Next Tuesday marks 45 years since the release of Otis Redding's biggest hit, (Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay. In today's Wall Street Journal (go here), I write about the song. For the article, I interviewed guitarist Steve Cropper, keyboard player Booker T. Jones, trumpeter Wayne Jackson, and trumpeter Ben Cauley—the only survivor of the December 1968 plane crash that killed Redding and many members of the Bar-Kays, Redding's backup band.
In my article, you'll learn how the sounds of surf and gulls wound up on the record, why Redding began to whistle toward the end, and what types of ships were rolling in.
Here's the second of three Dock of the Bay takes...
