Rock singer’s graveside alive with groupies

Press, 28 February 1986, Page 11

Rock singer’s graveside alive with groupies

From

KARREN BEANLAND

in Paris

One of the most unusual “tourist attractions” in Paris is the grave of the American rock singer, Jim Morrison. Every day, even in the . midst of winter’s chill, a steady stream of young — and not so young - "groupies” come to visit his graffiti-decked headstone. Many of the young ones smoke joints, and heroin-users shoot up by the graveside. Some ■ even leave cigarettes or joints in the mouth of Morrison’s bust, which now sadly sports a broken nose. It is their way of paying respect to the charismatic leader of "The Doors”.

The grave gives a truly “underworld” feeling to the Cemetiere de Pere Lachaise where also lie the remains of other famous figures such as Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Balzac, Victor Hugo and Marcel Proust Paris gendarmes tour it regularly and the guards on the gates are often reluctant to tell people where Morrison’s grave is. Reticence is necessary, they say, because of vandalism and graffiti, and because they sometimes fear for their own safety.

At first sight Morrison’s part of the huge cemetery is depressing — the graffiti, brutally etched on sombre, gray headstones, seems to represent the worst side of post-1984 society. But when you look closely, the graffiti are often touching verses expressing youthful empathy with Jim’s life and tragic death, or simple greeting?; ; "it’s alright, ‘ 11

Jim, all your friends are here,” says one. “You will stay alive in our hearts,” reads another. The visitors also shed a different light on the scene. They are certainly more friendly and talkative than most other people I have met casually in Paris. When I made my pilgrimmage to the grave recently, Richard Muir, aged 23, from Sheffield, England, was having a picnic there with a French photographer, Christine Spengler. They had met in the cemetery the same morning. "The last time I was here there was a group of five or six Americans standing around, eating and drinking and having a party,” said Muir. Why has he come a second time? “Because I like the music and the man.” It doesn’t matter that "The Doors” songs are outdated. Morrison died in 1971, a long time ago by rock world standards, but it seems he gave something in his music which has survived.

Our chat was interrupted as more people arrived to visit the grave, and an almost social air developed. "I think it is really nice here,” said Muir. “It is alive. I even like the graffiti. It shows that people remember the place. At least you can always find the grave because there’s sgraffiti for about

500 yards around it.” Photographer Christine Spengler came to take pictures of other famous tombs, but found only dead memories. The discovery of Morrison’s grave was exciting. “You can take photos here,” she said clicking with professional skill, while I fumbled with my camera, trying to achieve an amateur photographer’s best “The other graves were boring. This place is living.” Morrison’s is not the only grave in the cemetery- to receive unusual attention from visitors, they tell me. The tomb of Oscar Wilde, the writer who died in poverty in Paris after shocking the world with his wit and then with his outspoken homosexuality, has become a trysting site for gay lovers. Just as Morrison has won a cult following, so his death has been embroidered by something approaching mythology. One story is that his earthly remains do not even rest beneath the headstone and that he may still be alive somewhere. He disappeared mysteriously in Paris, but his body was never found, the story goes. The truth is probably less romantic. Official sources say that Morrison, whose most widely known and loved songs are “Riders on tlje Storm” and

"Light My Fire,” died of a heart attack in Paris in 1971, at the age of 28. During the late 19605, “The Doors” rode supreme among American rock groups, in spite of, or perhaps because of, Morrison’s controversial life-style. Known as “the Lizard King,” partly from a hit song and partly from his skin-tight trousers and writhing stage actions, he had a reputation as an eccentric, a drug-user and a hard drinker. His notoriety was confirmed in 1969, when he was accused of indecent exposure during a concert in Miami, a charge he always denied. Morrison’s is only one story of hundreds to be dug up in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. Among the many famous graves are those of Abelard and Heloise, the protanganists of the moving lovestory of twelfth centry Paris. Like most other “sights” in Paris, the cemetery, named, after a Jesuit priest who was father confessor to Louis XIV, has its own story to tell. The last battle of the insurrection of the Commune de Paris was fought out among the gravestones in 1871. The next day, 147 insurgents were shot down against the surrounding wall. ' It also has grisly reminders of more recent events. One tortured modernistic monument marks the final resting place for the remains of 1200 prisoners who perished in Nazi concentration camps. -.