Description
The recording of Waiting for the Sun was difficult for the band. They had used up most of frontman Jim Morrison’s original songbook, a collection of lyrics and ideas, for their first two albums. Consequently, after months of touring, interviews, and television appearances, they had little new material. To compensate, the band attempted to record a longer piece called “The Celebration of the Lizard,” a collection of song fragments held together by Morrison’s often surreal poetry. When they failed to make progress, the band and producer Paul A. Rothchild abandoned the recording. The group would revisit it later in its full-length form on their 1970 album Absolutely Live. Rothchild’s growing perfectionism was also becoming an issue for the band; each song on the album required at least 20 takes with “The Unknown Soldier,” recorded in two parts, requiring 130 takes.
