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.

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. It was Jim Morrison’s idea to alter the title to “Riders On The Storm.”

Ray Manzarek used the electric piano to create the effect of rain.

If you listen closely, you can hear Jim Morrison whispering the lyrics over his own singing, which causes a kind of creepy effect.

This was Morrison’s final contribution as a rock star. Ray Manzarek told Uncut magazine September 2011: “There’s a whisper voice on ‘Riders on the Storm,’ if you listen closely, a whispered overdub that Jim adds beneath his vocal. That’s the last thing he ever did. An ephemeral, whispered overdub.”

The single was shortened for radio play. Some of the piano solo was cut out.

Snoop Dogg covered the song for the 2004 game, Need for Speed: Underground 2, in a remixed version produced by Fredwreck. The cover was dubbed over the original track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ApzhHYIgU