The Conflicting Stories Behind “People Are Strange” by The Doors

The myth of Jim Morrison has always been surrounded by mystery and intrigue. Yes, he was a real person, but the image he left behind has always been full of conflicting reports. Just as The Doors mixed genres to come up with their own brand of psychedelic rock and roll, Morrison tapped into a place that resonated with fans of all ages, backgrounds, and generations. Drummer John Densmore loved bossa nova, guitarist Robby Krieger was drawn to flamenco music, while keyboardist Ray Manzarek loved jazz. Put all of these musical styles behind Morrison’s poetry, and you get the experimental, dark, brooding soundtrack to build a legend.

The Los Angeles band’s debut album consistently appears on all-time best albums lists. When it was time for the follow-up, the band released Strange Days. Jim Morrison shared conflicting stories with the press about his past as if to create a new persona. It’s only fitting there would be conflicting stories behind “People Are Strange” by The Doors.

People are strange
When you’re a stranger
Faces look ugly
When you’re alone
Women seem wicked
When you’re unwanted
Streets are uneven
When you’re down

The Drummer’s Story

John Densmore and Robby Krieger lived together on Lookout Mountain Drive in Laurel Canyon. Morrison visited one afternoon when Densmore was out. The singer was depressed and complained about how everything was messed up. Densmore recounted the birth of the song in his 2009 book Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors: “Robby was taken by surprise since Jim rarely confided in us about his problems, only his music. After rapping for a little while, Robby suggested that they take a walk up the hill to Appian Way for the spectacular panoramic view of L.A., saying it could be just the thing for a little perspective.

“Half an hour later, Robby returned, and Jim followed shortly thereafter. He was euphoric. ‘What happened?’ Robby asked him. ‘Look at these lyrics,’ Jim said excitedly. ‘People are strange when you’re a stranger. Faces look ugly when you’re alone. Women seem wicked when you’re unwanted. Streets are uneven when you’re down.’ ‘These are great, Jim. Have you got a melody to go with it?’ Robby asked. Jim smiled strangely and hummed a few bars. Robby’s ears immediately perked up. He knew a hit when he heard one. ‘That melody has a nice hook.’ ‘Yeah, I really feel good about this one. It just came to me all of a sudden … in a flash—as I was sitting up there on the ridge looking out over the city.’ His eyes were wild with excitement. ‘I scribbled it down as fast as I could. It felt great to be writing again.’ He looked down at the crumpled paper in his hand and sang the chorus in his haunting blues voice.”

When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange

The Keyboardist’s Recollection

Like so many stories about The Doors, there are conflicting accounts. Of course, multiple stories can be true, but it only makes sense there are contrasting memories. In 2001, Ray Manzarek told Uncle Joe Benson on the Ultimate Classic Rock Nights radio show about how Morrison was inspired by the New York City streets, “He got up about five o’clock, five-thirty in the morning, looked around, everybody’s passed out, Jim heads outside the Factory. We’re staying midtown, he’s downtown at Andy Warhol’s Factory, starts walking back. He said, ‘You know, the sun was just starting to come up … it was New York City, and it was nice.’

“It was late spring or something, maybe early fall. He said, ‘New York is great—it’s like empty, it’s deserted; there’s nobody around.’ Little by little, out of the subways … people started coming up there, coming up and up and up. It was like creatures were crawling out from underground. … By the time he got to midtown, the city was packed. … ‘People Are Strange’ is about the people coming out of the New York subway as Jim Morrison was walking back from Andy Warhol’s Factory to our hotel in midtown Manhattan.”

People are strange
When you’re a stranger
Faces look ugly
When you’re alone
Women seem wicked
When you’re unwanted
Streets are uneven
When you’re down

The Guitarist Weighs In

In 2016, Robby Krieger told Guitar World magazine, “Jim came up to my house in Laurel Canyon one night, and he was in one of his suicidal, downer moods. So John said, ‘Come on, Jim, we’ll go see the sunset. That’ll get you out of this.’ We went up to the top of Laurel Canyon and it was incredibly beautiful—we were looking down on the sun reflecting off the top of the clouds. Jim had a total mood flip-flop, and said, ‘Wow! Now I know why I felt like that. It’s because if you’re strange, people are strange.’ And he wrote the lyrics right there. Then I came up with the music and we went back down the hill.”

When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
All right, yeah!

The Recording Studio as Instrument

Continued Densmore, “We started our second album back at Sunset Sound Studios that August. Elektra announced a record-breaking advance order of 500,000 copies, so we were excited about delivering the goods to a receptive audience. … ‘Strange Days’ is when we began to experiment with the studio itself as an instrument to be played. It was now eight-track, and we thought, ‘My goodness, how amazing! We can do all kinds of things—we can do overdubs, we can do this, we can do that— we’ve got eight tracks to play with!’ It seems like nothing today, in these times of 32-, even 48-track recording, but those eight tracks to us were really liberating. So, at that point, we began to play … it became five people: keyboard, guitar, drums, vocalist, and the studio.”

When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange

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Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage