The Doors: Cars Hiss By My Window Meaning

Cars Hiss By My Window Lyrics

The cars hiss by my window
Like the waves down on the beach
The cars hiss by my window
Like the waves down on the beach
I got this girl beside me
But she's out of reach

Headlight through my window
Shinin' on the wall
Headlight through...

1. anonymous

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   Nov 21st 2023 !⃝

   The interpretation that I have of 'Cars Hiss by My Window' by The Doors doesn't take a deep poetic route. It's really more of a scene from a movie. I take it at face value with an added narrative. It's of a literal moment being described. It's a snapshot of a matter of few seconds, a scenario that takes less than a minute. Here's the scene:
   
   Imagine a man lying in a dark room beside a window adjacent to the city street, with a girl next to him in a deep sleep after a long night. They are either extremely high from drugs, alcohol, or both, but he is coming down. Unable to sleep, his eyes wide open, he is awakened by the hissing sound of cars passing by the window, reminiscent of waves at the beach.
   
   "The cars hiss by my window
   Like the waves down on the beach"
   
   This continuous stream of cars appears never-ending, marked by brief periods of silence. The man attempts to wake the girl beside him but finds her out of reach, likely too deeply asleep from their long night of partying.
   
   "I got this girl beside me, but she's
   Out of reach"
   
   Spotting headlights on the wall through his window, he realizes the hissing has ceased. He tries to call out to his girl, whose snoring was drowned out by the noise.
   
   "Headlight through my window
   Shinin' on the wall
   Can't hear my baby
   Though I called and called"
   
   The windows begin to tremble, and the ground shakes. Suddenly, like a sonic boom, a car crashes through the wall, killing them both.
   
   "Windows started tremblin'
   With a sonic boom, boom"
   
   The story concludes tragically: a cold girl will kill you in a darkened room. The possibility arises that an ex-lover, driven by vengeance, intentionally crashed through the wall to kill them, or that a drunken female driver accidentally caused their deaths.
   
   "A cold girl'll kill you
   In a darkened room"
   
   
2. anonymous

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   Aug 5th 2016 !⃝

   Jim Morrison's "Cars Hiss by My Window" relates to the manner in which society treats those who stray from its values. The rushing, hissing cars are trying to pull Jim into conformity, reaching for him like waves. The unnamed girl beside him is distant in terms of her values; while she may have materialistic and egotistic tendencies, Jim is searching for personal integrity. Thus, Jim calls for her in hopes of explaining his thinking and reaching an understanding. Her reply, probably filled to the brim with society's teachings,falls deaf upon Jim's ears. The headlights outside are searchlights, approaching their rebellious fugitive. Unfortunately, soceity gets the upper hand. Jim explains how society kills off its prophets: they can die by force, such as a sonic boom; the undesired effect to this: their physical death makes them a martyr. Jim explains a far more effective extinction tool. Death by seduction leaves the body alive, but that is all. The spiritually dead do not realize that they have sold their souls, as they only care about the empirical. This type of slaughter, committed by the " cold girl in a darkened room", is more cruel than physical death. It renders one into a shallow, obedient hedonist, a hollow shell of their former selves. The seduced are no longer fallen heroes, and thus recieve no respect. Their reputation ruined, they no longer pose a threat to the system. They just waste themselves in cycles of self destruction, like waves upon the beach...

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