Great reaction. Jerry Scheff went on to play bass for Elvis in the 70s. Ray Manzarek told a funny story about that bass line. Ray developed that bass line on his key board and told Jerry to play it on his bass. (Apparently it's harder to play on the fret board than on key board). So, Jerry said, "are you kidding me, that's impossible play that on a fret board". Ray said, "That's the bass line I want, you gotta play it. !" , So, Jerry pulled it off beautifully. .By the way, I like your Frazetta posters. You may or may not already know, but that top painting was used as the cover of the "Flirtin' With Disaster" album (1979) by the band Molly Hatchet. They used several other Frazetta paintings for album covers as well.
See the tuneage we Boomers grew up in the '60s, '70s? A new "sound" in rock every 3, 4 monthhs, never getting stale. We were so lucky, so blessed to have this stuff on the radio as the "Soundtrack of our lives."
To top it off, all of these kinds of music were played on the local AM radio stations. Radio was mostly Top 40 with independent stations so they played what was popular and were not locked into a specific genre by corporate owners. Our alternative was AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio where we would hear the full length singles, deep cuts, and album sides that were not played on Top 40 radio. It was a great time for a kid who loved all kinds of music. I grew up close to a big city that had a public radio station so I also got to hear classical, Big Band, and "old timey" folk.
There’s actually an isolated “Whisper Only Mix” of this on YT. I can’t post the link because anytime I post with links they seem to always get deleted but it is easily searchable by that title. Very eerie!
Here's a little interesting thing ....back when this came out everybody bought records so this was the last song on side two and you heard the storm in the background well here's the thing they ran the sound of the storm into the inner groove so if your tone arm didn't lift up automatically then you could just hear the rain falling for as long as the record plays
When I was in my late teens at school…we had the Doors….and the Beatles….and the Who….and Led Zeppelin….and Jimi Hendrix…..and Free……and Fairport Convention……and frank Zappa and the Mothers…..and Yes…..and david Bowie…..and Little Feat…..and Cream…..and John Mayall…..and Santana…..and John Martyn…….and Jefferson Airplane…..and the Rolling Stones……..and Neil Young…….and the Beach Boys…..and King Crimson……and Nick Drake…….and the Doobie Bros…….and Peter Greens Fleetwood mac……..and Rod Stewart and the Faces………and The Grateful Dead……and Miles Davis…..and Crosby, Stills and Nash…….and Ten Years After…….and Traffic…….and The Mahavishnu Orchestra…..and I could go on and on and on ……..all feeding into an eclectic mix of new music that we embraced and absorbed. It was a magical time to live and the music was par excellence…..glad you are discovering our heritage and appreciating the sounds we loved and played. Now. At the age of 71…I never cease to be amazed how good the music was
I‘m the same age as you. Permit me to add some other of my favorites to your fantastic list-Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, B.B. King, Howlin‘ Wolf, Jeff Healy, The Kinks, Canned Heat, Captain Beefheart, The Mamas and the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, Taj Mahal-to name a few.
@@robertmorin1493 I agree….the list is endless….and isn’t it good to note that these were all MUSICIANS , without auto tune and all the other studio ‘box of magic tricks’ to enhance their recordings which meant that they could play it all LIVE.
I'm Gen X (b 1972) and I love the 60s rock and folk. In the 90s I got real into Jefferson Airplane. Particularly Grace's protest lyrics and spooky songs Lather, Rejoyce, Mexico, Eskimo Blue Day, We Can Be Together. "Up against the wall motherfucker" groundbreaking lyric. Paved the way for me to love Sonic Youth etc 💥✌️🌞
My favorite Doors tune. The sound effects, Ray's incredible keys, Jim's moody vocals and whisper, the mysterious and creepy lyrics, the guitar fills and the amazing call-and-response outtro. Has it all.
I was nearly 11 when this was released and it was the first time I really noticed the Doors. My parents had a recording of Light My Fire, but it was by Jose Feliciano so I thought he wrote that and I had very little knowledge of the Doors. Jim on this sounds/sounded like such a crooner, I pictured him to be a short haired middle aged guy like Perry Como or Andy Williams! I was shocked when I finally saw pictures of him! 😂
@@L33Reacts There is a great video of Ray talking about how this song came together and his keys part bringing the rain. 7.7 mil views 10 min video on YT... enjoy!
This came out when I was a freshman in high school on my clock/radio when it was raining outside. I stayed long in my bed and almost missed my early bus. I will never forget how profound the experience. The Doors are iconic of the times, and for the rest of my life.
I don't think Krieger gets enough credit for his guitar work on this song. His fills are so tasty, and his conversation with Manzarek as the song fades are perfect.
Yeah it's such an eeire atmosphere they paint. I love it. Very unsettling at points and at others you feel your mind just drifting to strange places. I love this band and the experience I always have with their work.
Ray's trickle down piano run is spine tingling, and the call and response coda with the keyboards and Robby's tremolo guitar are beautiful at evoking the sound of the last raindrops in puddles as the storm starts to move on.
Ughhhhhh you are so right. That ending between them was the best part for the impending doom motif they were playing with. It's prescient and strange this was their last song that Jim recorded
The moment in time with this song for me was hearing it at night, during a storm, as a 16 yr. old co-pilot to my older brother. It was on a vacation in the Deep South in the late 60’s, driving from Savannah to Galveston. Our parents and siblings were asleep in the back of the station wagon. It made a huge impact on both of us. I can still hear the rain and see the flashing detour signs over 50 yrs. later. (Southern storms are perfect for the mood this song produces) ❤❤❤
Isn't it wild how evocative music is? The exact moment. The smell. The sights. It will always take us there like time travel. Music is so strange. And wonderful.
Louisiana has the deepest autumn cloud scape of hell like orange and deep cavernous grey and blue tone. I listened to this on the outer west bridge of lake ponchatrain from New Orleans into Hammond.
@@L33ReactsSo very true, and I can still picture the time when I was in the USAF, and it was in the late '80s. I was coming down a back road into Norman, OK, in my '63 Galaxy, and while I was singing Stephen Stills' Love The One You're With, I decided I was in the mood for some radio. And when I turned it on, they were playing the exact same place in the same song. After that things blur visually, but I remember knowing that this was a special life moment, and leaned into it hard. That's chiseled into stone for me. Life, when it comes right down to it, is about the memories you make for yourself. Those can't be taken from you without wrecking your mind. Mine are treasures, but how do you treat yours? One of the primary purposes of life is to live it, the how is up to you.
@L33Reacts Thanks my music lovin' brother..By the way,, I truly enjoy your reactions & analysis,, Speaking of that,, This MUST HEAR Classic track will give you PLENTY to analyze,, At the time of it's release,, There was nothing like it & would become an instant rock anthem,, I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to see/hear your reaction/analysis of this one,, Billy Thorpe "Children Of The Sun" 🔥🌞🔥 Not to mention the fact that your subscribers would also love you reacting to it..I truly thank you for ALL your time & effort you put in for our enjoyment/entertainment my music lovin' brother. "Happy"
Always loved thunder and lightening as a child..when I heard this as a teenager I giggled uncontrollably. For the rest of my life, whenever I hear rain, I hear this. Lucky me! ❤️🔥
I was 17 when this dropped in the UK and having seen The Doors the year before at the legendary Isle of Wight festival,just made me love them even more. Have you heard “Roadhouse Blues” yet? Banger and Jim goes bang at it. Well worth a listen.
Impending doom. These guys were in the know about stuff. It's almost like they are laughing at us with the dribble of real knowledge they scatter amongst their catalog. And that's just the stuff I've heard. The Doors of perception indeed.
Morrison was very perceptive plus he grew up w/ a birdseye view of the undercurrent power levers of our culture via his fathers position & ascent in the military. He wasn’t knee jerk left either. He had those sensibilities but he also had a strong libertarian view wh/ allowed him to connect w/ people in the military. Most will tell you that the doors connected w/ the chaos of the times & rang true for many soldiers over there having to endure and survive in the jungles. Hence why Copolla made such a great choice by embedding the end into apocalypse now. Ray and Jim’s film background gave their sound visual depth and atmosphere that few bands have ever achieved. B/c of their inconsistency, hype about the doomed sex god & trouble w/ law I think they get short changed. When on their A game, they were the most potent and palpably dangerous band of the their era. Unique signature also wh/ made them an acquired taste. Antecedents to punk, death metal and college radio.
You have a good ear for both sound and lyrics. By this point morrison had refined minimalist depth in his lyrics. On one level an eerie narrative of a hitcher and a driver out on a desert storm. Yet, there is indeed the onion here. The lyrics use a symbolist technique and connect into a deeper theme re the culture. Like the end, it scales up like a hawk elevating higher and seeing more than returns back in denouement in the last stanza to bring you back to ques now on a deeper level. Listen or read again & think these Blake like metaphor technique: road as time & fate. Past, present, future…. The car present movement thru time. The driver forced to face choice. The hitcher, the choice of temptation, chaos and destruction. Like a dark modern satyr. The fork in the road is the option to ride on and endure the storm (the dark cultural strife and conflict) & find love, endure, family thru taking a wise lovers hand… Jim’s farewell to the homeland. It presents both warning but also hope leading into a decade wh/ saw the fruits of virtue of those who put themselves back together, yet also those who imploded. That same theme is played out in forest coming back from nam and Jenny & Dan. Choice, fate. Morrison had a playwright screenplay mind.
I've told this story before. When this song first came out, I was hitch hiking one night in the pouring rain. An attractive young lady took pity on me and gave me a ride. Less than a minute after I got in her car, this song came on
Ray & Jim met in college . Jim approached Ray & said he heard he was starting a band .Jim said he was a poet , wrote lyrics and Ray asked him to write some down. Jim wrote Let's swim to the moon , let's climb through the tide .. Ray was moved , the band formed
And to think Paul Rothchild walked out on this album as Producer because he said their studio performance was lacking. LA Woman is one of their best albums.
Respectfully disagree. “Riders” and “L.A. Woman” are fantastic, and a few of the other songs aren’t slouches either. But the rest are simply dreadful. When it’s good it’s really, really good, but overall the album is slapdash and unfocused. From “The Doors” to “Morrison Hotel” the band had made the journey from psychedelic rock to blues, but after that I’m not sure that they knew what they wanted to be.
@@michaelhall2709 You are right. We respectfully disagree. I love how they started off with the strange & haunting material in their debut, and progressed or morphed into a pretty gutty, bluesy sound.
@@fleegerbriggs5694 Fair enough. For what it’s worth I’d still overall rate “L.A. Woman” considerably higher than “Waiting for the Sun” or “The Soft Parade,” even with the lesser material.
An overlooked LP is “Soft Parade”. Several great cuts, but give a listen to the title track. 8:40 minutes of great Doors. I’ve never heard a reaction to this track.
Back when I was a young stoner, we used to go to the planetarium for the laser show. They almost always started with this song. Just before the song started they would simulate lightning flashes and then they blew cool air on us along with sprinkles of water as the song started. It was an immersive experience, especially if LSD was involved. God, I miss those times. LOL
Hey man, I appreciate how you make it your business to get to know the names of the bands you’re listening to and which instruments they play. Keep up with the 60’s and 70’s music. Have you listened to early Chicago yet? Their first album Chicago Transit Authority, the whole album is fantastic. Excellent musicians and singers.
I appreciate that, Michael. I try my best. But there's so many damn bands LOL but the ones I really dig I always remember the names. I've done a handful of CTA tracks so far but I haven't really dived in. 25 or 6 to 4 is my favorite so far
Saw Ray and Robbie in concert and it was still great. My favorite Doors story is when Morrison said to Krieger, Why dont you write something? He came up with Light My Fire😎👍
A classic and iconic song from a classic iconic band. When they wrote this and when they played it live Ray Manzarek played the bass notes on the electric piano while he was doing those awesome licks and riffs. One of the best 70s rock keyboardists. What a cool song. I love it.
Krieger is my favorite guitarist, very underrated, I am also a drummer and Densmore is also underrated, you can hear the jazz in his drums and he accented Jim's words perfectly. I guess you can say that the Doors were a great band because they all seemed to be playing off each other at all times and gave each other the space to create. Jim was the front man but they were all masters at their instrument and masters of their roles in the Doors.
This is a driving home alone at 2:00am song. You're hitting all the classics, another 50 years and you'll be caught up, and old like we are now, lol! Peace
The Doors are my favorite band. Can’t wait to hear more reactions by you for them. Black Sabbath is my second favorite band. Do you like them? Have you listened to them before? If not, it’ll be awesome to see you check them out.
This song is the Ultimate in "Cool". 😎 The Bassist Jerry Scheff was one of the Top Session Players at the time; he was based in LA and did many of the recordings with Elvis Presley and so The Doors were blown away to have him play on their album.
Read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor and then read the second verse of "Riders on the Storm." O'Connor became an important member of the American literary canon in the late 1960's, so it's not surprising that Morrison was reading her.
He was reading and influenced by Arthur Rimbaud Read Rimbaud And Jim Morrison. Later Jim quit music quit the Cabal became right wing political activist Rush Limbaugh. Google view images plenty more.
The band was jamming in the studio to Vaughn Monroe's "Ghost Riders in the Sky". Jim entered the studio and proclaimed, "I have lyrics for this!" They tweaked "Ghost Riders" enough to turn it into Riders on the Storm. Jerry Scheff, at that time the bass player for Elvis (Which excited Jim when he learned Jerry would play on the album with them), had to mimic what Ray was playing on his bass keyboard. Jerry had to twist and turn his arms and wrists in order to do it, causing some slides between the notes, which happen to work nicely on this song.
Scheff said morrison had a scroll like large notebook he opened up on a podium and pulled out lines wh/ fit. Like a prophets bringing the tablets down.
Back in the old days of Hollywood actors were contracted to certain studios and if they wanted to do a movie for a different one their studio had to approve it and loan them out. That’s where I think the line ‘like an actor out on loan’ comes from. We’re thrown into this world like an actor out on loan from some celestial studio and with nothing, like a dog without a bone.
I'm from Joplin, Mo, where Billy Cook, the SW US highway killer is buried at Peace Church Cemetery, where a lot of my family is buried. He was at least one of the e inspirations for the "killer on the road" in this song.
there are a few tribute bands that roam around the uk playing venues, and there is one for the The Doors, called The Doors Ajar. I love the ingenuity of some people to make names for their tribute bands.
I watched a video not long ago where Ray was explaining to an interviewer how they developed "Rider's on the Storm" and he was showing Jerry Scheff on the keyboard how he wanted the bass line played. Ray said that at first Jerry told him it was too difficult and he couldn't do it and showed him on his bass how his fingers had to move. As we all know, they worked through it and musical history was made.
Whoever the bass-player was or who wrote his line, it´s an outstanding part of the song. Besides this jazzy, ultimately cool main-theme of the e-piano and the guitar. Would love to hum it all day long. And although you wouldn´t hear a thing, you´d know what theme I´ve meant.
There's a pretty good video featuring Ray Manzarek out on UA-cam where Ray walks through the song and talks about how it all came together. He talks about the music and the lyrics and I thought that it really added to my appreciation of this song.
There was a posthumous release from Jim Morrison called "An American Prayer", with an alternate version of "Riders On The Storm". A phone call plays on the "There's a killer on the road" line, and adds an extra something eerie to an already eerie song. This was the very last song that Mr. Mojo Risin' ever recorded before his untimely demise in Paris.
Yeah this was just eerie all together... of course, his untimely demise adds to it, but even without the tragedy it's an odd experience. I felt my mind and my "doors of perception" opening to some strange places. Like with every long doors song. This one led me to some strange thoughts on our history and the truth of our relative existence
The legendary Jerry Scheff on bass...at the time Jerry was in Elvis's TCB band. Straight after the LA Woman sessions, Scheff had to haul his arse off to Vegas for a late January-Feb 1971 Elvis engagement
PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT for this one my music lovin' brother,, Lenny Kravitz "Are You Gonna Go My Way"...As the old saying goes,, Where there's smoke,, There's fire!! 🔥🎸🔥
...fantastic song, and yes, Jim left us early, but there's a ton of more excellent songs/albums by them, and don't miss out that late masterpiece: 'An American Prayer' (1978), where the band put material together around his voice recordings... my personal top 3 of 60s musical artists has always since been: the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Doors - they're at the peak of an avalanche of brilliant musicians of that decade. Love & Peace, man... 💖☮
good ear on your part for both sound and lyrics. By this point morrison had refined minimalist depth in his lyrics. On one level an eerie narrative of a hitcher and a driver out on a desert storm. Yet, there is indeed the onion here. The lyrics use a symbolist technique and connect into a deeper theme re the culture. Like the end, it scales up like a hawk elevating higher and seeing more than returns back in denouement in the last stanza to bring you back to ques now on a deeper level. Listen or read again & think these Blake like metaphor technique: road as time & fate. Past, present, future…. The car present movement thru time. The driver forced to face choice. The hitcher, the choice of temptation, chaos and destruction. Like a dark modern satyr. The fork in the road is the option to ride on and endure the storm (the dark cultural strife and conflict) & find love, endure, family thru taking a wise lovers hand… Jim’s farewell to the homeland. It presents both warning but also hope leading into a decade wh/ saw the fruits of virtue of those who put themselves back together, yet also those who imploded. That same theme is played out in forest coming back from nam and Jenny & Dan. Choice, fate. Morrison had a playwright screenplay mind.
Haha thanks. It gets tiresome taking the same photo over and over. And I refuse to turn into one of those hyperbolic, clickbait channels. Music deserves so much better. If not for a couple channels and the if i wasn't a reactor, I'd have mostly negative things to say about the whole video style. It's so derivative. But I try to add personality and analysis at the least.
If you want another great late 60s, early 70s band, you need to check out Humble Pie. Try the song "I Don't Need No Doctor" off their live album "Performance Rockin' the Fillmore". Humble Pie is: Steve Marriott: Guitar, Vocals Peter Frampton: Guitar, Vocals Greg Ridley: Bass, Vocals Jerry Shirley: Drums, Vocals
Fun fact: There's a voice whispering the lyrics all throughout the song in the background. It's kind of subtle and you need good headphones/speakers to hear it, but once you do notice it's impossible to NOT hear it.
I remember the criticism of this song at the time was that it was “elevator music”and just not up to previous Doors standards. I was able to see where that was coming from, but liked it anyway.
Critics were off…. This was growth on the doors part. Refined, minimalist yet more depth. Jazz fusion meets moody urban blues. W/ Jim’s scot like high lonesome poet voice. Their last album is as impressive as the debut if you let it absorb.
I think this was a great album in terms of bringing in really good bass players, freeing up Ray on this song in particular. I really liked the direction they were headed in, but alas it was not to be with Jim. I think it’s important to note that they did release further albums without Jim after his passing and I’ve never heard them..has anybody out there?
When you mention about Jim Morrison being a "people watcher", there is no doubt he absolutely was. The title track to their 4th album "The Soft Parade" catalogues some of the bizarre and colorful characters that Morrison saw on Sunset Blvd. in LA.
Your remarks about some offbeat people being labeled 'strange" reminded me of this statement from Akira Kurosawa: "In a mad world, only the mad are sane."
@@codyreitsma5918 That's right. Also, there's a similar comment from a character near the end of I Live in Fear, another great Kurosawa film made 30 years earlier then Ran. A doctor asks, "Is he crazy? Or, are we, who can remain unperturbed in an insane world, the crazy ones?"
In an interview with, I think, Ray Manzerik, he said this song came about late one evening when they were in the studio playing/noodling around with the song Ghost Riders In The Sky by the Sons of the Pioneers. A song from the late 30s, early 40s. If you listen to that song you can hear the mood they were capturing. Jim came back to the studio later by himself and laid down the vocals. Then left for Paris, never to return. Here’s a link to GHost Riders in the Sky. ua-cam.com/video/eMqKv7BOg_s/v-deo.htmlsi=OiOow7RPp4NqqTUi
Great reaction. Jerry Scheff went on to play bass for Elvis in the 70s. Ray Manzarek told a funny story about that bass line. Ray developed that bass line on his key board and told Jerry to play it on his bass. (Apparently it's harder to play on the fret board than on key board). So, Jerry said, "are you kidding me, that's impossible play that on a fret board". Ray said, "That's the bass line I want, you gotta play it. !" , So, Jerry pulled it off beautifully. .By the way, I like your Frazetta posters. You may or may not already know, but that top painting was used as the cover of the "Flirtin' With Disaster" album (1979) by the band Molly Hatchet. They used several other Frazetta paintings for album covers as well.
See the tuneage we Boomers grew up in the '60s, '70s? A new "sound" in rock every 3, 4 monthhs, never
getting stale. We were so lucky, so blessed to have this stuff on the radio as the "Soundtrack of our lives."
To top it off, all of these kinds of music were played on the local AM radio stations. Radio was mostly Top 40 with independent stations so they played what was popular and were not locked into a specific genre by corporate owners. Our alternative was AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio where we would hear the full length singles, deep cuts, and album sides that were not played on Top 40 radio. It was a great time for a kid who loved all kinds of music. I grew up close to a big city that had a public radio station so I also got to hear classical, Big Band, and "old timey" folk.
Boomer here....our generation had " the best" music 🎶 🎵 👌 ❤
Please note that Jim overdubs all vocals with his whisper. That whisper is the last thing he recorded.
Fucking wow. Just wow. How eerie.
There’s actually an isolated “Whisper Only Mix” of this on YT. I can’t post the link because anytime I post with links they seem to always get deleted but it is easily searchable by that title. Very eerie!
Here's a little interesting thing ....back when this came out everybody bought records so this was the last song on side two and you heard the storm in the background well here's the thing they ran the sound of the storm into the inner groove so if your tone arm didn't lift up automatically then you could just hear the rain falling for as long as the record plays
Brilliant. I never knew and I have it on vinyl.
Wow thanks for sharing. Interesting !
Mucho Preeesh BH!! That is so cool! I never knew that. So freakin artistic!
Yes that was a brilliant touch. Just to let you know, the Beatles did it first on sergeant pepper.
When I was in my late teens at school…we had the Doors….and the Beatles….and the Who….and Led Zeppelin….and Jimi Hendrix…..and Free……and Fairport Convention……and frank Zappa and the Mothers…..and Yes…..and david Bowie…..and Little Feat…..and Cream…..and John Mayall…..and Santana…..and John Martyn…….and Jefferson Airplane…..and the Rolling Stones……..and Neil Young…….and the Beach Boys…..and King Crimson……and Nick Drake…….and the Doobie Bros…….and Peter Greens Fleetwood mac……..and Rod Stewart and the Faces………and The Grateful Dead……and Miles Davis…..and Crosby, Stills and Nash…….and Ten Years After…….and Traffic…….and The Mahavishnu Orchestra…..and I could go on and on and on ……..all feeding into an eclectic mix of new music that we embraced and absorbed. It was a magical time to live and the music was par excellence…..glad you are discovering our heritage and appreciating the sounds we loved and played. Now. At the age of 71…I never cease to be amazed how good the music was
I’m 74 and graduated from HS in ‘67. The music was fantastic.
This list you've got sounds like the music that we played in my High School Art Class for 4 years.
We had a great teacher.
I‘m the same age as you. Permit me to add some other of my favorites to your fantastic list-Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, B.B. King, Howlin‘ Wolf, Jeff Healy, The Kinks, Canned Heat, Captain Beefheart, The Mamas and the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, Taj Mahal-to name a few.
@@robertmorin1493 I agree….the list is endless….and isn’t it good to note that these were all MUSICIANS , without auto tune and all the other studio ‘box of magic tricks’ to enhance their recordings which meant that they could play it all LIVE.
I'm Gen X (b 1972) and I love the 60s rock and folk. In the 90s I got real into Jefferson Airplane. Particularly Grace's protest lyrics and spooky songs Lather, Rejoyce, Mexico, Eskimo Blue Day, We Can Be Together. "Up against the wall motherfucker" groundbreaking lyric. Paved the way for me to love Sonic Youth etc 💥✌️🌞
My favorite Doors tune. The sound effects, Ray's incredible keys, Jim's moody vocals and whisper, the mysterious and creepy lyrics, the guitar fills and the amazing call-and-response outtro. Has it all.
One of their best and one of the first I heard by them at 10 years old.Ray Manzarek was amazingly talented and inventive!
Ray is a fucking legend, man. His Rhodes work is just unbelievable. All keys in general but damn he makes that organ PURR
I was nearly 11 when this was released and it was the first time I really noticed the Doors. My parents had a recording of Light My Fire, but it was by Jose Feliciano so I thought he wrote that and I had very little knowledge of the Doors. Jim on this sounds/sounded like such a crooner, I pictured him to be a short haired middle aged guy like Perry Como or Andy Williams! I was shocked when I finally saw pictures of him! 😂
@@L33Reacts There is a great video of Ray talking about how this song came together and his keys part bringing the rain. 7.7 mil views 10 min video on YT... enjoy!
Ray could have been a one man band.
Because Jim's voice and songwriting are so impressive people tend to overlook how skilled and imaginative the rest of the band were.
Ray and robby are straight money!
Absolutely
This came out when I was a freshman in high school on my clock/radio when it was raining outside. I stayed long in my bed and almost missed my early bus. I will never forget how profound the experience. The Doors are iconic of the times, and for the rest of my life.
I don't think Krieger gets enough credit for his guitar work on this song. His fills are so tasty, and his conversation with Manzarek as the song fades are perfect.
A classic.
Jim at his most sultry.
What a variety he could deliver.
Every player adds to the mood and is exceptional.
Yeah it's such an eeire atmosphere they paint. I love it. Very unsettling at points and at others you feel your mind just drifting to strange places. I love this band and the experience I always have with their work.
Ray's trickle down piano run is spine tingling, and the call and response coda with the keyboards and Robby's tremolo guitar are beautiful at evoking the sound of the last raindrops in puddles as the storm starts to move on.
Ughhhhhh you are so right. That ending between them was the best part for the impending doom motif they were playing with. It's prescient and strange this was their last song that Jim recorded
The session bassist here Jerry Scheff was from the Wrecking Crew, a group of studio musicians who backed a ton of big acts incl Elvis
I keep running into the wrecking crew everywhere! They must be following me...
Played with Elvis from 1969 to 77.
Jerry Scheff's son, Jason played with Chicago for many years following Peter Cetera's departure.
The Doors is interesting rabbit hole to investigate for sure. Unfortunately not a ton of music but it was amazing.
The moment in time with this song for me was hearing it at night, during a storm, as a 16 yr. old co-pilot to my older brother. It was on a vacation in the Deep South in the late 60’s,
driving from Savannah to Galveston. Our parents and siblings were asleep in the back of the station wagon.
It made a huge impact on both of us. I can still hear the rain and see the flashing detour signs
over 50 yrs. later.
(Southern storms are perfect for the mood this song produces)
❤❤❤
Isn't it wild how evocative music is? The exact moment. The smell. The sights. It will always take us there like time travel. Music is so strange. And wonderful.
Louisiana has the deepest autumn cloud scape of hell like orange and deep cavernous grey and blue tone. I listened to this on the outer west bridge of lake ponchatrain from New Orleans into Hammond.
@@L33ReactsSo very true, and I can still picture the time when I was in the USAF, and it was in the late '80s. I was coming down a back road into Norman, OK, in my '63 Galaxy, and while I was singing Stephen Stills' Love The One You're With, I decided I was in the mood for some radio. And when I turned it on, they were playing the exact same place in the same song. After that things blur visually, but I remember knowing that this was a special life moment, and leaned into it hard. That's chiseled into stone for me.
Life, when it comes right down to it, is about the memories you make for yourself. Those can't be taken from you without wrecking your mind. Mine are treasures, but how do you treat yours? One of the primary purposes of life is to live it, the how is up to you.
Speaking of being "different" (like myself) Then this classic track screams to be next,, The Doors "People Are Strange" 🔥
Hmmmm now that's an idea right there.
@L33Reacts Thanks my music lovin' brother..By the way,, I truly enjoy your reactions & analysis,, Speaking of that,, This MUST HEAR Classic track will give you PLENTY to analyze,, At the time of it's release,, There was nothing like it & would become an instant rock anthem,, I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to see/hear your reaction/analysis of this one,, Billy Thorpe "Children Of The Sun" 🔥🌞🔥 Not to mention the fact that your subscribers would also love you reacting to it..I truly thank you for ALL your time & effort you put in for our enjoyment/entertainment my music lovin' brother.
"Happy"
Always loved thunder and lightening as a child..when
I heard this as a teenager I giggled uncontrollably. For
the rest of my life, whenever I hear rain, I hear this. Lucky me! ❤️🔥
@katherinebosse5706 Lol..I can relate & speaking of loving them,, I would suggest listening to this classic,, Chi Coltrane "Thunder & Lightning" 🌩
Yes please.
Yes, the keys are mesmerizing on this one.
Might be Ray's finest hour. He was phenomenal here.
I was 17 when this dropped in the UK and having seen The Doors the year before at the legendary Isle of Wight festival,just made me love them even more.
Have you heard “Roadhouse Blues” yet?
Banger and Jim goes bang at it.
Well worth a listen.
The sound of the storm comes in just at the right times in the song
Impending doom. These guys were in the know about stuff. It's almost like they are laughing at us with the dribble of real knowledge they scatter amongst their catalog. And that's just the stuff I've heard. The Doors of perception indeed.
Morrison was very perceptive plus he grew up w/ a birdseye view of the undercurrent power levers of our culture via his fathers position & ascent in the military. He wasn’t knee jerk left either. He had those sensibilities but he also had a strong libertarian view wh/ allowed him to connect w/ people in the military. Most will tell you that the doors connected w/ the chaos of the times & rang true for many soldiers over there having to endure and survive in the jungles. Hence why Copolla made such a great choice by embedding the end into apocalypse now. Ray and Jim’s film background gave their sound visual depth and atmosphere that few bands have ever achieved. B/c of their inconsistency, hype about the doomed sex god & trouble w/ law I think they get short changed. When on their A game, they were the most potent and palpably dangerous band of the their era. Unique signature also wh/ made them an acquired taste. Antecedents to punk, death metal and college radio.
You have a good ear for both sound and lyrics. By this point morrison had refined minimalist depth in his lyrics. On one level an eerie narrative of a hitcher and a driver out on a desert storm. Yet, there is indeed the onion here. The lyrics use a symbolist technique and connect into a deeper theme re the culture. Like the end, it scales up like a hawk elevating higher and seeing more than returns back in denouement in the last stanza to bring you back to ques now on a deeper level. Listen or read again & think these Blake like metaphor technique: road as time & fate. Past, present, future…. The car present movement thru time. The driver forced to face choice. The hitcher, the choice of temptation, chaos and destruction. Like a dark modern satyr. The fork in the road is the option to ride on and endure the storm (the dark cultural strife and conflict) & find love, endure, family thru taking a wise lovers hand… Jim’s farewell to the homeland. It presents both warning but also hope leading into a decade wh/ saw the fruits of virtue of those who put themselves back together, yet also those who imploded. That same theme is played out in forest coming back from nam and Jenny & Dan. Choice, fate. Morrison had a playwright screenplay mind.
Jim Morrison part of the 27 Club. Look it up.
This track never gets old...fifty-three years on...
I've told this story before. When this song first came out, I was hitch hiking one night in the pouring rain. An attractive young lady took pity on me and gave me a ride. Less than a minute after I got in her car, this song came on
RIP Jim ❤😢
One of my favorite drummers in rock music. So much nuance and flavor to his drumming.
Mine as well and with a simple kit. Wow!
I love that love The Doors. They were special and you realize immediately. Good job my friend.
Ray & Jim met in college . Jim approached Ray & said he heard he was starting a band .Jim said he was a poet , wrote lyrics and Ray asked him to write some down. Jim wrote Let's swim to the moon , let's climb through the tide .. Ray was moved , the band formed
And to think Paul Rothchild walked out on this album as Producer because he said their studio performance was lacking. LA Woman is one of their best albums.
Respectfully disagree. “Riders” and “L.A. Woman” are fantastic, and a few of the other songs aren’t slouches either. But the rest are simply dreadful. When it’s good it’s really, really good, but overall the album is slapdash and unfocused. From “The Doors” to “Morrison Hotel” the band had made the journey from psychedelic rock to blues, but after that I’m not sure that they knew what they wanted to be.
@@michaelhall2709 You are right. We respectfully disagree. I love how they started off with the strange & haunting material in their debut, and progressed or morphed into a pretty gutty, bluesy sound.
@@fleegerbriggs5694 Fair enough. For what it’s worth I’d still overall rate “L.A. Woman” considerably higher than “Waiting for the Sun” or “The Soft Parade,” even with the lesser material.
@@michaelhall2709 To be honest, I love them all. I really thought the Soft Parade was such a different album, but I have a hard time rating them.
@@fleegerbriggs5694
1. Strange Days
2. The Doors
3. Morrison Hotel
4. L.A. Woman
5. The Soft Parade
6. Waiting for the Sun
An overlooked LP is “Soft Parade”. Several great cuts, but give a listen to the title track. 8:40 minutes of great Doors. I’ve never heard a reaction to this track.
Back when I was a young stoner, we used to go to the planetarium for the laser show. They almost always started with this song. Just before the song started they would simulate lightning flashes and then they blew cool air on us along with sprinkles of water as the song started. It was an immersive experience, especially if LSD was involved. God, I miss those times. LOL
Hey man, I appreciate how you make it your business to get to know the names of the bands you’re listening to and which instruments they play. Keep up with the 60’s and 70’s music. Have you listened to early Chicago yet? Their first album Chicago Transit Authority, the whole album is fantastic. Excellent musicians and singers.
I appreciate that, Michael. I try my best. But there's so many damn bands LOL but the ones I really dig I always remember the names. I've done a handful of CTA tracks so far but I haven't really dived in. 25 or 6 to 4 is my favorite so far
Saw Ray and Robbie in concert and it was still great. My favorite Doors story is when Morrison said to Krieger, Why dont you write something? He came up with Light My Fire😎👍
Those lyrics always got me. The killer on the road. Haunting, haunting stuff. A true classic.
Jim was a strange cat. You nailed it. Thank you for these wonderful videos. I get stuck watching you for hours 😂
A classic and iconic song from a classic iconic band. When they wrote this and when they played it live Ray Manzarek played the bass notes on the electric piano while he was doing those awesome licks and riffs. One of the best 70s rock keyboardists. What a cool song. I love it.
Song sounds SO COOL - I feel like I need to wear SHADES, listening to it!! :)
My god this is an incredible track. Everything. Jim’s voice, the base, the keyboards, guitars. Just a huge trip…
Krieger is my favorite guitarist, very underrated, I am also a drummer and Densmore is also underrated, you can hear the jazz in his drums and he accented Jim's words perfectly. I guess you can say that the Doors were a great band because they all seemed to be playing off each other at all times and gave each other the space to create. Jim was the front man but they were all masters at their instrument and masters of their roles in the Doors.
This is a driving home alone at 2:00am song. You're hitting all the classics, another 50 years and you'll be caught up, and old like we are now, lol! Peace
Fantastic comment 100 likes Sir
Yup that's the perfect vibe for this song... I can only imagine. I got a couple more then I'm all caught up... (not lol)
4 great talents meet and decide to make music. Great experience
my sailing tune. Seven minutes of bliss.
The Doors are my favorite band. Can’t wait to hear more reactions by you for them. Black Sabbath is my second favorite band. Do you like them? Have you listened to them before? If not, it’ll be awesome to see you check them out.
Wow now this is an insane pic I love the doors❤
This song is the Ultimate in "Cool". 😎 The Bassist Jerry Scheff was one of the Top Session Players at the time; he was based in LA and did many of the recordings with Elvis Presley and so The Doors were blown away to have him play on their album.
Read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor and then read the second verse of "Riders on the Storm." O'Connor became an important member of the American literary canon in the late 1960's, so it's not surprising that Morrison was reading her.
He was reading and influenced by Arthur Rimbaud Read Rimbaud And Jim Morrison. Later Jim quit music quit the Cabal became right wing political activist Rush Limbaugh. Google view images plenty more.
Strange Days, Unknown Soldier, Five to One, When the musics over are some great Doors songs!
The band was jamming in the studio to Vaughn Monroe's "Ghost Riders in the Sky". Jim entered the studio and proclaimed, "I have lyrics for this!" They tweaked "Ghost Riders" enough to turn it into Riders on the Storm. Jerry Scheff, at that time the bass player for Elvis (Which excited Jim when he learned Jerry would play on the album with them), had to mimic what Ray was playing on his bass keyboard. Jerry had to twist and turn his arms and wrists in order to do it, causing some slides between the notes, which happen to work nicely on this song.
Scheff said morrison had a scroll like large notebook he opened up on a podium and pulled out lines wh/ fit. Like a prophets bringing the tablets down.
What a great groove tune--has always been one of my favorites from Doors--I have played bass for many years now and really love this.
I loved when this came out, I listened to this all the time
Back in the old days of Hollywood actors were contracted to certain studios and if they wanted to do a movie for a different one their studio had to approve it and loan them out. That’s where I think the line ‘like an actor out on loan’ comes from. We’re thrown into this world like an actor out on loan from some celestial studio and with nothing, like a dog without a bone.
I love this song SO much ❤
I'm from Joplin, Mo, where Billy Cook, the SW US highway killer is buried at Peace Church Cemetery, where a lot of my family is buried. He was at least one of the e inspirations for the "killer on the road" in this song.
1971...the best year in music
"the fuckin' doors , man."I about spit my coffee out laughing
Loved growing up with the Doors. Time's was different then.
One of my favorite Doors song again great great pic❤
absolutely adore how familiar you've gotten with these bands that we all love and have loved for decades...well done.
This is my favorit song White Doors, its Something spookey felling about it a great song
Nice pick. Thanks for being persistent to get something out. I appreciate it.
Wonderful authentic reaction. Thanks! Love lots of alien-types too! 👍💕
there are a few tribute bands that roam around the uk playing venues, and there is one for the The Doors, called The Doors Ajar. I love the ingenuity of some people to make names for their tribute bands.
I watched a video not long ago where Ray was explaining to an interviewer how they developed "Rider's on the Storm" and he was showing Jerry Scheff on the keyboard how he wanted the bass line played. Ray said that at first Jerry told him it was too difficult and he couldn't do it and showed him on his bass how his fingers had to move. As we all know, they worked through it and musical history was made.
Saw Ray, Robbie and Ian Astbury (Doors of the 21st Century) play this on the Seattle waterfront at sunset. Friggin magic.
Great reaction! Love the Frazetta posters on your wall!
Thanks Mike I appreciate you brother
American Prayer is a great album. Put his poetry to music after he passed.
Whoever the bass-player was or who wrote his line, it´s an outstanding part of the song. Besides this jazzy, ultimately cool main-theme of the e-piano and the guitar. Would love to hum it all day long. And although you wouldn´t hear a thing, you´d know what theme I´ve meant.
One of the best songs ever. ❤😊
To me, Cars Hiss By My Window is the best song on the best album by one of the greatest bands.
There's a pretty good video featuring Ray Manzarek out on UA-cam where Ray walks through the song and talks about how it all came together. He talks about the music and the lyrics and I thought that it really added to my appreciation of this song.
One of the best grooves ever
There was a posthumous release from Jim Morrison called "An American Prayer", with an alternate version of "Riders On The Storm". A phone call plays on the "There's a killer on the road" line, and adds an extra something eerie to an already eerie song. This was the very last song that Mr. Mojo Risin' ever recorded before his untimely demise in Paris.
Yeah this was just eerie all together... of course, his untimely demise adds to it, but even without the tragedy it's an odd experience. I felt my mind and my "doors of perception" opening to some strange places. Like with every long doors song. This one led me to some strange thoughts on our history and the truth of our relative existence
There is a great video on UA-cam where Ray talks about recording this song. Fascinating.
The legendary Jerry Scheff on bass...at the time Jerry was in Elvis's TCB band. Straight after the LA Woman sessions, Scheff had to haul his arse off to Vegas for a late January-Feb 1971 Elvis engagement
So haunting and beautiful ❤
PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT for this one my music lovin' brother,, Lenny Kravitz "Are You Gonna Go My Way"...As the old saying goes,, Where there's smoke,, There's fire!! 🔥🎸🔥
...fantastic song, and yes, Jim left us early, but there's a ton of more excellent songs/albums by them, and don't miss out that late masterpiece: 'An American Prayer' (1978), where the band put material together around his voice recordings...
my personal top 3 of 60s musical artists has always since been: the Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Doors - they're at the peak of an avalanche of brilliant musicians of that decade. Love & Peace, man... 💖☮
good ear on your part for both sound and lyrics. By this point morrison had refined minimalist depth in his lyrics. On one level an eerie narrative of a hitcher and a driver out on a desert storm. Yet, there is indeed the onion here. The lyrics use a symbolist technique and connect into a deeper theme re the culture. Like the end, it scales up like a hawk elevating higher and seeing more than returns back in denouement in the last stanza to bring you back to ques now on a deeper level. Listen or read again & think these Blake like metaphor technique: road as time & fate. Past, present, future…. The car present movement thru time. The driver forced to face choice. The hitcher, the choice of temptation, chaos and destruction. Like a dark modern satyr. The fork in the road is the option to ride on and endure the storm (the dark cultural strife and conflict) & find love, endure, family thru taking a wise lovers hand… Jim’s farewell to the homeland. It presents both warning but also hope leading into a decade wh/ saw the fruits of virtue of those who put themselves back together, yet also those who imploded. That same theme is played out in forest coming back from nam and Jenny & Dan. Choice, fate. Morrison had a playwright screenplay mind.
Your expressions in the thumbnails are priceless!
Haha thanks. It gets tiresome taking the same photo over and over. And I refuse to turn into one of those hyperbolic, clickbait channels. Music deserves so much better. If not for a couple channels and the if i wasn't a reactor, I'd have mostly negative things to say about the whole video style. It's so derivative. But I try to add personality and analysis at the least.
I know in a lot of their songs that Ray Manzarek also played bass on the foot pedals as well.
Ray is the frontman instrumentally in the bands sound.
He was all that.
If you want another great late 60s, early 70s band, you need to check out Humble Pie. Try the song "I Don't Need No Doctor" off their live album "Performance Rockin' the Fillmore". Humble Pie is:
Steve Marriott: Guitar, Vocals
Peter Frampton: Guitar, Vocals
Greg Ridley: Bass, Vocals
Jerry Shirley: Drums, Vocals
Want to know what the Doors are all about. Absolutely Live is a must listen
Or for their story read "No one gets out of here alive".
That bass player became Elvis. Bass player through the 70s.
You should do the whole album reaction. I guess you don't have it set up for that, maybe. Their best album, and last but not least! Experience showed.
Fun fact: There's a voice whispering the lyrics all throughout the song in the background. It's kind of subtle and you need good headphones/speakers to hear it, but once you do notice it's impossible to NOT hear it.
Oh I heard it. Thats why I kept saying oooh that's so eerie lol
Don’t get much lightning and thunder in L.A. actually. Always fun when we do. So I really enjoyed this song growing up in L.A.
I remember the criticism of this song at the time was that it was “elevator music”and just not up to previous Doors standards. I was able to see where that was coming from, but liked it anyway.
Critics were off…. This was growth on the doors part. Refined, minimalist yet more depth. Jazz fusion meets moody urban blues. W/ Jim’s scot like high lonesome poet voice. Their last album is as impressive as the debut if you let it absorb.
Is that Killer by Alice Cooper in the back window? Great album...rock on dude!!!
they had studio musicians on their records, but no bass player in the band, bass lines were done by ray manzerik on the keys
I think this was a great album in terms of bringing in really good bass players, freeing up Ray on this song in particular. I really liked the direction they were headed in, but alas it was not to be with Jim. I think it’s important to note that they did release further albums without Jim after his passing and I’ve never heard them..has anybody out there?
There's caffeine upon my road ☕ My brain is squirming like a toad 🧠🐸
DOORS GUITARIST Robby Krieger Reacts to KIDS IN THE HALL Clip ua-cam.com/video/DNBncZI2Hks/v-deo.html
When you mention about Jim Morrison being a "people watcher", there is no doubt he absolutely was. The title track to their 4th album "The Soft Parade" catalogues some of the bizarre and colorful characters that Morrison saw on Sunset Blvd. in LA.
In the late 80s I visited his grave in Paris. Back then it still had a police officer on guard to stop the crazies ‘doing stuff’ to the grave
Jim's last recording.
some folk slate it but i'd suggest you listen to Jims solo album American Prayer, give you a better idea of where he's coming from and going to.
Small request. Show the album it was released from (e.g. L.A. Woman). TY
Never did any research on the doors influences. I'm hearing a lot of (for them) recent jazz influences; especially guitar and drums.
Your remarks about some offbeat people being labeled 'strange" reminded me of this statement from Akira Kurosawa: "In a mad world, only the mad are sane."
From his film “Ran,” correct?
@@codyreitsma5918 That's right. Also, there's a similar comment from a character near the end of I Live in Fear, another great Kurosawa film made 30 years earlier then Ran. A doctor asks, "Is he crazy? Or, are we, who can remain unperturbed in an insane world, the crazy ones?"
In an interview with, I think, Ray Manzerik, he said this song came about late one evening when they were in the studio playing/noodling around with the song Ghost Riders In The Sky by the Sons of the Pioneers. A song from the late 30s, early 40s. If you listen to that song you can hear the mood they were capturing. Jim came back to the studio later by himself and laid down the vocals. Then left for Paris, never to return.
Here’s a link to GHost Riders in the Sky. ua-cam.com/video/eMqKv7BOg_s/v-deo.htmlsi=OiOow7RPp4NqqTUi