"Not To Touch The Earth" is a song on
the Doors'
1968 album
Waiting for the Sun. Its lyrics are an excerpt from
Jim Morrison's long poem "
The Celebration of the Lizard," a more complete version of which is printed in the
liner notes of the album. The song's first two lines ("not to touch the earth/not to see the sun") are drawn from the headings of section 1 and 2 of Chapter 60 of
James Frazer's
The Golden Bough, "Between
Heaven and
Earth," which describes the
taboos placed on people thought to have
supernatural power in early societies.
Source: Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (a biography of Jim Morrison and the Doors)