Peak
12
Weeks
9
Score
1,378
Chart Year
1967
///
Jim Morrison was depressed. He went to Robby Krieger's house, they went to a canyon to watch a sunset, at which time Jim realized he was depressed because "if you're strange, people are strange." He then wrote the rest of the lyrics, which are about feeling alienated. Krieger, The Doors' guitarist, wrote the music. He did his guitar solo in one take. The Doors played this on their only Ed Sullivan Show appearance. They also played "Light My Fire," and Sullivan never asked them to come back because Morrison sang the lines, "Girl we couldn't get much higher." >> This was covered by horror-core rap duo Twiztid on their album Freekshow. >> In 1987 the Liverpool band Echo & The Bunnymen covered this song, reaching #29 in the UK charts. Their version, which was featured in the film The Lost Boys, was produced by Ray Manzarek, who also played on the track. In a scene from the movie, the vampires' cave contains a huge poster of Jim Morrison in his Jesus pose. Manzarek also played keyboards on the Echo & the Bunnymen song "Bedbugs And Ballyhoo"; Echo also covered the Doors song "Soul Kitchen," which appears on their album It's All Live Now. Their guitarist, Will Sergeant, told Songfacts: "We used to get compared to The Doors. I don't know why. It's probably because Mac [lead singer Ian McCulloch] had that kind of lower voice, similar to Jim Morrison. He never liked The Doors when we started out. He sort of got into them, as weeks went on, because I was always playing the tapes in the van. Then he got into the whole thing." "People Are Strange" is one of several Doors songs used in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump. It also appears in the films American Pop (1981), The Lost Boys (1987), Strange Magic (2015) and We Have a Ghost (2023); and in two episodes of the TV series Charmed.
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 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 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 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! 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
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 23, 1967 | 65 | 61 |
| 2 | Sep 30, 1967 | 44 | 82 |
| 3 | Oct 7, 1967 | 32 | 94 |
| 4 | Oct 14, 1967 | 23 | 103 |
| 5 | Oct 21, 1967 | 17 | 109 |
| 6 | Oct 28, 1967 | 12 | 114 |
| 7 | Nov 4, 1967 | 14 | 112 |
| 8 | Nov 11, 1967 | 18 | 108 |
| 9 | Nov 18, 1967 | 40 | 86 |