Peace Frog
- For the clothing company see Peace Frogs.
| "Peace Frog" | |
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| Song |
"Peace Frog" is a song by The Doors which appears on their fifth studio album Morrison Hotel. It was released on vinyl in February 1970 by Elektra/Asylum Records and produced by Paul Rothchild. It has a fairly short running time of 2:50 and blends seamlessly into the next track on the album, "Blue Sunday", making it easy for radio stations to play the two songs consecutively.
The lyrics were adapted from a couple of Morrison's poems, one being entitled "Abortion Stories". Guitarist Robby Krieger has told the story of first writing and recording the music for "Peace Frog" and then, with Morrison, looking through Morrison's notebooks of poetry until the lyrics came to the song. Krieger has described the imagery of abortion as an important part of the song, despite some listeners' being tempted to see it as a song based only on the recent protests and riots in cities like Chicago and New Haven (and on Morrison's 1967 arrest in that Connecticut city).
Overview
The hook of the song is a distorted G5 chord played three times by guitarist Robby Krieger, followed by a brief percussive Wah-wah effect. Morrison begins nearly every line with the word blood, often referring to "Blood in the streets...". A brief musical interlude is next, followed by a guitar solo and then a spoken word verse ("Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding..."). The song ends with a final chord as it segues into the next track, "Blue Sunday".
Imagery
The line "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding/Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind" originates from his poem "Newborn Awakening" (and it also appears at the end of "Ghost Song"). The line is born out of "Dawn's Highway", a poem in which Morrison describes an event that occurred when he was young. Morrison's description of the incident—in An American Prayer—includes a rare mention of his parents.
Me and my — mother and father — and a grandmother and a grandfather — were driving through the desert, at dawn, and a truck load of Indian workers had either hit another car, or just — I don't know what happened — but there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death."
"So the car pulls up and stops. That was the first time I tasted fear. I musta' been about four — like a child is like a flower, his head is floating in the breeze, man.
The line "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven" likely refers to Morrison's December 9, 1967, arrest at the New Haven Arena during a concert. After an altercation with a police officer backstage, Morrison made the incident known to the concert audience, resulting in his arrest for attempting to incite a riot.[1] A similar line about Chicago probably refers to the conflict surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
In other media
- The song is featured in the opening scene of the Season 3 premiere of the NBC show The Blacklist.[2]
- The song is featured in the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
The song is featured in the 1998 movie "The Waterboy".
References
- Peace Frog songfacts.[3] Accessed on August 2, 2009.
- ^ "Jim Morrison". Morbid-curiosity.com. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
- ^ "Music from The Blacklist - Season 3: "The Troll Farmer"". tunelyrics.com. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
- ^ "Peace Frog by The Doors Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
- The Official Doors Website. The Doors | Jim Morrison. Accessed on October 20, 2011.
- Peace Frog Lyrics - The Doors. Accessed on October 20, 2011.
