50 years ago: Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” hit #1

Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay Otis Redding

Writer(s): Steve Cropper, Otis Redding (see lyrics here) Released: January 8, 1968 First Charted: January 27, 1968 Peak: 14 US, 3 CB, 2 HR, 13 RB, 3 UK, 7 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 1.0 UK, 4.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 7.0 radio, 127.0 video, 391.98 streaming

Awards (Redding): Click on award for more details. Awards (Pearl Jam):

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Awards (Sting):

About the Song: There’s never been a better epitaph. Redding and six others died when his charter plane crashed into Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967. WK On November 22, he‘d recorded “Dock of the Bay,” adding overdubs two days before his death. “Using road weariness as its metaphor,” MA Redding wrote what is “ostensibly a homesick ballad” TC about his journey from Georgia to stardom, protesting against the guilt of wasting time, arguing in favor of relaxing, doing nothing, and just “watching the tide roll in and out.” PW Fresh off the Monterey Pop Festival, Redding was playing the Fillmore in San Francisco while staying on a houseboat. Producer and guitarist Steve Cropper says this is where Otis “‘got the idea of the ship coming in...I took that and finished the lyrics. If you listen to the songs I wrote with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him…’Dock of the Bay’ was exactly that: ‘I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay’ was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform.’” WK To add to the song’s coastal vibe, Cropper added seaside noises. One aspect of the song that wasn’t finished but was left alone was the now iconic whistling. Redding had hoped to add another verse, but after he died Cropper left the whistling in. BBC Redding wasn’t new to the pop charts, having hit the top 40 more than a half dozen times, but most of his success had come on the R&B charts. However, this song topped the pop and R&B charts and became “the first posthumous number one single.” FB Cropper said, “Elvis was the king of rock & roll and Otis was the king of soul. Had he lived, I think he would have been king of them all.” TC The song has been covered many times. Some of my personal favorites include renditions by Pearl Jam and Sting. Resources: BBC BBC Radio 2 (1999). “Songs of the Century” FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 238. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 546. JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 175. MA Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 18. PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles. New York, NY; Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. Page 128. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/8/2014; last updated 11/6/2022.

Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash: December 10, 1967

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In the closing days of 1967, legendary soul singer Otis Redding was due for some performances in the Midwest. After a television appearance in Cleveland, he was set for a concert in Madison, Wisconsin. However, on its final approach into Madison, the private plane crashed into a lake three miles from the runway. Redding and six of the other seven people on board were killed.

Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, the song of a gospel singer and a housekeeper. From an early age, Otis began singing with the church choir and at age ten he took up drumming and singing lessons. He cited Little Richard and Sam Cooke as major influences. As a teen, Redding parlayed a numer of talent show contest wins into paying gigs and in 1960 moved to Los Angeles with his sister and wrote his first songs. While touring as a band member and later a featured artist, Redding met Phil Walden who would help Otis get signed to Confederate Records. This led to Redding being signed with Stax, where he achieved all his chart success and became “arguably the most exciting singer on the roster of Memphis-based Stax/Volt Records.” ^HI

He scored his first hit with “These Arms of Mine”, a #20 R&B hit in 1963. Over the next few years, he scored top 5 R&B hits with “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, “Respect”, “Satisfaction”, and “Try a Little Tenderness”. However, it wasn’t until 1967 that mainstream audiences really discovered him. An appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival had exposed his talents to a largely white rock-oriented audience. Also, Aretha Franklin took her cover of Redding’s “Respect” to the top of the charts.

Weeks after his death, Redding scored not only the biggest song of his career, but one of the biggest songs of all time. In the book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era 1954-1999, Dave’s Music Database ranks Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” at #12. Redding had left the song unfinished – a whistled verse served as a placeholder for lyrics he had yet to write. The whistling has now become an iconic part of the song which became history’s first posthumous #1 hit. ^HI

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Awards:

• one of the top 1000 music makers of all time
  
• Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
  
• R&B Foundation
  
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
  
• Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee
  
• one of the top 100 singers of all time
  
• one of the top 100 songwriters according to the DMDB
  

Resources and Related Links:

• Otis Redding’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
  
• History.com Soul legend Otis Redding dies in a plane cras near Madison, Wisconsin
  
• Wikipedia.org Otis Redding
  

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The Monterey Pop Festival: June 16-18, 1967

June 16-18, 1967: The Monterery Pop Festival was held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. Pete Townshend smashed his guitar, Jimi Hendrix lit his on fire, and the Summer of Love ignited.



More than 200,000 people turned out for a lineup of 32 performers at what the Encyclopædia Britannica called “the first commercial American rock festival.” It set the template for large rock festivals, most notably 1969’s Woodstock. Included on the bill were future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees the Animals, Booker T. & the MGs, Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin (as part of Big Brother and the Holding Company), the Mamas and the Papas, Otis Redding, Simon & Garfunkel, and the Who. See the set list here

Also performing were the Association, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Canned Heat, Country Joe & the Fish, the Electric Flag, Al Kooper, Hugh Masakela, Scott McKenzie, the Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Lou Rawls, Johnny Rivers, and Ravi Shankar.

Most of the artists performed for free so that revenue could be donated to charity. The festival boasted an innovative sound system which served as the model for the larger-scale PA systems of the future. The electronic music synthesizer developed by Robert Moog was also introduced at a booth at the festival.

Read a couple first-hand accounts from festival attendees here and here. Also check out John Bassett McCleary’s summary of Monterey Pop’s place in shaping the hippie counterculture in The Herald.

Then, in the next best thing to being there, check out the 3-disc DVD collection The Complete Monterey Pop Festival: The Criterion Collection. It extends the 1968 Monterey Pop documentary shot by D.A. Pennebaker. You can also check out the 2-CD collection Monterey International Pop Festival.