"When the Music is Over" by the Doors

The Doors
The Doors named themselves after a quote from a William Blake poem, “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear as it is, infinite.” For all of his excesses of drugs and sex, Jim Morrison was definitely searching for truth and hope—something he apparently never found.

Listening for the Connections
As you listen and/or watch this extended song from the Doors, keep these questions in mind. Point out answers quietly to others in your group. (Live performance video available on Live at the Hollywood Bowl).
1. Put a star * next to references to heaven.
2. Put a exclamation point ! next to references to hell.
3. Circle any references to looking for a savior or hope.
4. Underline references to death.
5. Put a sad face next to references to loneliness or loss of hope.


Today’s Song: “When the Music’s Over” by the Doors from the album, Strange Days

Chorus
Yeah, c’mon
When the music’s over
When the music’s over, yeah, when the music’s over
Turn out the lights, turn out the lights
Turn out the lights, yeah
When the music’s over (x3)
Turn out the lights (x3)
For the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end (x3)

1. Cancel my subscription to the resurrection
Send my credentials to the house of detention
I got some friends inside
The face in the mirror won’t stop
The girl in the window won’t drop
A feast of friends, alive! she cried
Waitin’ for me, outside!

2. Before I sink, into the big sleep
I want to hear, I want to hear
The scream of the butterfly
Come back, baby, back into my arm
We’re gettin’ tired of hangin’ around
Waitin’ around with our heads to the ground
I hear a very gentle sound, very near yet very far
Very soft, yeah, very clear, come today, come today

3. What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences and dragged her down
I hear a very gentle sound
With your ear down to the ground

4. We want the world and we want it... (x2)
Now, now? , now!
Persian night, babe, see the light, babe
Save us!, Jesus!, save us!

Chorus
So when the music’s over
When the music’s over, yeah
When the music’s over
Turn out the lights (x3)
Well the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end (x3)

Music by the Doors; Lyrics by Jim Morrison © 1967, Doors Music Co.

Connect with Scripture: Psalm 6:1-7
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
[2] Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
[3] My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?

[4] Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
[5] For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

[6] I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
[7] My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright(C) 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles. All Rights Reserved.

Behind the Music
1. Where does the Doors’ song and Psalm 6 talk about similar feelings?
2. Stanza 1, how could “cancel my subscription to the resurrection” be similar to Psalm 6:1?
3. How is the psalmist’s hope for salvation in verses 4-5 similar or different than in the song (stanza 2 and stanza 4)?
4. Stanza 4, do you think this is a sincere cry to Jesus for help?
5. Chorus, what in death will we find is a “special friend” and a “dance on fire”?
6. If you had a friend who was overly obsessed with death, what should you do or say? How could you use this song to point to Jesus?