Released: 1968
Whisper it quietly, but the mantle of soul music’s king seemed – briefly anyway – to be a complicated, even dangerous thing to own. First there was Sam Cooke, shot in a Los Angeles motel in 1964 after what some claimed was a honeytrap gone bad. Then having assiduously worked to become his successor in the years after, Otis Redding died in a plane accident whilst en route to a show in December 1967. Thankfully James Brown would stay with us into the twenty first century.
Redding’s career arc was similar to Cooke’s. Coming from humble origins, he quickly built a reputation and audience and by the middle of the decade both he and the Stax label he was on were thriving. He knew that a ceiling existed though, one which could only be pushed through by embracing a wider audience and by extension writing material which would broaden his appeal. Not everybody in his orbit however agreed.
The inspiration for (Sittin’ On) The Dock of The Bay came whilst on a brief break from touring spent on a rented houseboat near Sausalito in mid-1967; astutely absorbing The Beatles and Dylan, only the opening line would come at first. It wasn’t completed until almost the end of that year, in a session involving Redding, Steve Cropper, Booker T on piano and Al Jackson on drums, with extra licks provided by the Mar-Keys.
Redding died three days later and the posthumously released single became his best selling release and a canonical one in soul music’s history. Yet there were still many who professed a dislike of the finished article, a second guessing of the singer’s instincts which was brought to an unnatural conclusion. Whatever the truth, it was time for another king to take his turn.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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