# "Riders on the storm"-Profound poetry or dreck? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720 "2009-02-13T18:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/101 "2009-02-16T19:35:19Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Song lyrics aren’t poetry; they are song lyrics. Their purpose is different. It’s unfair to both art forms to demand each do the work of the other. This is it- they are different mediums, albeit similar in some ways. When read as poetry, _Riders_ is not great, but also not dreck, I have seen much worse. there is also a significant taste factor mixed in.. some people just don’t like his music or lyrics. As far as the music standing up, that is a 50/50 proposition with much of the Doors music, since there are some songs written specifically for the climate of the time. And Morrison can be extremely sophomoric at times. The guy loved to stir up trouble just for the sake of stirring things up to see what happens. There is some brilliance there, but also some WTF?! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/102 "2009-02-16T19:45:02Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Hey, if you were eight years old and you saw a killer brain hopping through the bracken … 😛 Okay, I had to: [http://www.mister-rik.com/hosted/killer\_brain.jpg](http://www.mister-rik.com/hosted/killer_brain.jpg) (Sorry it’s kind of chopped off on one side - it’s hard to scan from a hardcover book) ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/103 "2009-02-17T00:42:19Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Trap one in your hands. Trap most things in your hads though and they’ll tend to squirm. Ever pick up a cat or a fish? They squirm too. Heck, pick up a child that doesn’t want to be picked up…wait, don’t do that. That’d be creepy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BillShannon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@BillShannon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BillShannon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/104 "2017-06-23T02:44:58Z")
Does anybody remember a recording of Riders on the Storm, where there are spoken words about someone calling from a telephone booth saying he had just killed a man? I used to hear it on the radio in the late 70s. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/105 "2017-06-23T03:53:57Z")
Well, since someone has seen fit to re-animate the thread… If you’re a Doors fan and have a capable system, do yourself a big favor and get the DVD-A version of LA Woman. The 5.1 mix sounds amazing! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/106 "2017-06-23T05:45:41Z")
> [@BillShannon](#): > > Does anybody remember a recording of Riders on the Storm, where there are spoken words about someone calling from a telephone booth saying he had just killed a man? I used to hear it on the radio in the late 70s. Yes. It’s “The Hitchhiker”, the eleventh track on the “An American Prayer” album. IIRC it’s a recording of Jim making a faux-serious play-acting phone call to poet Michael McClure. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/107 "2017-06-23T06:44:18Z")
> [@tds1273](#): > > I’m not sure why the lyrics have to be one or the other. They aren’t profound, but are by no means drek. **Theodore Striker** put it well. The lyrics aren’t necessarily the focal point of the song. Combined with the music and sound effects, it is intended to invoke a particular mood or scene, and it does that quite well. No part of this song is greater than it’s whole, but as a whole it is nice bit of art. > > Listen to this song while driving on down a lonely, rural stretch of road at night; that’s fun. I agree. I find the combination of melody and lyrics both haunting and memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/108 "2017-06-23T06:53:10Z")
Jim Morrison wasn’t as pompous or as crazy as people like to think, or as Oliver Stone portrayed. Listen to some interviews with him sometime. He comes off quite down to Earth for someone who was as famous as he was. I don’t think the role of rockstar ever truly fit him well; and I think some of his more outrageous statements or moments were him trying to play a part that was expected of him, and that he didn’t really fit or feel comfortable in - hence the ever growing alcohol abuse. Jim was a film student and a filmmaker at heart - he knew his position expected a certain level of theater, and at times he delivered, leading to the outsized image he left behind. But the real man, the man you hear in interviews - not in print - comes off to me as thoughtful, rather intelligent, aloof, but most of all, shy. Yes, shy. He was an awkward fat kid who never quite got over being such. He was much less pompous, pretentious and annoying to me than people like Cobain or Lennon, honestly. He never came off holier than thou or as if his way was the best, the most enlightened and only way, and those who disagreed were meathead peasants who “just don’t get it, man.” Lennon and Cobain I feel had a certain level of contempt for their audiences - and especially for those they disagreed with socially or politically. Jim, from what I have read, was rather open-minded, and agreeable. If he disagreed with you a tad he’d preface it by saying, “Yes, but…” Much more likable to me than Cobain or Lennon who put down their opposition as villains to be despised. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/109 "2017-06-23T07:34:07Z")
Interesting analysis, Reddy. Makes me think of another shy lead singer, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, though I don’t know if Stipe\* is more “down to earth,” or more like how you described Lennon and Cobain. I would hope the former (and that is the impression I get). Brian Wilson is another shy band leader/songwriter, but his case is _sui generis_. \*Like Morrison with his obesity, Stipe had said he was embarrassed about his acne as a teen. And, they both had itinerant military-base childhoods, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/110 "2017-06-23T12:57:51Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > It’s not poetry, it’s what leaks out when a reasonably intelligent guy consumes hundreds of thousands of micrograms of acid. It’s babbling nonsense. Like Coleridge was on opium when he wrote most of his major poems, then. Coleridge wrote a lot more lines of beautiful verse than Morrison ever did, but only because he was living in a time when gentlemen did not write songs. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/111 "2017-06-23T16:41:30Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > Jim Morrison wasn’t as pompous or as crazy as people like to think, or as Oliver Stone portrayed. Listen to some interviews with him sometime. He comes off quite down to Earth for someone who was as famous as he was. I don’t think the role of rockstar ever truly fit him well; and I think some of his more outrageous statements or moments were him trying to play a part that was expected of him, and that he didn’t really fit or feel comfortable in - hence the ever growing alcohol abuse. Yes. When he was still alive, I read an interview where he said (I’m paraphrasing here from aging memory) “I meant it as theatrical performance, but I guess people thought I was crazy.” I think he was referring specifically to the silliness that resulted from the line “I am the Lizard King. I can do anything.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/112 "2017-06-23T16:47:12Z")
> [@BillShannon](#): > > Does anybody remember a recording of Riders on the Storm, where there are spoken words about someone calling from a telephone booth saying he had just killed a man? I used to hear it on the radio in the late 70s. Didn’t occur to me that it would of course be on YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WruR66q9RK8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WruR66q9RK8) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/113 "2017-06-23T16:53:34Z")
The lyric on this song is great. I get a sinatra crooning vibe about something very dark. And the lyric enhances it and doesn’t get in the way. That’s the job of a lyric. It’s not to be poetry. Or unpretentious for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/114 "2017-06-23T17:11:54Z")
Lyrics aren’t poetry, they’re lyrics, and meant to be sung. And ‘Riders on the Storm’ is a much more entertaining tune when you sing it in Fred Schneider’s voice. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/115 "2017-06-23T17:31:05Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Lyrics aren’t poetry, they’re lyrics, and meant to be sung. And ‘Riders on the Storm’ is a much more entertaining tune when you sing it in Fred Schneider’s voice. But Fred Schneider doesn’t sing. He just recites. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/116 "2018-02-06T12:09:42Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Lyrics aren’t poetry, they’re lyrics, and meant to be sung. And ‘Riders on the Storm’ is a much more entertaining tune when you sing it in Fred Schneider’s voice. Thanks. I just lost it on the train. ::snerk:: “If you see a squirmin’ toad at the side of the road…” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/117 "2018-02-06T15:15:21Z")
I honestly never listened to the lyrics. This is one of The Doors’ songs I consider basically an instrumental and Jim Morrison is just additional percussion. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/118 "2018-02-06T15:18:07Z")
When this was bumped, I somehow got “Riders on the Storm” confused with “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” So I was very confused that anyone would think the lyrics of the latter were poetry. Yes, this is even though I participated in the thread during it’s initial run. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/119 "2018-02-06T15:35:40Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I honestly never listened to the lyrics. This is one of The Doors’ songs I consider basically an instrumental and Jim Morrison is just additional percussion. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720/120 "2018-02-06T16:39:29Z")
I could take or leave this song, although it’s better than some of their other stuff, notably “Hello, I Love You” or " Light My Fire". I tend to prefer “Soul Kitchen” and “LA Woman”, but that’s just me. And think…all this without a bass player! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riders-on-the-storm-profound-poetry-or-dreck/485720.md?page=7)