"People Are Strange" is a rock song written by Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger and credited to all four members of The Doors, composed in early 1967 and released on their second album Strange Days. The composition is distinguished by its theatrical, cabaret-like character, driven by a haunting vocal melody, tack piano, Vox Continental organ, and slide guitar that together evoke an atmosphere more reminiscent of European vaudeville than conventional blues or psychedelic rock. The song originated during a walk in Laurel Canyon, where a depressed Morrison hiked up into the Hollywood Hills and returned euphoric, having scribbled the lyrics and sung the chorus melody on a ridge overlooking Los Angeles. Morrison's words explore the distorted perceptions that accompany alienation and loneliness, examining how the world appears to warp and turn hostile when one feels like an outsider. The tack piano contributes a deliberate period quality, lending the arrangement a brooding, almost cinematic eeriness that sets the piece apart from the band's more blues-driven material. Within The Doors' catalog, the song exemplifies their distinctive fusion of poetry, blues, and theatrical performance, following the commercial breakthrough of "Light My Fire" and continuing the band's exploration of alienation and psychological disorientation on Strange Days. Released as the album's lead single with "Unhappy Girl" as its B-side, it reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has remained one of the most recognizable songs in the band's repertoire.
