Riders on the Storm

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

"Riders on the Storm"
Single by The Doors
from the album L.A. Woman
B-side	The Changeling
Released	June 1971
Recorded	December 1970
Genre	Jazz fusion
Length	7:12 (full album version) 4:35 (single–edit)
Label	Elektra Records
Writer(s)	Jim Morrison Robby Krieger Ray Manzarek John Densmore
Producer	Bruce Botnick The Doors Joey Levins
The Doors singles chronology
"Love Her Madly" (1971) "Riders on the Storm" (1971) "Tightrope Ride" (1971) Alternate cover

Riders on the Storm is a song by The Doors from their 1971 album, L.A. Woman. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, number 22 on the UK singles charts and number 7 in the Netherlands.

Song information

According to band member Robby Krieger, it was inspired by the song (Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend. The song is played in the E Dorian mode, and incorporates real sound effects of thunder and rain, along with Ray Manzarek's Fender Rhodes electric piano playing, which emulates the sound of rain.

The song's lyrics allude in part to the notorious spree killer Billy Cook, who posed as a hitchhiker and murdered an entire family. ("There's a killer on the road... His brain is squirmin' like a toad.") According to a widespread urban legend the song was conceived as an allusion to a tragic accident caused by another car's reckless driving, ending in several deaths of Navajo tribesmen as his car hit a truck where they were traveling.

An alternative version refers the lyrics' inspiration to a 1930s French Surrealist poem, Chevaliers de l'Ouragan (literally, "Riders of the Hurricane"), by Louis Aragon. It is also noted that Morrison wrote a screenplay called "The Hitchhiker," in which the main character, a hitchhiker named Billy, kills a man, a sheriff and a family.

The song was recorded at the Doors Workshop in December 1970 with the assistance of Bruce Botnick, their longtime engineer, who was co-producing the recording sessions. Jim Morrison recorded his main vocals and then whispered the lyrics over them to create the haunting effect. This song was also the last song recorded by the members of The Doors, according to Ray Manzarek, as well as Jim Morrison's last recorded song that was released.

In November, 2009, Riders On The Storm was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame under the category Rock (track).

Cover versions

• Annabel Lamb covered the song in 1983. It charted in the UK peaking at 27 in the NME chart of 24 September.
• Creed covered the song at Woodstock 1999 with Robby Krieger. A studio version featuring Krieger can also be found on the tribute album Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors.
• Eric Red has said that The Hitcher was inspired by this song.
• In 2001 Nils Landgren's Funk Unit released a funk version on their album "Fonk da World".
• The song was also remixed by Nightmares on Wax, Lenny Ibizarre, Spacebats, and Baez and Cornell on a Limited Edition Bonus Disc for a 2002 Doors retrospective 'The Best of the Doors' which outsold the original release by going platinum in the UK.
• In July 2004, the alternative rock band Incubus briefly covered the song live after a severe thunderstorm postponed a concert in Indianapolis, IN.
• A very small part of the song is sampled at the end of the Prodigy's 'Everybody in the Place'
• Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 and Murderdolls also did a cover of this song called Welcome To The Strange.
• A piano version of the song was performed by George Winston, appearing on his tribute album Night Divides the Day - The Music of the Doors.
• Ahn Trio did a cover of the song on their 2002 album Groovebox.
• Forthcoming Fire did a cover on their album Je Suis.
• Ray Manzarek has an instrumental jazzy version of the song on his solo album with Bal.
• Infected Mushroom was contacted to do an official remix of Riders, however their time frame was not suitable. They turned down the offer, but still made an unofficial remix. This remix was leaked on the Internet, and was released on their 2009 album - "Legend of the Black Shawarma".
• In 2005 "Riders" was fused with Blondie's "Rapture" into "Rapture Riders" by Go Home Productions. This unofficial remix was later approved to be included on Blondie's Greatest Hits: Sight + Sound and was a top ten hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. This song was also played in Alias Episode 12: There is Only One Sydney Bristow
• Snoop Dogg recorded a version for Need for Speed: Underground 2 which incorporated new instrumentals by the surviving members of the Doors, interpolating his own raps and a new beat with the original song.
• Widespread Panic covered Riders on the Storm twice during their 2008 summer tour.
• Randy Coven covered the song in his album Witch Way from 2002.
• Benediction covered the song for the "Death Is Just The Beginning IV" compilation album released by Nuclear Blast in 1997.
• Andre Nickatina song Powda 4 the Hoes has a slight variation on Riders on the Storm.
• Jaz Coleman arranged the song for orchestra. It was performed by Nigel Kennedy and the Prague Symphony Orchestra on "The Doors Concerto" (released in 2000).
• Southern-metal band Dezperadoz covered the song on their 2008 album An Eye for an Eye, rendering the song in a more western-influenced variation.

Popular culture

Television and film

Riders on the Storm plays in a second season episode of the Wonder Years. Heart of Darkness when Kevin has the dream of walking down the tunnel.

In The Mighty Boosh episode "Hitcher", the song is played on the radio when Howard picks up the eponymous villain.

In the episode "The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby" of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the song is used prominently during a montage of Frank and Charlie seeking shelter from a storm as Dennis sleeps with an environmental activist's girlfriend to get revenge on him for an earlier slight.

An episode of the CGI show ReBoot is named "Webriders on the Storm".

In the episode "The Son Also Rises" of Invasion, the song is played after the main characters discover a planned invasion will use a hurricane as cover.

The song also briefly features in the British trailer for the latest series of The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel.

The song is in the movie The Basketball Diaries, in a scene where they are playing basketball while high on drugs.

Video games

The song was one of the many hit tracks on the popular street racing game, Need for Speed Underground 2, written/remixed by Fredwreck and performed by Snoop Dogg.

In the computer game series Guild Wars', "Riders on the Storm" is the name of a shield modification which increases a character's resistance to lightning-type damage.

In Warcraft III, "Riders on the Storm" is the name of a campaign level.

In Tony Hawk's Underground 2, the song is remixed and sped up.