"Peace Frog" is a 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 ...

, which was released on their fifth studio album '' Morrison Hotel'' in 1970. Guitarist

Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits " Light My Fire", " Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...

explained that the music was written and recorded first, with the lyrics later coming from poems by singer

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...

. Although the song was never released as a single in the US, it was issued as the B-side of " You Make Me Real" in France. "Peace Frog" was included on the Doors' second

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

'' Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine'', released in 1972.

Lyrics

The song's lyrics were derived from three poems written earlier by Morrison, titled "Abortion Stories", "Dawn's Highway" and "Newborn Awakening". The group, however, recorded the music of "Peace Frog" firstly wordless, before Morrison

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

his vocals, as Krieger recalled: "I had written the music, we rehearsed it up, and it was really happening, but we didn't have any lyrics and Jim wasn't around. We just said, 'Fuck it, let's record it. He'll come up with something.' And he did. He took out his poetry book and found a poem that fit." The Doors performed the

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

version at live shows during 1969. The title was originally "Abortion Stories", but at record producer Paul A. Rothchild's request, Morrison changed it to "Peace Frog", as he was afraid that the initial title would create some controversy. "Peace Frog" features lyrics inspired by true events surrounding the band's frontman Morrison. The line "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven" is a reference to his onstage arrest on December 9, 1967, during a live performance in New Haven Arena. After the guitar solo, the song enters a

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

verse with the lines "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding", which describes a highway accident that occurred when he was young. Morrison purportedly witnessed dead Native Americans while his family was crossing a desert by road in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. He said, "That was the first time I tasted fear. I musta' been about four." Morrison was also referring to the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests with the lyric "Blood in the street/ The town of Chicago".

Critical reception

Unlike the Doors previous album, '' The Soft Parade'', ''Morrison Hotel'' received positive responses by critics, and it was widely seen as a comeback in the band's quality. "Peace Frog" is also praised as one of the album's highlights. ''

Louder Sound ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 196 ...

'' ranked the song among "The Top 20 Greatest Doors Songs", while ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' cited it as Robby Krieger's third best track for the group. Krieger himself, included it as one of his personal favorite Doors songs on '' The Doors: Box Set''. In a positive album review of ''Morrison Hotel'', critic Thom Jerek of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described "Peace Frog" as "downright funky boogie". Sal Cinquemani writing for ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'', declared the song as the best track on ''Morrison Hotel'', and "one of the Doors' greatest." Critic Jason Elias wrote that the song is "one of those tracks that will constantly amaze." He praised Robby Krieger's "bluesy lines" and

Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. ( Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the rock band the Doors, co-founding the group in 1965 with fellow UCLA School of Theater, Film and Te ...

's "eerie keyboards add to the chaos as usual." ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'' critic J. Greg Robertson regarded the music and lyric to be "magnificent."

Certifications

Personnel

The Doors *

vocals *

Vox Continental The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supp ...

organ *

electric guitar with

wah-wah pedal A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of effects pedal designed for electric guitar that alters the timbre of the input signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The peda ...

John Densmore John Paul Densmore (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the Rock music, rock band the Doors and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recording made by the band, ...

drums Session musicians * Ray Neapolitanbass guitar

References

{{Authority control The Doors songs 1969 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 Songs about Native Americans