Dock of the Bay – Otis ReddingFor a young mod growing up on the edge of the country, in a decidedly analogue world, keen to explore the whole gamut of music that resided in “the broad church” (© Eddie Pillar) that is/was Modernism. The only way to listen to new sounds was to either nick records from various unattended record collections at house parties, scour the numerous 2nd hand stores of a seaside town with a ridiculously high percentage of old age pensioners or more honestly to head down to Max Records and hope and pray that the buyers had at last cottoned on to the burgeoning scene.
Getting hold of the Mod Revival stuff was pretty straightforward (esp. ‘local’ bands like Teenbeats and The Lambrettas). However, even seminal albums like ‘Small Faces’, ‘My Generation’ & ‘Something Else’ were noticeable by their absence from any of the five record shops in town (Max Records, Silver Disc, Boots, Woolies & WH Smiths – for the record). A few Motown releases started to creep into Max, with The Supremes being very well represented. However, Chess & Stax artists were barely visible and anything more underground or ‘Northern’, not a chance.
One day though, after a morning coffee in The Spartan. I headed down Grove Road into Max Records to be confronted almost immediately with a new record in the soul section. Otis Redding’s greatest hits. Now whilst compilation and especially best of releases are often sneered at, in those days it was either Best of’s or nowt! Despite the fact it was a double album, it was priced as a single. So, I slipped over the cash, ran to the bus stop and was back in my bedroom 30 minutes later listening to RESPECT, Mr Pitiful, Satisfaction (so much better than that Rolling Stones nonsense!) on and on until the final track – (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay.
I was transported… the beauty of the whole production, the imagery and the melancholy (oh the sweet eternal melancholy) of Otis’s delivery. From the first listen to this very day, the song is seared into my soul. It’s got the lot! No more to say…
Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh
I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time
I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco Bay
'Cause I've had nothin' to live for
It look like nothin's gonna come my way
So I'm just gon' sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time
Look like nothin's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes
Sittin' here restin' my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone, listen
Two thousand miles, I roam
Just to make this dock my home
Now I'm just gon' sit, at the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh yeah
Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Otis Redding / Steve Cropper
(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc
