Tag: Otis Redding

Otis Redding’s Tragic Plane Crash in Wisconsin

Dock of the Bay On December 10, 1967, an airplane crashed into Lake Monona, not far from the Madison, Wisconsin airport. On board the plane were Otis Redding and his backing band for the tour, The Bar-Kays band.

Trumpeter Ben Cauley became the sole survivor of the crash. The twin-engine Beechcraft owned by Redding had taken off in rain and heavy fog, but investigators never determined a cause of the crash. Today, there is a memorial at the crash site.

Otis Redding is one of the few artists where I cannot fathom anyone not loving his music. While I may disagree with some folks on music taste, I can still understand why someone may not like the music of Bob Dylan or Elvis Presley. But I believe everyone should love Redding, as he captures the joy, pain, and soul of life.

If I crank up my iPod through the stereo while guests are visiting and I am not sure of their taste in music, I usually play my Redding albums. There is not much music everyone agrees on nowadays, but Redding is unique.

He belongs in that rare camp of people who are both great singers and great songwriters. Redding showed great promise at a young age as a songwriter, having written or co-written such songs as “Respect” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.”

Otis Redding was only 26-years-old when he died, so we can only imagine what he would have accomplished had he lived to old age. Only four months after his death, the last song he recorded — “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay” — became his first number one song. The song, written by Redding and Steve Cropper, revealed Redding exploring new musical directions.

Below is a live performance of another favorite of mine, “Try a Little Tenderness.” This video includes part of a 1967 European performance from not long before the plane crash that killed Redding, who was reportedly a good man too. RIP.

What is your favorite Otis Redding song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Writing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”
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  • You Only Are What You Believe: 1967 Anti-War Protest and the Year’s Music

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    You Only Are What You Believe: 1967 Anti-War Protest and the Year’s Music

    Viet Nam war protest D.C. On October 21 in 1967, one of the most significant signs of public disgruntlement with the Vietnam conflict began.  Nearly 100,000 people showed up in D.C. to protest the U.S. role in the war.

    The March on the Pentagon to Confront the War Makers started near the Lincoln Memorial, and approximately 50,000 of the protesters then went to the Pentagon, where many remained until October 23 and where some participated in acts of civil disobedience. Author Norman Mailer captured many of the events of the protest in his novel, Armies of the Night.

    That year there were other protests around the country, as polls showed that the support for the war had dropped below 50%.  All of those factors led President Lyndon Johnson’s administration to respond with a public relations campaign in support of the war.

    But the protest, and complaints after the Tet offensive in early 1968, illustrated that many Americans would continue to raise their voices to end the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

    Music Reflects the Protests Against the War

    At the time, one might have noticed from the music that something was in the air. The year 1967 began with the Rolling Stones appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in January.  At the show’s request, the band famously changed the title lyrics of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to the less sexy “Let’s Spend Some Time Together.” But by September, the Doors appeared on the same show after also agreeing to alter the lyrics to their song, “Light My Fire.” But Jim Morrison captured the growing youth rebellion by going ahead and singing the offending line “Girl we couldn’t get much higher.”

    In other 1967 music news, Buffalo Springfrield released “For What It’s Worth” in January. In February, Aretha Franklin recorded “Respect.” In March, the Who performed for the first time in the U.S. In June, the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

    Also in June, the Monterey Pop Festival brought young people together to hear such artists as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Otis Redding.  Redding soon would write and record “(Sitting on) the Dock of the Bay.”

    John Lennon in How I Won the War

    Then, on October 18, three days before the Washington protest, the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine came off the presses with a cover photo of John Lennon from the film How I Won the War.  The film was a comedy where Lennon first appeared with his famous round glasses.

    Phil Ochs Declares the War is Over

    Of course, there was music at the protest in D.C. too. One of the performers at the protest was Phil Ochs. He performed his recent song that imagined a future without the war, “The War is Over.”

    In the song at the protest, Ochs proclaimed “This country is too young to die,” so “I declare the war is over.” He concludes, “You only are what you believe.”

    Below is a video of a different live performance of “The War is Over.”

    The U.S. eventually withdrew its troops from Viet Nam, but it would be nearly six more years before the war was actually over for the U.S. soldiers and their loved ones at home.

    Photo via public domain.

    What is your favorite music or event from 1967? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Time Is On My Side

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    Time Is On My Side

    Rolling Stones Ed Sullivan On October 25, 1964, the Rolling Stones made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.  On the show, they first performed Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around.” And then they closed the show with their own “Time Is On My Side.”

    At the time, the Stones were still finding their footing in the U.S., following the release of their second U.S. album 12 x 5.  Meanwhile, “Time Is On My Side” was climbing the U.S. charts. The performance on The Ed Sullivan Show would help take them to another level.

    “Time Is On My Side” & Irma Thomas

    The formulation of “Time Is On My Side” that we all recognize was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Jimmy Norman and recorded by Irma Thomas in early 1964. The song would go on to be a hit, but not for Thomas.

    Months after Thomas’s recording, the Rolling Stones recorded their version of the tune.  They added a guitar lick but otherwise changed very little from Thomas’s version. For the Rolling Stones, it would be their first U.S. top ten hit, and they would perform the song on The Ed Sullivan Show.

    Although Irma Thomas did not match the success of the Rolling Stones with the song, she continues to perform and is especially loved in her hometown of New Orleans.

    Prior to “Time Is On My Side,” Thomas had a Top 20 hit with “Wish Someone Would Care.” But she never got anything near the paycheck that the Stones got for their version of “Time Is On My Side.”

    In The Heart of Rock & Soul, critic Dave Marsh notes that Thomas was “ripped off not just once but twice, and by two of the best.” Otis Redding also took her “Ruler of My Heart” and changed it to “Pain In My Heart,” altering and improving on her version more than the Stones did with “Time Is On My Side.”

    It is unfortunate that Thomas never saw the success that the Rolling Stones had, as it was their time. They were the bigger stars, but they also had the unfair advantage of being a white rock and roll band in the market at that time.

    Yet, it is great that Irma Thomas’s music is still out there for us to hear. Below is a video from 2014 of Thomas performing “Time Is On My Side.”

    The Rolling Stones on the Ed Sullivan Show

    On October 25, 1964, the Rolling Stones brought “Time Is On My Side” to a wide audience on The Ed Sullivan Show.  About halfway through the show, the band appeared to play “Around and Around.”  Then, they returned to close the show with “Time Is On My Side.”

    After the performance, Sullivan encouraged the screaming audience, saying “Come on, let them hear it!”  But then the screams were so loud that viewers at home could not hear Sullivan’s short conversation with Mick Jagger.

    The performance brought a great deal of attention to the Rolling Stones.  It helped boost ticket sales for their fall concert tour.  At the same time, the performance and their unkempt appearance also drew criticism from some more conservative viewers.

    Here are the Rolling Stones performing “Time Is On My Side” in 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show.

    The Rolling Stones returned to The Ed Sullivan Show the following spring. They ultimately would make six appearances on the show, performing many of their songs that would become classics.

    What do you think about the versions of “Time Is On My Side”? Leave a comment.

  • The 1966 Otis Redding TV Special
  • Otis Redding: Soul Manifesto (Short Review)
  • You Only Are What You Believe: 1967 Anti-War Protest and the Year’s Music
  • Writing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”
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