Song of the week: Peace Frog

The line “Indians scattered on dawn’s highway bleeding/Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell mind” originates from his poem, “Newborn Awakening” (and it also appears at the end of “Ghost Song”). The line is born out of “Dawn’s Highway”, a poem in which Jim describes an event that occurred when he was young. The event was about an auto accident involving a group of Indians that Morrison’s family came across on the highway. Morrison, who was a child at the time, felt that the ghosts of the Indians took up residence in his soul. Morrison described this incident, using a rare mention of his parents:

“Me and my — mother and father — and a grandmother and a grandfather — were driving through the desert, at dawn, and a truck load of Indian workers had either hit another car, or just — I don’t know what happened — but there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death.”

“So the car pulls up and stops. That was the first time I tasted fear. I musta’ been about four — like a child is like a flower, his head is floating in the breeze, man.”

(via mysticmementos)