| This was the last song Jim Morrison recorded. He went to France and
died a few weeks later. The single was released in June, 1971, shortly
before Morrison's death. |
| If you listen closely, you can hear Jim Morrison whispering the
lyrics over his own singing. This causes a kind of creepy effect.
(thanks, Mark - West Bountiful, UT) |
| 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. |
| This evolved out of a jam session when the band was messing around
with "Ghost Riders In The Sky," a cowboy song by Stan Jones. |
| Ray Manzarek used the electric piano to create the effect of rain. |
| This was the last song on the last Doors album with Morrison. It
ends with the storm fading slowly to silence. The remaining Doors
released 2 more albums without Morrison. |
| Morrison got some of the lyrics from a screenplay he wrote called
The Hitchhiker (An American Pastoral). Morrison was going to play
the part of a hitchhiker who goes on a murder spree. |
| Paul Rothchild, who produced The Doors' first 5 albums, decided not
to work on this because he didn't like the songs. He thought this
sounded like "cocktail music." The Doors ended up producing it
themselves with the help of their engineer, Bruce Botnick. |
| The single was shortened for radio play. Some of the piano solo was
cut out. |
| In year 2000, the surviving members of the Doors taped a VH1
Storytellers episode with guest vocalists filling in for Morrison.
Scott Stapp from Creed sang on this. |
| Creed contributed a version of this to the 2000 Doors tribute album
Stoned Immaculate. Creed also performed it with Doors guitarist
Robbie Krieger at Woodstock '99. Krieger sat in on Creed's "What's This
Life For?" during the set. |
