In this segment from The Ronnie Wood Show, songwriter Steve Cropper discusses co-writing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of the Bay” with Otis Redding. Cropper tells how Redding approached him with the opening, and then Cropper added information from Redding’s own life (“I left my home in Georgia. . .”).
Redding died in an airplane crash on December 10, 1967 before he could see the song become a hit. Cropper also explains how Redding never got to hear the electric guitar part in the song too. Check it out.
Surprisingly, some were concerned that “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was too different from Redding’s catalog to be successful. But Redding was happy with the somewhat different sound.
After Redding’s death in December 1967, the song was released on January 8, 1968. It became a number one song in the U.S. and the U.K. And it was the first posthumous single to chart that high in the U.S.
The song’s universal appeal is one of Redding’s final gifts to us. One can understand how an organization like Playing for Change, dedicated to inspiring and connecting the world through music, would make the following video.
The Playing for Change version features people singing the timeless song all over the world. Otis touched a lot of us.
Emmylou Harris was born on April 2, 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama. Later, she graduated from high school as class valedictorian and earned a drama scholarship, but fortunately for us she has devoted her career to music.
Below, Harris sings Towne Van Zandt’s beautiful song, “If I Needed You” in 1982. Barry Tashian provides the backing vocals. Check it out.
What is your favorite Emmylou Harris recording? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Henry Gross, who was born in Brooklyn on April 1 in 1951, was the youngest person to perform on the main stage at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969. At the time, he was eighteen years old, performing as one of the founding members of Sha Na Na. But Gross is best known for his song about a dog.
The members of Sha Na Na formed out of a Columbia University a cappella group that started performing under the Sha Na Na name in 1969. The group, with Gross, eventually performed prior to Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.
Some credit Sha Na Na’s short appearance in the Woodstock film with contributing to the nostalgia for the 1950s in subsequent years. That nostalgia led to the film American Graffiti (1973) and the TV show Happy Days.
In 1970, though, Gross left Sha Na Na to pursue a career as a solo singer-songwriter. He initially found little success. But he played guitar as a session musician on one of the classic albums of the early 1970s, Jim Croce’s I Got a Name (1973).
Following some modest success with his own recordings, Gross wrote a song about the death of an Irish Setter owned by Beach Boys member Carl Wilson. The song, “Shannon,” became an international hit.
Shannon, is gone I heard, She’s drifting out to sea; She always loved to swim away; Maybe she’ll find an island with a shaded tree, Just like the one in our backyard.
The Story Behind “Shannon”
There is something gut-wrenching about the beautiful song. So much of it seems real that one may wonder how could this be a song about somebody else’s dog? Well, it really is only partly about Wilson’s dog. Gross also had a dog named Shannon.
In 1972, when Gross was twenty-one, he became involved with a woman named Kathy Reinmann, first as a friend then as a girlfriend. She had a two-year old Irish Setter named Shannon. As Gross described the dog later, “She was an uncannily human dog whose ability to manipulate her human counterparts cannot be understated.”
Around this time, Gross was touring with the Beach Boys and struck up a friendship with Carl Wilson. While visiting Wilson at his home in Los Angeles, Wilson told Gross that he had previously had an Irish Setter too. Wilson explained that he lost his dog when it was hit by a car. His Irish Setter, coincidentally, had the same name as Gross’s dog, Shannon.
Soon after the trip, Gross sat in his apartment trying to write a song. But a neighbor was playing loud music that interfered with his creative process. So, Gross put on an environments record called The Ultimate Seashore. While listening to the sounds of the ocean on the record, he thought of the Beach Boys, Carl Wilson, and Wilson’s dog Shannon.
Gross looked at his dog Shannon, and he thought of “the indescribable sadness that losing such a beloved partner in life must be.” He later recalled, “The song seemed to write itself taking no more than ten minutes and with almost no cross outs on the paper.”
Inspired by the sounds of the ocean on the record, Gross sang about Shannon “drifting off to sea.” The setting also sounded more romantic than getting hit by a car. The lyrics were ambiguous enough that listeners would not know it was about a dog and could imagine their own story.
Gross initially sent the song to Wilson, hoping he would provide background vocals. But the timing never worked out. So Gross recorded his version, which appeared on his album Release,and “Shannon” was released in 1976.
Gross’s song blanketed the nation that year. A country weary from Watergate and the Vietnam war was looking for something new in its bicentennial year. The release of “Shannon” and Gross’s high aching voice captured some of the sadness of the times.
Gross eventually took Shannon’s owner Kathy Reinmann as his wife, although the two would later divorce. They remained friends for decades until she died of lung cancer.
Gross continues to make music since “Shannon,” as you can hear on his website, some with degrees of success. For example, he co-wrote the top 40 country song “Big Guitar” for Blackhawk.
But he never had a hit quite like his song about a dog. Below, Gross performed “Shannon” in 2014, showing he still can hit the high notes. And yes, he still has dogs (and cats).
Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson join forces to pay tribute to their late friend and former collaborator Johnny Cash. In “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone,” Kristofferson and Nelson take a final poem written by Johnny Cash and put it to music.
Cash’s son John Carter Cash explained to Rolling Stone that after his father died in 2003, they found a folder of letters and poems. Johnny Cash wrote the letters and poems in his old age after the death of his wife June Carter Cash.
Among the sad poems was one called “Forever.” The poem is about life going on and recognizing that “the trees that I planted are still young.” Kristofferson and Nelson took the poem to create “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone.”
The track features Kristofferson’s reading of the poem and Nelson’s guitar. In addition, they added an instrumental track from Cash’s 1958 song “I Still Miss Someone.”
The video below shows Kristofferson and Nelson on the track. And it also includes them talking about their deceased friend and former Highwayman colleague. Check it out.
“Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone” is the lead track on the upcoming album Johnny Cash: Forever Words. The album features Cash’s poetry interpreted musically by friends, family, and other artists, such as John Mellencamp, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Chris Cornell, Alison Krauss, Carlene Carter, The Jayhawks, and Brad Paisley.
Forever Words hits stores and the Internet on April 6, 2018. An accompanying book, Forever Words: The Unknown Poems, has also been released.
Steve Earle and the Dukes are celebrating the anniversary of the release of the album Copperhead Road, including a 30th Anniversary Tour. Uni Records released Earle’s third album on October 17, 1988.
Steve Earle made a conscious effort with the album to reach rock radio. And the songs rocked harder than Earle’s previous two excellent albums, Guitar Town (Remastered)(Bonus Track) (1985) and Exit O (1987).
You can hear Earle making a name for himself from the first chords on the opening and title track. “Copperhead Road” tells the story of a Vietnam vet returning home to grow marijuana.
Copperhead Road also featured one of the greatest songs ever written about guns, “The Devil’s Right Hand,” which was covered by Waylon Jennings.
George Stroumboulopoulos of The Strombo Show from CBC Radio 2 recently talked to Earle about the album. Check out the insightful interview where Earle recounts making the album and the music’s legacy.
What is your favorite song on Copperhead Road? It is hard for me to name one song, but I do love “Even When I’m Blue.” Leave your two cents in the comments.
In this segment from The Ronnie Wood Show, songwriter Steve Cropper discusses co-writing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of the Bay” with Otis Redding. Cropper tells how Redding approached him with the opening, and then Cropper added information from Redding’s own life (“I left my home in Georgia. . .”).
and “Shannon” was released in 1976.
Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson join forces to pay tribute to their late friend and former collaborator Johnny Cash. In “Forever Words / I Still Miss Someone,” Kristofferson and Nelson take a final poem written by Johnny Cash and put it to music.
. The album features Cash’s poetry interpreted musically by friends, family, and other artists, such as John Mellencamp, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, 
, has also been released.
Steve Earle and the Dukes are celebrating the anniversary of the release of the album Copperhead Road, including a 
(1985) and Exit O (1987).
also featured one of the greatest songs ever written about guns, “The Devil’s Right Hand,” which was covered by Waylon Jennings.