"Celebration of the Lizard" is an epic performance piece written by Jim Morrison, frontman of The Doors. Composed as a series of poems, they include musical sections, spoken verse, and passages of allegorical storytelling.
Poems
- Lions in the Street
- Wake Up!
- A Little Game
- The Hill Dwellers
- Not to Touch the Earth
- Names of the Kingdom
- The Palace of Exile
Description
The poem was supposed to be a full side of a vinyl record or album, but the other members of the band thought that the extended poetic sections and overall length of the piece made a complete recording impossible. The band did attempt to record the full piece several times, but abandoned the idea when they were dissatisfied with the results. One musical passage from "The Celebration", Not to Touch the Earth, was put onto their third studio album Waiting for the Sun of 1968, the rest of the poems were published in the liner notes of the album.
"Celebration" was performed in its entirety at a handful of Doors shows. A performance of "Celebration" can be heard on the band's 1970 live album Absolutely Live. The first recorded version wasn't released until the 2003 best-of album Legacy: The Absolute Best.
"Jim is black Irish to the breath" wrote Richard Goldstein in his article, "The Shaman as a Superstar."