KHJ Radio played "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" so often, you'd have suspected the programming director there was Otis Redding's uncle. That was understandable when it was a huge hit right after it was released at the start of 1968. But they played it and played it and played it. One time at lunch in high school, a girl I was sitting with pulled out her transistor radio and told me she was going to listen to a little KHJ and I said, "Betcha a buck they're playing 'Dock of the Bay'" and sure enough, they were.
I didn't know anything about Otis Redding then; not even the fact that he'd recently been killed in a plane crash and that "Dock of the Bay" was the first posthumous hit record ever…or maybe one of the few. From listening to the song, I think I imagined he was a real old guy who's been around forever and finally had a hit. In fact, he was 26 when he died and reportedly, he was a very active, vital performer. He had many good years ahead of him and probably a lot more #1 hits like this one…