”If the doors of perception were cleansed, man would see things as they really are.. infinite.”

In the summer of 1965, Manzarek runs into Morrison on the sands of Venice beach. Morrison mentions that he has written a couple of songs; he sings them for Ray, and Manzarek is overwhelmed by the potential for their artistic collaboration. “Jim, man, with your words and my keyboards-there’s nobody doing this. What we’re gonna do, nobody on the planet is doing. The music, our music, is called.. psychedelic.”

Together with Robby Krieger and John Densmore, they create a sound, an original mix of jazz, classical, California surf, Flamenco guitar, and Chicago blues, that makes an irreversible impact on the music of the day.

”Jim and Ray and John and Robby no longer existed. There was only The Doors.. There was only the music.”

From gigs on the infamous Sunset Strip, home of the legendary Whiskey-a-Go-Go, to a record deal with Elektra; from striking gold with their first hit, “Light My Fire,” in 1967, to their last recording sessions for L.A. Woman, and Jim Morrison’s too early death in Paris, Ray Manzarek tells us the true history of The Doors and Jim Morrison, which only he knows. His story lays to rest the rumors that have abounded about the band, and gives illumination to the dark, shamanic myths that have surrounded the incendiary life of Jim Morrison.

”In that year we had an intense visitation of energy. That year lasted from the summer of 1965 to July 3, 1971.”