"There's a killer on the road / His brain is squirmin' like a toad

[Gaugamela]

Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If you give this man a ride
Sweet family will die
Killer on the road”

I’m not religious or superstitious, but it feels like there is something Tolkienesque about this moment — like some psychopathic god has crept up out of the American psyche. When this song was first released and playing on the radio I was reading The Lord Of The Rings, and the song’s mood and Tolkien’s trilogy seemed to fit together perfectly. As others here are wisely reminding us, their obscene god thrives on fear. I suspect that the folks at Playing for Change sense this and decided to release this version of ‘Riders On The Storm’ in response.

Released 1/9/26:

[pfitz59]

1. A song that changed my musical awareness

I was a young teen raised on Country Western and Folk Music. My sister played some pop 45 records. I chose The Doors. Darker, more in tune with my reality. Then I found Pink Floyd and pot! Yes, and the Dead... Spent the rest of my teen years blissed out in a Humboldt haze.

[Gaugamela]

2. Humboldt haze. Great name!

Pink Floyd and the Dead was pretty much my neck of the woods, after the Beatles in the 60s.