This was the last song recorded by the members of the Doors, according to Manzarek, as well as Morrison's last recorded song to be released in his lifetime. The single was released in 1971, shortly before Morrison's death, entering the Billboard Hot 100 on July 3, 1971, the day that Morrison died. The song can be seen as an autobiographical account of Morrison's life: he considered himself a "Rider on the storm." The "killer on the road" is a reference to a screenplay he wrote called The Hitchhiker (An American Pastoral), where Morrison was going to play the part of a hitchhiker who goes on a murder spree. Also, Jim Morrison mentions spree killer Billy Cook, in passing, during at least one interview. Cook killed six people, including a young family, while hitchhiking to California. In all likelihood, the Cook murders were inspiration for the song's lyric, "There's a killer on the road / His brain is squirming like a toad ... if you give this man a ride/sweet family will die ;..." Morrison recorded his main vocals and then whispered the lyrics over them to create the echo effect.
This evolved out of a jam session when the band was messing around with " Ghost Riders In the Sky," a 1948 cowboy song by Stan Jones(hooktube.com) that was later recorded by Johnny Cash, Bing Crosby and many others. It was Jim Morrison's idea to alter the title to "Riders On The Storm." The Doors brought in bass players Marc Benno and Jerry Scheff to play on the album. Scheff came up with the distinctive bass line after Manzarek played him what he had in mind on his keyboard. It took a while to figure out, since it was much harder to play on a bass than a keyboard.
(post is archived)