“The End” served as the finale for many of The Doors' most notable concerts. The lyrics are a combination of different variations sung during jam-style performances over several months at the Whiskey A Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles in 1966.
The song was famously used in the iconic opening scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now, with images of the Vietnam War to the cinematic battle towards the end of the movie between Willard (Martin Sheen’s character) and Kurtz (Marlon Brando’s character).
In a 1969 interview with Rolling Stone, Morrison said the song means something different every time he listened to it: It started out as a simple good-bye song… Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don’t know. I think it’s sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be.
Several musical influences are apparent in Robby Krieger’s composition of this song, including Chopin’s “Funeral March.”
Sometimes the pain is too much to examine, or even tolerate… That doesn’t make it evil, though – or necessarily dangerous. But people fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah – I guess it is a friend…
Jim Morrison
He was giving voice in a rock ‘n’ roll setting to the Oedipus complex, at the time a widely discussed tendency in Freudian psychology. He wasn’t saying he wanted to do that to his own mom and dad. He was re-enacting a bit of Greek drama. It was theatre!
Ray Manzarek
A “Roman wilderness of pain” is a metaphor to describe situations that one struggles to overcome, or a bad experience that has to be dealt with. Morrison was heavily influenced by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that over coming difficulty and dealing with struggles makes a person stronger and better.
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes again
Can you picture what will be?
So limitless and free
Desperately in need
Of some stranger's hand
In a desperate land
Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's Highway
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake
The snake, he's long, seven miles
Ride the snake
He's old and his skin is cold
The west is the best
Get here and we'll do the rest
The blue bus is calling us
Driver, where you taking us?
The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
"Father?" "Yes, son?" "I want to kill you"
"Mother? I want to..."
Come on baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rug, on a blue bus
Come on yeah
Fuck, fuck, fuck yeah!
Come on baby, come on
Fuck me baby, fuck yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end
From: https://genius.com/The-doors-the-end-lyrics
