Can't think of a more depressing song than "Riders On The Storm" which played on AOR radio endlessly during the early 1970s. I was just a kid then but I remember walking to a run-down Italian food joint in my neighborhood to order some pizza for my father. I was probably about 12 years old and back in those days, they let you sit at the bar while you were waiting for your take-out order no matter how old you were. So I ordered pizza to go and also a Coke to drink while I was waiting. Back then, you got the Cokes served to you in those iconic bottles that are now collectors items on eBay so the bartender took my food order and slided a Coke bottle down to me.
Like I said, it was a run-down place and at the bar you had some sad sack losers nursing Bud drafts. There was hardly any lights in the joint and the atmosphere was dark and dreary. The guy running the bar was this enormous 400-pound man who only had about three years left to live. He was perpetually sweating and whenever I went in there, he always stared at me like he wanted to take me out back and have his way with me.
Anyway, this "Riders In The Storm" song comes up on the jukebox and I remember being mesmerized by it and just having this feeling of impending doom coming over me. I wanted to get out that place so badly but I had to wait for the pizzas to come. The patrons at the bar are all wearing staring into their glasses and the smell of stale spilled beer permeates the room while the fat bartender is leering at me. I thought that song would never end, it seemed to go on for 20 minutes - I'm thinking whoever picked it on the jukebox paid to have it played multiple times.
Finally I get my pizzas and bolt out of the place only to find that it is pouring rain outside with thunder and lightning - just like in the song! For a thunderstorm had come upon us while I was sitting in there. I just bolted through the pouring rain the two or three blocks back to my house, completely drenching myself and the cardboard pizza boxes.
So every time I hear that song to this day, even 40 years later, that same feeling of doom and gloom comes over me and I think about that time I sat at that depressing bar waiting for the pizzas to get made.
Good story. I had a layover the summer of 68’ in OKC from midnight to 4am to get to Wichita Falls. “Honky Tonk Women” had just been released. I played it on that Wurlitzer for four solid hours. I am sure the others in the bus station wanted to ring my neck but the opening riff had captivated me. Hearing “Honky Tonk Women” and “Gimme Some Lovin’” out of a Wurlitzer Juke is something kids today haven’t experienced.
Your story on Riders On The Storm was great. LOL. You are an excellent writer!