The Celebration of the Lizard

"Celebration of the Lizard"
Musical and poetry piece by The Doors
from the album Absolutely Live
Published	1970
Released	1970, (live version)
Recorded	Aquarius Theater, Los Angeles - July 21, 1969
Genre	Psychedelic rock, acid rock, space rock, progressive rock, poetry
Length	14:25 (live version) 17:09 (studio version)
Label	Elektra
Composer(s)	John Densmore, Jim Morrison, Robbie Kreiger, Ray Manzarek
Lyricist(s)	Jim Morrison
Producer(s)	Paul A. Rothchild

"Celebration of the Lizard" is a performance piece written by Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors. Composed as a series of poems, they include musical sections, spoken verse and passages of allegorical storytelling.

The entire piece was intended to be recorded and released as one full side of one of the band's albums, but record producer Paul A. Rothchild and 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, "Not to Touch the Earth," was released on their third studio album Waiting for the Sun in 1968. The lyrics for the rest of the piece were published inside the gatefold jacket of the original vinyl LP.

"Celebration" was performed in its entirety at a handful of Doors shows. A complete performance of "Celebration" can be heard on the band's 1970 live album Absolutely Live. The first recorded studio version of "Celebration" in its entirety was not released until the 2003 compilation album Legacy: The Absolute Best.

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Wikipedia