The Doors had a sound that stood apart from many contemporary rock bands. The use of Rhodes pianos or organs, the walking bass in songs like this and “Break On Through”, and of course, Jim Morrison’s singing. I didn’t realise before, but if you listen, you can hear him whispering the lyrics in the background. A cool touch.
“Riders On The Storm” was released in 1971, and was the last song that Morrison recorded that was released before his mysterious and tragic death later that year.
It’s quite a jazzy track, but is actually based on “Riders In The Sky”, a folk song by Stan Jones. Johnny Cash has a nice version if you’re interested.
The song could be interpreted in a number of ways. Superficially, the song alludes to humans as being swept along by the storm of life.
“Into this house we’re born, Into this world we’re thrown
Like a dog without a bone, An actor out on loan”
Life is chaotic and humans are relatively powerless, so you might as well live!