"Not to Touch the Earth" is a 1968 song by

the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

from their third album ''

Waiting for the Sun ''Waiting for the Sun'' is the third studio album by the American rock band the Doors, released by Elektra Records on July 3, 1968. The album's 11 tracks were recorded between late 1967 and May 1968 mostly at TTG Studios in Los Angeles. It becam ...

''. It is part of an extended performance piece called "

Celebration of the Lizard "Celebration of the Lizard" is a performance piece by American rock band the Doors, featuring lyrics written by lead singer Jim Morrison and music by the Doors. Composed as a series of poems, the piece includes both spoken verse and sung lyrics, ...

" that the band played live multiple times. A 17-minute studio recording of the complete piece was attempted during the sessions for ''Waiting for the Sun'', and the lyrics were printed in their entirety on the

gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for gramophone record, LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½-inch 2.7-centimetresquare). ...

LP sleeve, but only the musical passage "Not to Touch the Earth" was included on the LP. The full 1968 studio recording of "Celebration of the Lizard" was released in 2003 on the '' Legacy: The Absolute Best'' compilation and the 40th Anniversary Edition CD re-issue of ''Waiting for the Sun''.

Lyrics

In the 2020 book ''Listen to Classic Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre'', author Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith compares "Not to Touch the Earth" to "Shaman's Blues" (from the 1969 ''

The Soft Parade ''The Soft Parade'' is the fourth studio album by American rock music, rock band the Doors, released on July 18, 1969, by Elektra Records. Most of the album was recorded following a grueling tour during which the band was left with little time t ...

''), since both songs lyrically seem to indicate that "Morrison was fascinated by

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

". A portion of the lyrics refer apparently to

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

: "dead president's corpse in the driver's car". Music journalist

Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (né Gerstley; born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biogra ...

on the other hand, elaborates that the line may not be "necessarily about JFK," but "an image floating over the tableau of everyday life." The song begins with the line, "Not to touch the earth, not to see the sun", these are subchapters of the 60th chapter of ''

The Golden Bough ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion'' (retitled ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion'' in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir ...

'' by

James Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folkloristJosephson-Storm (2017), Chapter 5. influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. Per ...

. The chapter is called "Between Heaven and Earth", with subchapter 1, "Not to Touch the Earth", and subchapter 2, "Not to See the Sun". These subchapters detail taboos against certain people (generally royalty or priests) walking upon the ground or having the sun shine directly upon them. Frazer had noted that these superstitions were recurring throughout many primitive cultures, and appeared to be related to traditions and taboos concerning

menarche Menarche ( ; ) is the first menstrual cycle, or first menstruation, menstrual bleeding, in female humans. From both social and medical perspectives, it is often considered the central event of female puberty, as it signals the possibility of fe ...

and the following female initiation rites. Frazer's work had an influence on Morrison, according to the Doors biography '' No One Here Gets Out Alive'' (1980).

Musical style

"Not to Touch the Earth" has received many characterizations and definitions by both authors and critics, concerning its musical style. Writing a review for the compilation album ''

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

'', critic Stuart Berman characterized it as an

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage rock, garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelia, psychedelic subculture. While the term has sometimes been used interchangeably with "psyc ...

track. Author Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith wrote that the song represents a conventional

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

track on ''Waiting for the Sun'', but "musically it is real part of the Doors'

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

effort." The tune has also been classified as

avant-rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

song, notably by British journalist

Mick Wall Mick Wall (born 23 June 1958) is a British music journalist, author, and radio and TV presenter. He has been described as "the world's leading rock and metal writer". Career Wall began his career in 1976 at the age of 18, contributing to the mus ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Not To Touch The Earth 1968 songs The Doors songs Songs written by John Densmore Songs written by Robby Krieger Songs written by Ray Manzarek Songs written by Jim Morrison Song recordings produced by Paul A. Rothchild