Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” emerged out of crushing grief: ‘I can’t go in that studio’

Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay,” released in January 1968, was a labor of love for his friend and musical companion Steve Cropper. Completed in the awful days after Redding’s December 10, 1967 death in a plane crash, the song became the first-ever posthumous No. 1 single — but only after Cropper roused himself from crushing grief.

The pair had been at work on a studio project both were sure would represent Otis Redding’s crossover moment. Now, with the superstar suddenly gone, the label pressed Steve Cropper for something to remember him by.

“That whole album was still raw,” Cropper tells us, in an exclusive Something Else! Sitdown. “All of it was taken from stuff that was in the can. At the time, Otis had left us with 14 songs that he had done vocals for. The label called and said we had to get something out right away. I said: ‘Guys, I can’t go in that studio and work on this today. It’s impossible. Let me sleep on it.’”

But Cropper simply couldn’t nod off. Not after everything that had happened. He kept coming back to the unfinished “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay,” a song he and Otis Redding felt had supernova potential.

“I got up that night, because I just couldn’t sleep and hit the studio at about 7:30 that next morning,” he says. “I locked myself in the control room and started working on the mix of the song. I had it going pretty good but it felt like it still needed something.”

That something, that one additional element, helped Steve Cropper — and “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay” — get back on track after the Redding tragedy.

“I got the idea to add a sound effect recording, with some ocean waves and a seagull,” Cropper tells us. “I called a buddy of mine at a jingle company, and he found me some seagulls and ocean waves. I went in and dubbed them down on a two-track machine, with the waves on one track and the seagulls on the other — in a big loop. The next morning, I came out of the studio at about 6:30 or 7 and handed that mix to Atlantic.”

After that, things began moving quickly. A song that Otis Redding had initially demoed on November 22, with some additional overdub work done on December 8, was out in a matter of days.

“It was out before Christmas, and he had died on Dec. 10,” Cropper adds. “A lot of people think it was the last thing Otis recorded, and it was in a way, but it was done about two weeks before the plane went down. We knew that was a hit, a crossover record that could be played on pop radio. It was very different with Otis. He was so funky. That was it, though, the crossover. Who knows what would have happened if he would have stayed alive? I can’t say. But I was glad to have worked on it.”

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Nick DeRiso

Nick DeRiso has written for USA Today, American Songwriter, All About Jazz, and a host of others. Honored as columnist of the year five times by the Associated Press, Louisiana Press Association and Louisiana Sports Writers Association, he oversaw a daily section named Top 10 in the U.S. by the AP before co-founding Something Else! Nick is now assistant managing editor with Townsqaure Media. Listen to NICKRADIO here: bit.ly/NICKRADIO.

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