posted here. What I would love to know is, what inspired Ray to write this song? I have heard some beautiful things in my short life, but this, this...this is so beautiful as to move my soul, each and every time I hear it. Is it a song written with his wife in mind? Or Jim perhaps? It would be a tragedy and loss to the understanding of music and poetry if this incredibly rich, complex and humbling song wasn't explained to the world. I am also wondering if the religious and spiritual beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians as understood by us today, played a part in the formulation of the lyrics? Or were Celtic thoughts more pre-eminantly on Ray's mind? The lyrics "Please don't ask me my direction, May my tracks be buried in the sea...'Cos to wander's my infection, 'Till the four winds bring you back to me" are absolutely startling, especially when one considers that words like "'Cos," "wander's" and 'Till' have been and continue to be in use in English when spoken by the British and Irish peoples. Wherever the answers to this incredible song are, it cannot be emphasised enough that Ships w/ Sails, in my humble opinion, deserves to be ranked up there with Doors classics such as When The Music's Over, Light My Fire and LA Woman to name but a handful.

My all-time favourite Doors song list used to run something like: 1. When The Music's Over, 2. The Soft Parade (PBS Live Version) and 3. Hyacinth House. It now runs something like, 1. WTMO (nothing shifts that one off the top of my list!!! ), 2. Ships w/ Sails, 3. The Soft Parade and 4. Hyacinth House. That is how good I reckon this song is...

If anyone has anything, any information to offer in respect of Ships w/ Sails (btw, when I write 'w/' it's not that I'm being lazy, it's just the way the word 'with' is spelt in the song title!), then please step forward. There are few things I don't know a little about, as a Doors-obsessed loon, but this is one song, along with both post-Jim albums, Other Voices and Full Circle that I would desperately like to learn more about.

Any info, much appreciated, along with anyone's thoughts about the imagery and poetry behind this song. I almost forgot to add that the musical composition of this song is staggeringly beautiful and if this is what they were capable of in 1971 and 1972 after Jim's tragic death, then The Doors should NEVER have broken up!!! In fact, they should never have been granted a vacation again - they should have been locked in a room and forced to make music like this, all day, every day, until the end of time...

This is what I love about being a fan of The Doors; just when you think you've heard it all, and there's nothing else for you to figure out, the band slaps you out of your complancy!

PK

its one of the best post-morrison songs, although Tightrope Ride is the best

Ships With Sails is the best song from those albums. The Mosquito and The Piano Bird are also really good.

other voices is really great!!! Ships w/ Sails & Tightrope Ride are greatest

If you go to http://www.youtube.com and search for 'The Doors' in Videos you can see amongst other great stuff! The Doors performing 'Tightrope Ride' on German TV show The Beat Club'

The whole performance from Beat Club is very good, probably my favorite version of Verdillac too.

I very much agree to that!
Ships w/ sails is great on that show!!!


The second take that is

I've mentioned this before, but I especially like the way Ray & Robby intermingle the organ and guitar at the end of the song.

One of my favorite songs from that album along with Tightrope Ride.

I like Ray being so stoned on Beat Club he forgets the words.

If anyone cares, best version is Aragon Balroom '72 (FM sourced).

Oh, and Jack Conrad kicks ass on this song.

Both are played too fast. Piano Bird is almost Disco but The Mosquito has a Ten Years After sound when slowed down, the organ and guitar solos are excellent. The Amazing slow downer software can show you what I mean.



http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/AmazingSlowDowner/

encore encore, you are all so wise, Ray is and always has been able to stand on his own two feet and is a trully accomplished all round musician and lyricist. I always liked his "close to you" and in recent times when he recites pieces of jim's poetry at ROTS concerts, he does so with relish.

Peace Brothers and Sisters.

willie dixon

Back in my days as a student at the University of Michigan (15+ years ago), I went to see Ray and Michael McClure perform at The Heidelberg Club in Ann Arbor (ironically, I now live in Heidelberg, Germany). After the show, we were afforded the opportunity to speak with the performers, so I decided to ask Ray about the lyrics of Ships w/Sails. I wanted to discuss the first two lines of the song, and when he recited them back to me, he paused and said that he would like to record that song again with a female singer! He did not say whom he had in mind, but I have hoped that this idea would come to fruition. It is a beautiful piece, musically and lyrically, and it merits the opportunity to be heard by a wider audience.

My second favorite song off of Other Voices, second only to Tightrope Ride, the best eulogy to Jim ever written

Cause it's about Pamela Courson's spirit-and-soul searching for her cosmic love .... ?!!?