Playing for Change recorded a version featuring Grandpa Elliott and other performers. Rex (as the B-side of "Dreamy Lady", released in 1975), Brent Smith of Shinedown (during an acoustic set in 2008 and with Zach Myers in a 2014 EP), Justin Nozuka (2007), Sara Bareilles (2008), and Garth Brooks (for the 2013 Blue-Eyed Soul album in the Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences compilation). Hot Country Songs chart), Kenny Rankin, Dennis Brown, Michel Pagliaro, Jacob Miller, Pearl Jam, the Format, T.
The song has been recorded by many artists, from Redding's peers, like Glen Campbell, Cher, Peggy Lee, David Allan Coe, Bob Dylan, Don Partridge, Percy Sledge, Dee Clark, and Sam & Dave, to artists in various genres, including Jimmy Velvit (whose cover version was included on his 2001 Grammy-nominated album Sun Sea & Sand), Widespread Panic (who opened their New Year's Eve 2005 concert with the song), Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (whose duet peaked at number 13 on the U.S. "The Dock of the Bay" has been hugely popular, even after its stay at the top of the charts. Template:Sfn The fade-out whistling was originally recorded by Redding and was re-recorded by his bandleader, Sam "Bluzman" Taylor. He added the sound of seagulls and waves crashing to the background, as Redding had requested, recalling the sounds he heard when he was staying on the houseboat. Template:SfnĪfter Redding's death, Cropper mixed "Dock of the Bay" at Stax Studios. On December 10, his charter plane crashed into Lake Monona, outside Madison, Wisconsin. He forgot what it was so he started whistling." Template:Sfn Redding continued to tour after the recording sessions. It was originally performed by Redding, who (according to Cropper) had "this little fadeout rap he was gonna do, an ad-lib. The song features a whistled tune heard before the song's fade. Redding had considered the song to be unfinished and planned to record what he considered a final version, but never got the chance. There were concerns that "The Dock of the Bay" had too much of a pop feel for an Otis Redding record, and contracting the Stax gospel act the Staple Singers to record backing vocals was discussed but never carried out. While discussing the song with his wife, Redding stated that he had wanted to "be a little different" with "The Dock of the Bay" and "change his style". The song is somewhat different in style from most of Redding's other recordings. Redding's restrained yet emotive delivery is backed by Cropper's memorably succinct guitar playing.
Together, they completed the music and melancholy lyrics of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." From those sessions emerged Redding's final recorded work, including "Dock of the Bay," which was recorded on November 22, with additional overdubs on December 7. In a September 1990 interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Cropper explained the origins of the song: In November of that year, he joined producer and guitarist Steve Cropper at the Stax recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, to record the song. While touring in support of the albums King & Queen (a collaboration with female vocalist Carla Thomas) and Live in Europe, he continued to scribble lines of the song on napkins and hotel paper. He had completed his famed performance at the Monterey Pop Festival just weeks earlier. While on tour with the Bar-Kays in August 1967, Redding wrote the first verse of the song, under the abbreviated title "Dock of the Bay," on a houseboat at Waldo Point in Sausalito, California.