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About the song

“When the Music’s Over” is a song by the American rock band The Doors, featured on their 1967 album “Strange Days”. It’s one of their longer and more complex compositions, known for its powerful lyrics, dramatic structure, and intense performance.

Background:

The song is believed to have originated from a comment made by the owner of a club where The Doors used to play, urging them to turn out the lights when their set was finished. Jim Morrison, the band’s lead singer and lyricist, expanded this simple phrase into a multi-layered exploration of themes such as:

  • The End of an Era: The song’s opening lines, “When the music’s over, turn out the lights,” suggest a sense of finality, perhaps alluding to the end of the 1960s countercultural movement or even a broader apocalyptic vision.
  • Environmental Destruction: The lyrics contain strong ecological themes, with lines like “What have they done to the Earth?” and “The air is full of dust.” This reflects growing concerns about pollution and environmental damage in the late 1960s.
  • Social and Political Chaos: The song references war, violence, and societal breakdown, capturing the turbulent atmosphere of the Vietnam War era.
  • Spiritual Awakening and Loss: There’s a sense of longing for transcendence and a lament for lost innocence, with lines like “Persian night, babe, see the light, babe” and “Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection.”

Lyrics:

The lyrics of “When the Music’s Over” are poetic and open to interpretation. Some key excerpts include:

  • “What have they done to the Earth? What have they done to our fair sister?”
  • “We want the world and we want it… Now!”
  • “A feast of friends, ‘Alive!’ she cried”
  • “Before I sink into the big sleep, I want to hear, I want to hear, the scream of the butterfly”

Themes:

The song’s themes resonate with the social and political climate of the late 1960s, a time of great upheaval and change. It expresses a sense of disillusionment with the established order and a yearning for something new and transformative. The song’s power lies in its ability to evoke strong emotions and provoke reflection on the state of the world and the human condition.

Video

Lyrics

Yeah, c’mon
Yeah!
When the music’s overWhen the music’s over, yeahWhen the music’s overTurn out the lightsTurn out the lightsTurn out the lightsYeah
When the music’s overWhen the music’s overWhen the music’s overTurn out the lightsTurn out the lightsTurn out the lights
For the music is your special friendDance on fire as it intendsMusic is your only friendUntil the endUntil the endUntil the end
Cancel my subscription to the resurrectionSend my credentials to the house of detentionI got some friends insideThe face in the mirror won’t stopThe girl in the window won’t dropA feast of friends, alive she criedWaitin’ for meOutside
Before I sinkInto the big sleepI want to hearI want to hearThe scream of the butterfly
Come back, baby, back into my armWe’re gettin’ tired of hangin’ aroundWaitin’ around with our heads to the groundI hear a very gentle soundVery near yet very farVery soft, yeah, very clearCome today, come todayWhat have they done to the earth, yeah?What have they done to our fair sister?Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit herStuck her with knives in the side of the dawn andTied her with fences and dragged her downI hear a very gentle soundWith your ear down to the groundWe want the world and we want it (we want the world and we want it!)NowNow?Now!
Persian night, babeSee the light, babeSave usJesusSave us!
So when the music’s overWhen the music’s over, yeahWhen the music’s overTurn out the lightsTurn out the lightsTurn out the lights
Well the music is your special friendDance on fire as it intendsMusic is your only friendUntil the endUntil the endUntil the end