"Strange Days" is a song by The Doors. It was released in 1967 and is the first track on the album of the same name. According to a review at Allmusic by Tom Maginnis, the song seems to find lead singer Jim Morrison "pondering the state of the then emerging hippie youth culture and how they are perceived by mainstream or 'straight' society." A visit to New York City by The Doors inspired Jim Morrison to write "Strange Days" and other songs on the Strange Days album, the band's second.
According to No One Here Gets Out Alive, "Strange Days" finds Ray Manzarek recording "one of the earliest examples of the Moog synthesizer in rock." The synth was hooked up with the help of Paul Beaver and played by vocalist Morrison.
Two music videos were made for the song. The first featured footage of the band backstage and onstage, as well as Jim Morrison driving his car into a hole in sand and jumping on the hood in frustration. The second features the same circus performers on the Strange Days cover photo, who would explore New York City. It also included footage of various people, which was made "swervy" and distorted to fit in with the strange theme of the song. All of this new footage was mixed with footage of the old video, and re-released as a re-mixed video.
Famous quotes containing the words strange, days and/or doors:
“We know not what it is, dear, this sleep so deep and still;
The folded hands, the awful calm, the cheek so pale and chill;
The lids that will not lift again, though we may call and call;
The strange white solitude of peace that settles over all.”
—Mary Mapes Dodge (1831–1905)
“I know not whether Laws be right
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who live in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Science has done great things for us; it has also pushed us hopelessly back. For, not content with filling its own place, it has tried to supersede everything else. It has challenged the super-eminence of religion; it has turned all philosophy out of doors except that which clings to its skirts; it has thrown contempt on all learning that does not depend on it; and it has bribed the skeptics by giving us immense material comforts.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)