My compadre and employer is driving from here through Cali to Oregon to do Thanksgiving with his sister-he texted me saying that as soon as he saw the smoke and smelled the air, the lyrics to “the End” have been playing in his head...
I have been a Doors fan since my teens-I listen to the Doors CD I keep in my 4X4 whenever I’m on the way to do the customer service thing with a difficult person-”Roadhouse Blues” and “The End” are my favorite tunes-and the uncensored version of “Gloria” is hilarious...
I once answered a question I considered inappropriate on a job application with “The future’s uncertain, and the end is always near”-I got a job that was more compatible with my class hours the same day anyway...
I have always liked "The End." It seems to be about the November 1, 1963 coup d'etat in South Vietnam. In the song's lyrics, I discern references to major players in the event including Ngo Dinh Diem, Duong Van Minh and Tran Le Xuan as well as the the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, the Warsaw Pact, and the US State Department.
However, I may be the only one who has ever come up with this interpretation.