9 Comments

I remember when this song came out; I was in first year university. I was a folkie but I liked it. I didn't realize that he'd died at that time. I love the whistling end. I'm a whistler and always whistle harmony with Otis ...

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I was still in grade school when the song came out, but I had to ride the school bus and we got pop tunes going and coming .. and I loved the song. I also had no idea that he had died, not even as the posthumous songs came out. Poor guy, and his poor family. So many musicians died in small plane crashes in those days.

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Yes, immediately I wanted to know what happened to his wife and children. I hope he had enough money in the bank to sustain them.

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According to an article, that dock was actually in Sausalito, nor quite the lonely, rickety image you get from this wonderful song. He was in the SF Bay Area as of the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, in which he was an unexpected smash. His landmark performance is captured in the MP film. Soul music was not exactly on the agenda there. In short, he was converting a lot of budding hippies then. And that week Respect sung by Aretha Franklin was number one...but he wrote the song!

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Yes, he wrote "Respect" and "Lean on Me," too, and a bunch of other songs. What a talent. I recall seeing that he blew them out of the water in California that year. What a talent. What a loss. I'll have to look for the video of the MPF.

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RIP, Otis Redding. What a positive impact he would have had in the years ahead if he had lived.

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My thought, too. What a loss to his family and everyone.

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One of my all time favorites. This is a song that brings calmness and peace in a stormy world. Thank you.

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I've love this song ever since I first heard it. I was glad to hear that Otis Redding was such a fine young man, too.

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