According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, although Otis Redding consistently impacted the R&B charts beginning with the Top Ten appearance of “Mr. Pitiful” in 1965, none of his singles fared better than #21 on the pop Top Forty until the posthumous release of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” Redding wrote the first verse of the song on a houseboat in Sausalito, Ca. shortly after his famed performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. He continued to jot down lines of the song on napkins and scrap paper while on tour. Together with producer and guitarist Steve Cropper, they completed the music and lyrics of “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay.” From those sessions emerged Otis Redding’s final recordings, including “Dock of the Bay.” The result was a song quite different in style from most of Redding’s other recordings, but one with which he was reportedly very pleased. Redding and six others, including four of the six members of Redding’s backup band, The Bar-Kays, were killed when their plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967. He was just 26 years old at the time of his death.

Otis Redding’s Gravesite