Album of the Day

Concerts at the Fillmore and the Monterey International Pop Festival helped introduce rock audiences to soul great Otis Redding, and those performances also helped introduce the Georgia-born singer to the San Francisco area. Redding lived on a houseboat in Sausalito for a while following the Monterey show, and the experience inspired what would become his most famous song, “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay.” Co-written with frequent collaborator (and Booker T. and The M.G.’s guitarist) Steve Cropper, the contemplative tune was intended by Otis as a change of pace from the frenetic material he was known for, and he was still working on it at the time of his death in a December 1967 plane crash. Yet it's hard to imagine Redding improving on the iconic recording eventually released, and “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” went to No.1 on the Billboard singles chart 50 years ago today.