The Dock Of The Bay

The latest song to be nominated (by Beth O'Shea) for our VU Centennial Class CD is "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay " by Otis Redding.

Tragically, the song, written by Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper, was recorded during Redding's final sessions in Stax Records' Memphis studios on November 22 and December 8. 1967. Literally just days later on December 10, Redding was among 7 people killed when their plane crashed into Lake Monona outside Madison, Wisconsin while the artist was continuing a tour.

"Dock of the Bay" was a very different kind of song for Redding. In fact there were concerns before it was released that it had too much of a pop sound and there was consideration of bringing in The Staple Singers to do some backup vocals to add to the record. Redding himself reportedly intended to add additional words to the end of the song to replace the evocative whistling he did.

Fortunately, neiter of those things happened, and the song, released as a single in January, 1968 soared to the top of the charts (both Rock and R&B) for four weeks in March becoming the first such posthumous song to reach #1. It is Redding's most successful recording selling more than 4 million copies worldwide and garnering more that 8 million airplays. It won two Grammys for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Here it is, courtesy of YouTube.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrXc68gNjQ

If you have favorite song suggestions to add to our CD to be played at our Class Reunion Party at the newly renovated Rand Hall on Friday, October 4th, leave them here or place them on our Class Facebook page.