I’ve loved The Doors so long it never occurred to me that some people don’t. I was mesmerized by the opening sounds of The End as it played in Apocalypse Now when I first saw it as a ten-year old. (I was too young to “get” a lot of the movie, but not too young to appreciate it.) After I heard Light My Fire I couldn’t get it out of my head for days.

Of course I’d read a bit about the legends surrounding Jim Morrison. But I never knew much about the band. I never saw Oliver Stone’s band biopic, and never looked too deeply into the stories any of the other band members.

So it was a revelation and a thrill to come across this video of The Doors’ Ray Manzarek performing, and explaining the genesis of, Riders on the Storm.

It’s ten minutes of inspiration and wonder I could watch all day, but here are some takeaways:

• Ray Manzarek’s awesome talent on the organ
• Ray Manzarek’s story telling gives us non-musical mortals wonderful insight into the creative process
• the beauty of Jim Morrison’s poetry
• the world gets blessed by the magic that happens in a band — that coming together, the collaboration/cooperation, can sometimes (and in the greatest bands often does) produce a musical gift that is exponentially greater than the talents of the band members

Art is what makes us human, and great art makes us great humans. The Doors are proof still (and yet again) that if anything can advance our species it’s music.