Murder Ballads: The Doors: Riders on the Storm:

This is the first of five posts from Treblezine's feature about Murder Ballads. The link is below.

http://treblezine.com/features/171.html

The Doors "Riders on the Storm"
from L.A. Woman

The Doors were an L.A. band born on the Dionysian ethos of excess, sin and celebration of the dark side of life. Jim Morrison was someone seemingly possessed by his obsession about death. Whether it was on "The End," "The Crystal Ship" or the essential rarity "Someday Soon," death seemed like something that he craved. Jim Morrison was seen as a Southern Gentleman with a penchant for darkness. He was a huge fan of the blues and to me, the lyrical content of "Riders" is Morrison-inspired take on the classic murder ballad. Just listen to the lyrics, "There's a killer on a road… if you give this man a ride/ sweet memory will die…" "Riders on the Storm" is an anomaly because Jim is not just singing about his fixation with death. In reality it's a song about serial killer Billy Cook. This is the same killer who posed as a hitchhiker and murdered a whole family.

The sound effect of the rain in the background of "Riders on the Storm" has an aura of death surrounding it. Ray Manzarek's eerie piano and Robby Krieger's guitar riffs are the soundtrack to the killer on the road. I imagine him on the side of the road, getting wet, waiting for his next victim, and Morrison's spoken word whispered vocal underneath his singing is the murderer's deranged voice. With every explosion of thunder you get this tense feeling like someone is going to die. It's not a traditional murder ballad, but you can hear a 1970s modern interpretation of the genre with The Doors creating the chilling sounds of fear and death on the road that's unsettling and irresistible.

Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

10.27.2008