Saturday Morning Soundtrack: "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding (1968)

We're almost out of the sixties, which is kind of sad if you think about it because this was a great decade for music, and I feel like we've barely even scratched the surface. Fortunately, we still have a few good years left, and this week's entry in the Saturday Morning Soundtrack, is one of the best yet! It features a song that is definitely in my all-time Top 10.

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"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding (1968)

Is there any song smoother than Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay?" If so, I can't think of one. Written in 1967 with guitarist Steve Cropper this tune is probably Redding's most identifiable, and in many ways, it's the song that tells the story of Otis's life. 

In a 1990 interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Cropper explained that Otis Redding had gotten the idea for this song while on tour in San Francisco. He was staying at a rented boathouse in Sausalito, and could hear the sounds of the waves and the gulls outside. He wrote down ideas on napkins, and when he got back to the studio, he had a loose collection of lines that would eventually become the first verse. Like most artists, Redding then took this notion and began to develop it, but it was really Cropper who established the song's narrative:

"Otis was one of those kind of guys who had 100 ideas. . . .  If you listen to the songs I wrote with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him. He didn't usually write about himself, but I did. . . . '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."

What makes this song memorable and so different from earlier Redding songs like "Mr. Pitiful" and "These Arms of Mine," is the level of weariness in both the music and the lyrics. Redding was always the kind of singer who could expression emotion without screaming or bellowing. He was more Sam Cooke than James Brown. But when he recorded the vocals for "Dock of the Bay," he was only a few months removed from surgery to remove polyps from his vocal chords, and the resulting sound is airier somehow, tighter and more restrained. He had been listening to The Beatles and The Association quite a bit and had found himself becoming more influenced by their pop sound.

The lyrics also signal a different kind of weariness, opening with the image of a man sitting on a dock by himself all day, watching ships. What's that man thinking? We don't know exactly, but there's a clear contrast between the boats (which are headed somewhere) and the man (who isn't). This man, as Otis sings, has had "nothing to live for" and his future prospects remain dim, and so the only thing left to do is to waste time. Many people have speculated that this song symbolizes Redding's disatisfaction with his record label, while others think it chronicles his growing apathy for touring and live performance. Whatever the case, we'll never know for sure. Only three days after putting the final touches on the recording, Redding was killed when the plane he was traveling in went down over Lake Monona in Wisconsin. 

Cropper was on tour with Booker T. & the MG's when he heard the tragic news, and upon returning to Memphis, he finished mixing the song for its release, calling it, "the toughest thing I've ever done." Redding's body had not even been recovered yet. In place of the song's unwritten final verse, they kept the whistling they'd been using as a place marker (laid down in post-production by Redding's former bandleader Sam "Bluzman " Taylor), incorporating it into the fade out.

Despite Redding's earlier enthusiasm for the song, and Cropper's insistence that it would be a hit, many people had doubts. It was so unlike anything that Redding had ever performed, that his label didn't even want to release it, suggesting that some gospel choir background vocals might improve the tune. When Cropper played the final cut they relented, and the song quickly rocketed to the top of the charts in the US and UK, becoming the first posthumous single to reach #1. It won the 1968 Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues song, and has gone on to become the sixth-most performed song of the 20th century (with approximately six million performances by a variety of different artists). And though Redding did not live to see his greatest success, "Dock of the Bay" is a song that continues to live on, hopping eras and remaining one of the most iconic songs in the history of American popular music.

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So what do you think? Did I get it right or miss the mark? Please, feel free to weigh in using the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact me with queries.