When you know you’re leaving—but don’t want anyone to see you cry
In the summer of 1971, Jim Morrison lived quietly in a small apartment in Paris with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. No stage lights. No recording sessions. No rock ‘n’ roll chaos. Just poetry, sketchbooks, and long silent nights.
Friends urged him to return to the U.S. The Doors were waiting. The fans missed him. But Jim declined. Not with anger—just with silence. He didn’t want the world to see him weak, breathless, and no longer the Lizard King.
Deep down, Jim knew the end was near. But he chose to stay hidden, to let his final chapter be quiet. In Paris, the doors never really closed—because his voice still lingers in every lyric, every haunting note.