OTIS REDDING
Co-written by soul legend Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper, (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay was recorded in two sessions during 1967. In November, Redding joined Cropper at the famed Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, where they laid down the core of the track. A final round of overdubs followed on December 7, but a still unsatisfied Redding considered the song incomplete and intended to revisit it. Tragically, he never got the chance. Just three days later, on December 10, Redding died in a plane crash. In the wake of his pass-ing, Cropper returned to the studio to mix the track, honoring Redding’s request by adding sounds of seagulls and waves lapping the shore. Released in 1968 on Stax Records’ Volt label, Dock Of The Bay became the first posthumous No. 1 single in US chart history and climbed to No. 3 in the UK.