"Peace Frog" is a song by

the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential 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, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...

. Although the song was never released as a single in the US, it was issued as the B-side of "

You Make Me Real "You Make Me Real" is a song written by Jim Morrison that was first released on the Doors 1970 album '' Morrison Hotel''. It was also released as the only single from the album, reaching No. 50 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 but was surpassed in po ...

" in France. "Peace Frog" was included on the Doors' second compilation album '' 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". However, due to the songwriters' initial failure to match lyrics, the other group members recorded an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

version of "Peace Frog", in which Morrison later

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 av ...

his vocals after managing to find out the appropriate lyrics to the music. The Doors performed the instrumental version at live shows during 1969. The title was originally "Abortion Stories", but at 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 lines 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 New Haven Arena was an indoor arena on Grove Street in New Haven, Connecticut, that served as a venue for ice hockey, concerts, and circuses. The first arena opened in 1914 but burned down in 1924. The new arena was started but went bankrupt; it ...

. After the guitar solo, the song enters a

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

verse with the lines "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding", which describes a highway accident that occurred when he was young. Morrison reportedly witnessed dead Native Americans while his family was crossing a desert by road in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 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 The 1968 Democratic National Convention protests were a series of protest activities against the Vietnam War that took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Counterculture and anti-Vietnam War protest groups began ...

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 60, ...

'' 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 wi ...

'' 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 music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described "Peace Frog" as "downright funky boogie". Sal Cinquemani writing for '' Slant Magazine'', 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's "eerie keyboards add to the chaos as usual." Tony Thompson said that it is one of the Doors' greatest songs despite the "slightly absurd" title, and that it received radio airplay despite not being released as a single. '' Hartford Courant'' critic J. Greg Robertson regarded the music and lyric to be "magnificent."

Personnel

The Doors *

vocals * Ray Manzarek

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 electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The ped ...

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

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