The Doors - Five to One Meaning

Five to One Lyrics

Yeah, c'mon
Love my girl
She lookin' good
C'mon
One more

Five to one, baby
One in five
No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try

The old get old
And the young get...

1. TylerG

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   Aug 17th 2009 !⃝

   I read somewhere that the ratio 5:1 was the ratio of Vietnamese Soldiers to American Soldiers. 5:1 was also about the ratio of whites to blacks, non drug users to drug users and young people to old. But it could be just random words. Jim was obviously drunk when recording. You can even hear before Jim starts singing the first verse someone in the studio says "One More" (meaning one more of the bass riff) before Jim was to start.
2. Jag528cbr

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   Dec 30th 2008 !⃝

   I read somewhere that 5 to 1 was the ratio of Vietcong to US soldiers in Vietnam. The line "no one gets out alive" would make no sense if the song weren't about war. Also the line "They got the guns, but we got the numbers" would add to this interpretation because America had the superior weapons, but Vietcong had numbers, and in my opinion, that line wouldn't make sense in other interpretations.
3. anonymous

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   Dec 30th 2007 !⃝

   Just to clear it up, 5:1 was the ratio of the young generation in the 60's to the older generation because of the 'baby boom'. To put it in basic form, the song is about how they [young people then] could take over, because there were so many of them.
4. anonymous

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   Oct 16th 2007 !⃝

   The "5:1" ratio generally associated with Vietnam was the ratio of Vietcong to US soldiers, which makes more sense than the ratio of drafted soldiers by race. However, that's still not what the song is about. Morrison never actually said what it was about, but, if it means anything, he was cledarly drunk when singing it.
5. ontheroad

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   May 8th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about drugs. 5 to 1 is a certain way heroin is cut. "No one here gets out alive now." I could be wrong though. I think that a song can have more than one meaning.
6. messiah_says

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   Oct 10th 2006 !⃝

   I heard it represented a statistic in the vietnam war. Something like 1 in 5 black young guys got drafted. All the white boys were in college which exempted them from the draft.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. capitalist

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   Jan 25th 2006 !⃝

   A way for Jim Morrison to have really cool bass and drum lines, and to sing even more like a freak than he actually was.
   
   And Is. ;)

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway