Throw in nearly constant northwest breezes and low humidity and it’s a minor miracle that the entire island is not one big nudist colony. The 45 inches of annual rainfall is the perfect amount to keep the island lush without spoiling too many outdoor activities. Try the mid-seventies in the winter (break out the parkas) to the mid-eighties in the summer (break out the piña coladas). One of the most appealing aspects of this incredible isle is the climate which pretty much makes it the poster boy for the word temperate. The island was named by Christopher Columbus who, were he still around, would be nearly six hundred years old so it’s not as if Chris has a lot of room to talk himself! Those of you who have not obliterated your cerebral cortex with a few too many Cuba Libres across the decades will recall from first year Spanish that the word means “ancient”. Nestled among the leeward islands of the West Indies is small slice of paradise called Antigua. I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wasting time.”
No one knows what would have happened had Redding lived to see the song become a smash hit, but at least we have the work that Redding left the world and sometimes that's all you need.“I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away. That year, the single won two Grammy awards and the album went quadruple platinum. The posthumous album containing the single peaked at number four on the album chart and gave Redding the crossover success he yearned for in life.
Sitting on the dock of the bay meaning cracked#
In fact, Redding had never cracked the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Redding basically owned the R&B charts in the '60s, but in March of '68 the single went to number one on the pop charts, something that Redding had never achieved. The single quickly went to the top of the R&B charts, which was no surprise. Either way, radio stations put the song in heavy rotation as a way to mourn the fallen singer while celebrating his legacy. Whether it was rushed to capitalize on the moment or if that was just the schedule is unclear. Unfinished or not, Cropper's mix of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released in January 1968, only a few weeks after Redding's death. The Higher-Ups At Stax Didn't Like The Song We knew we finally had the song that would cross him over to the pop market. The dynamics, the energy, the way we attacked it-that’s hard to teach. Most of his songs had just two or three chord changes, so there wasn’t a lot of music there. Redding guided the musicians through the track by singing the melodies for them, but Cropper explained that the singer was looking for a specific feel, one that was the complete opposite of his most well known work: With Otis, it was all about feeling and expression. & The M.G.'s was behind much of the sound of the single, but he took his inspiration from the vibe of Redding's first verse.Īlso playing on the track were Booker T. Cropper, a producer for Stax Records who played guitar with Booker T. The "Dock Of The Bay" session wasn't lengthy, and in spite of the laid back style of the song the atmosphere in the studio was one of excitement. Recording Went Quickly But The Track Was Unfinished ‘Dock of the Bay’ was exactly that: ‘I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay,’ it was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay.’ I just took that… we just sat down and I just kind of learned the changes that he was kind of running over and I finished the lyrics…Otis didn’t really write about himself but I did. And that’s about all he had: ‘I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again. He had rented a boathouse or stayed out at a boathouse or something that’s when he got the idea of watching the ships coming in the bay there. Longtime co-writer and producer Steve Cropper explained the catalyst for the song to NPR: He had been in San Francisco doing the Fillmore. The earliest version of the song was literally written overlooking the water in Sausalito, California. "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" began its life on tour with Redding in 1967 as he searched for something more soulful in his own work. His work that will outlast everything else he ever recorded is a contemplative tune that Redding hoped would be vastly different from everything else in his catalogue.
Pitiful" still get toes tapping and audiences dancing, but the work that Redding will most be remembered for shares little of the bombastic nature of his early singles. His oversexed, funked up work like "Try A Little Tenderness," "Respect," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "I Can't Turn You Loose" and "Mr.
Otis Redding's early work set the template for R&B music of the '60s and '70s.
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