Along the same lines, Wesley Snipes told Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump that although Woody had listened to Hendrix, he could never "hear" Hendrix. Cue the argument and the racially charged, Spike Lee penned, overly wordy dialog.
Do you see where I am headed?
I long for the moments when I actually "hear" an artist. When we are young, we are prone to "hear" much more. Its quite possibly due to our frontal lobes not being attached quite right yet, but I believe that when the world is fresh to newly opened eyes, the answers we seek are found in our generations music.
So much of what we listen to is complete crap served on a platter to the sheep of whatever trend is hip at the time. Too often, any true artist is completely overlooked by me, sometimes because they are lost in the shuffle, lost in a style that is uninteresting to me, or lost in the cloudy history of a bygone era.
Otis is the latter....
Long drives are the best times for me to uncover something I have not "heard" yet. Opeth, Shins, Sonata Arctica and Slipknot were all "heard" by me for the first time on the road. A few weeks ago, thanks to SeriousXM and a 4 hour trek up I-75, I "heard" Otis Redding for the first time. I was actually sittin' on that dock when the bridge kicked in with his message self acceptance. It sent chills.
Looks like, nothings gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I cant do what 10 people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same
That powerful message has been lost on me for most of my life, both lyrically (in context of this particular song), and actually (in context of middle child syndrome w/ bouts with depression), and I am surprised that I never caught how dark the lyrical content of his largest hit actually was.
I've got nothing to live for, and looks like nothings gonna come my way... Dark stuff.
Who was Otis Redding?
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Otis Redding (Sept 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967)
Coming straight outta Georgia, Otis left school at age 15 to help support his family. He briefly joined Little Richards backing band, the Upsetters, after being discovered during a talent show appearance. For the next decade, Otis payed his dues by fronting various bands, touring the Chitlin Circuit, becoming a songwriter, getting signed to Stax as a solo artist and rising to become one of the Godfathers of Soul. Not bad for a man who died at the age of 26.
His influence goes way beyond Soul music. He penned, recorded and released a woeful plea to his ole' lady in 1965, unknowing that 2 years later Aretha Franklin would turn into a women's lib anthem and one of the greatest songs of the 20th century. Respect. His version was also the musical inspiration for The Beatles Drive My Car (as stated by George Harrison). 
How could Otis have known that he would help launch a Classic Rock revival in the 90's by posthumously lending Hard to Handle to The Black Crows?Otis gave the Stones vindication by reworking Satisfaction. For me, it's kind of the better version.
One of my favorite Redding AD moments is the Otis inspired Try a Little Tenderness jam in the 1991 movie The Commitments, but I admit, I had no idea of the roots of the song at the time.While researching this blog, I found out that it was also done by the cast of Glee. I have not heard it, but it shows how far the reach of his signature performance song extends.
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I decided to dig deeper, and start this current journey with Otis in the most unlikely of places, the dreaded Greatest Hits LP. Not that Otis's Greatest Hits is a bad LP, it's just water that I usually don't tread (save Bob Marley and Journey).
Like most Greatest Hits albums, it lacks consistency. I enjoyed the album and I am not dissing it at all, but it did not have a cohesiveness to it to really make it a good album... So I decided to jump off another cliff of presumably non-cohesive material, and I purchased Dock of a Bay.
Otis Jonny Daye Steve Cropper
The Dock of a Bay album was put together by Guitarist and Producer, Steven Cropper after Otis Reddings's untimely death in 1967. Save the title track, it was complied mostly of B-sides and unreleased material dating back as far as 1965. Despite this, it is still highly regarded as one of the best LP's of all time. Rolling Stone (I hate your magazine) has it listed as #161 of all time in their biased list of the top 500 LP's. I question so much of what goes into that rubbish elitist rag, but they sometimes get the legendary stuff right.... sometimes.My mind is open to Otis now. What a gift he possessed. I think it is a shame that the entire album was not written in the same sessions, as I think the world just hit the tip of what Otis could have offered.
Instead of doing a tedious track by track break-down, I am going to geek out to two songs instead. Why? 'Cause they deserve it. Tramp and Dock of a Bay.
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Tramp
Carla Thomas & Otis in the Studio
Tramp was originally released in March of '67, featured on the duet album King and Queen with Carla Thomas, but was also included on the Dock of a Bay LP.To me, this song is a perfect storm of soul, pre-rap rap, pre-funk funk, R&B and fun.
Musically, I love how the guitar lays under the horn section in perfect, slightly off-time, harmony. I also wonder how many times the funky drum pattern has been sampled?
Lyrically, the song is loose and playful. The give and take between the two legends makes me laugh every time I hear it. It also makes me think that Eddie Murphy probably based some of his character voices on Otis. Two examples: the spoken word "That's good" response to Carla's diss of "Otis, you're straight from the Georgia woods", and the surprising "What?" scream after Otis is once again accused of being a Tramp.
What are Continental Clothes?
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Dock of a Bay
The song "Dock of a Bay", like so much material of that time period, was inspired by the Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. To me however, the song is more Abbey Road than Sgt Pepper, so I can only imagine where Otis would have taken us had he lived.His label hated the song, as did several of his peers and family. It wasn't that the song was bad, in fact Otis himself though it might be the best song he had ever written, it was probably just a scary departure from R&B into something a little too unfamiliar. Otis reportedly wanted to go a different direction musically, and this song proved to be more that just an attempt.
This song is both dark in its meaning and beautiful in its delivery. That's the way I like music most days. When you can spin a negative statement into something that transcends it's meaning, then you have truly created something special (that topic may deserve it's own blog).
We all know this song, but how well do we know it?
I want to start with the acoustic guitar work laying so far in the background that it is almost missed completely. A simple chord structure: G, B7, C, A; that forms a basis for the up/down melody of the vocal.
The bass: Its flawless and unique given the acoustic guitar it accompanies. I wish I could write bass lines like that.
The lead Guitar: It's borderline country (good country - not the white bread, red solo cup shit of the modern generation - That's right haters, I absolutely did make that statement) with a hint if Reggae.
The brass section rises in volume to a nice underlying peak during the verses, bridge and chorus, and then back out just as seamlessly.
The whistle at the end? Years before Axl Rose penned the whistle to end all whistles (Patience - the whistle solo), Otis Redding perfected the craft by whistling a Steve Cropper guitar solo that was meant for the track. The whistle was mixed in posthumously, as were the ocean sounds and the seagull cries.
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Death, funeral and family:
The plane was purchased to ease travel for Otis and his band and allow them to move easily from city to city.
Otis was laid to rest on December 18th, 1967, entombed on his property in Round Oak, Georgia 20 miles north of Macon. His service was attended by over 4500 people, including Percy Sledge, James Brown, Wilson Picket, Solomon Burke, Sam and Dave and several other music insiders of the era.
Otis was an artist who actually kept his publishing early on in the music biz. This leads to a fortune for his family, as he was also smart enough to have a will leaving everything to his immediate family.
Taken from July 18th, 1968 issue of Jet Magazine:
One last thing about Otis and I am out. Another blogger pointed out that there is no real controversy surrounding Otis or his legacy. Everybody that knew him or was associated with him says that he was a good person. That is rare and should be celebrated, especially given that our current culture celebrates mediocrity and stupidity. Everyone is not special, so stop telling your kids that they are for no reason. Let them find something to excel at and gain praise for something palatable. Let them flourish and make mistakes. Give them direction, discipline and love. Pray that they don't end up a talentless hack that needs you to call them in sick to work when they are 20. Pray that the path they tread is filled with respect and dignity. Show them how to love themselves so their relationships in life are healthy and fulfilling. Hold them, squeeze them, never leave them, you gotta, chewbacca, ewe gotcha...Try a Little Tenderness!
Whoops.... I digressed, didn't I?
True talent is something that a past generation held in the palm of their hands with the likes of Otis. RIP Mr. Redding...
Nerdin' aint easy....
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