We can assume that this was one of, if not the last version he knew - the working title at the time being just “The Dock Of The Bay.” Listening to this earlier version, you can hear the difference in instrumentation, the more aerated whistling, and of course, the lack of found sound. But he never heard the (for all intents and purposes) “finished” version. Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” is undeniably one of his most popular songs.

Though much of what I’ve written about for Sounds Familiar so far leans more toward the spoken found sound, there have been attempts to write about sounds that are associated with a particular landscape or location. nurture how the environment we find ourselves in shapes who we are, in addition to the people we are around etc., etc. In a past edition of Sounds Familiar, I wrote a bit about a literary genre adjacent to the human behavioral concept of nature vs. In between my routine gushing over national treasure, Mavis Staples, I recalled the super, super subtle addition of found sound in Otis Redding’s hit - sounds he never lived to hear in the final mix.

I don’t have a boat, but I am currently in the process of shrink wrapping my windows. The other day I was pretending while listening to The Staples’ Singers version of the Otis Redding classic, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” after having seen boats down at the Charlestown Marina shrink wrapped for the season. 1 It’s time to have the tissues stocked up, kiddos, the noses are on the run. It’s okay for even a split second while looking out the window to pretend that the sun is just warm enough and the breeze we see moving the tree branches (which are now naked, but again, pretend they are still clothed in leaves) is a relief instead of, in the words of Our Lady Joni Mitchell, traitor cold. That’s the lie I tell myself while I’m actually mid-shiver in one of the coldest places I know (my apartment).īut sometimes it’s nice to pretend.

Sittin on dock of the bay lyrics