Remember When Otis Redding Recorded His Signature Song Shortly Before His Death in 1967?

A kinder fate would have made it the start of another phase of Otis Redding’s career, one in which his songwriting took center stage alongside his powerhouse vocals. Instead, it became a heartrending farewell.

Otis Redding had only just finished recording the song that likely would have boosted his career into another gear when a 1967 plane crash ended his life. Sadly, the legacy of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” will forever be intertwined with this tragedy, even though the song is a masterpiece on its own merits.

Expanding Influence

In June 1967, Otis Redding practically stole the show at the Monterey Pop Festival. His emotion-drenched performance wowed the crowd and won the admiration of the elite rock musicians assembled to play and watch. It seemed like major pop success, which had mostly eluded him (his best result on the pop charts was No. 21 to that point), would soon be his to go along with his dominance in the R&B market.

After the triumph at Monterey, Redding stayed in the area. He lived for a while on the houseboat of the event’s promoter, Bill Graham, in Sausalito, California. Watching the water day after day inspired the writing of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”.

Believing that he had something special on his hands, Redding headed to Memphis and called Steve Cropper at Stax Records. Cropper was surprised that Redding didn’t stop to check into a hotel as he usually did. That displayed the level of urgency he had to lay this new song down.

The Last Session

Cropper quickly assembled Booker T. & The MG’s, the group that always played behind Stax Records’ artists. They were all moved by Redding’s lyrics, which Cropper had helped to iron out. A portrait of a lonely man using the lovely scenery to distract him from his troubles, the song didn’t need Redding’s usual blustery vocals to be special. He could play it straight and let the inherent power of the music and words do much of the work.

In fact, Cropper, as producer of the record, left in a few musical bars at the end of the song, thinking that Redding would do his usual impassioned ad-libbing. Instead, Redding just whistled over the music, a move that fit beautifully with the character within the song.

On December 8, Redding left Memphis to head out on a series of weekend concerts before returning on Monday. Cropper overdubbed some soulful guitar parts in the meantime. But Redding would never get the chance to hear what his musical partner had done.

A Powerful Posthumous Message

On December 10, Otis Redding and six other passengers died when their plane crashed into a Wisconsin lake. (Only Ben Cauley, a member of The Bar-Kays, who were touring with Redding, survived the crash.) Cropper and the rest of the MGs found out while in Indiana following a concert.

Atlantic Records, who distributed Redding’s work, called Cropper asking for a song that could be released to honor the legendary artist. Cropper quickly set about mixing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” for that purpose. Not even a month after his death, the song arrived on record store shelves in January 1968.

Often after an artist’s death, sentiment can carry their work to great popularity. We’re here to tell you that Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” would have thrived in any circumstance. Nonetheless, it served as the ideal song to cap off the musical legacy of this soul giant.

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