Today’s classic song of the day is “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding. Released in January of 1968, this classic track went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles charts. It’s become Mr. Redding’s signature song, even though it was released posthumously.
Otis Redding, a Memphis soul legend, wrote the song in August of 1967 when he was performing in San Francisco with fellow Stax artists the Bar-Kays. Coming off a round of concerts and a knockout performance at the Monterey Pop Festival a few weeks earlier, Redding was offered the use of impresario Bill Graham’s houseboat in Sausalito. It was there that Redding wrote the first few lines of what became a massive hit:
Sittin’ in the morning sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes
The rest of the song followed in the following weeks, with some additional lyrics provided by producer and guitarist Steve Cropper. Here’s what Cropper remembers about the song:
“Otis was one of those [guys] who had 100 ideas. […] He had been in San Francisco doing the Fillmore. And the story that I got, he was renting a boathouse, or stayed at a boathouse or something, and that’s where he got the idea of the ships coming in the bay there. And that’s about all he had: ‘I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again.’ I just took that… and I finished the lyrics.”
On November 22, Redding and Cropper went into Stax Studios in Memphis and laid down the basic tracks for the song. The musicians on that date were essentially Booker T. & the M.G.’s, with Booker T. Jones on keyboards, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass, Al Jackson Jr. on drums, and Steve Cropper himself on guitar. Wayne Jackson played trumpet and trombone, Andrew Love played sax, and Sam Taylor overdubbed Redding’s original whistle part.
Redding and Cropper recorded some vocal and instrumental overdubs on December 7, then Otis went back out on the road. Three days later, on December 10, 1967, Redding’s chartered twin-engine Beechcraft crashed into Lake Monona, just outside Madison, Wisconsin. Otis Redding, his assistant, and five members of his touring band, the Bar-Kays, perished in the crash.
After Redding’s death, Steve Cropper went back into Stax Studios to mix the final version of “Dock of the Bay.” He added the sounds of crashing waves and braying seagulls, which Otis had previously requested.
The “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” single was released on Stax’s Volt label on January 8, 1968. It was Redding’s final new single and his best-selling. It sold more than four million copies worldwide, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks, and won two Grammy Awards, for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” had a much different sound than anything Otis Redding had previously written or recorded. His previous hits included “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Respect,” “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song),” “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Tramp” (with Carla Thomas), and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” heralded a new direction for the fiery soul singer; it’s a shame his untimely death cut short what no doubt would have been a long and more successful career.
