Riders on the Storm

The Doors cut "Riders on the Storm" at the Doors Workshop in December 1970, working with engineer Bruce Botnick, who had taken over production duties after Paul A. Rothchild departed the L.A. Woman sessions. Jerry Scheff played electric bass on the studio version, while an earlier demo cut at Sunset Sound had Ray Manzarek handling piano bass. Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger later said the song drew inspiration from "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend", a country song written by Stan Jones and popularized by Vaughn Monroe.

Jim Morrison wrote the lyrics and brought them to rehearsal. Part of the text referred to Billy "Cockeyed" Cook, a hitchhiking killer who was the subject of the 1953 film The Hitch-Hiker, and Manzarek noted that some lines expressed Morrison's love for his companion Pamela Courson. In January 1971, after Morrison had recorded his main vocals, the group gathered at Poppi Studios to finish mixing L.A. Woman, and there Morrison whispered the lyrics over the track to create an echo effect.

Released in June 1971 by Elektra Records as the second single from L.A. Woman, the song reached number 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number 22 in the United Kingdom, and number seven in the Netherlands. It was the last song recorded by all four members of the Doors, and the final one Morrison recorded before his death in Paris on July 3, 1971.