Last year I did a deep dive into the very short career of Jim Croce, and one of the discoveries that stuck with me is that his ‘Time in a Bottle’ was the third posthumous single to reach #1 on the Hot 100.
Naturally, that had me wondering which other songs had done so before and after Croce’s. It turns out there are nine of them, and I’ll spend this week writing about the ones I haven’t already featured.
The very first posthumous single belongs to Otis Redding, whose ‘(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay’ was recorded just three days before he died in a plane crash on Dec. 10, 1967.
Radio stations gave Redding’s back catalog heavy rotation following his death, and a brand-new track was hard to resist. When it was released as a single a month after the crash, it ended up spending four weeks at #1.
Would ‘(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay’ have been a #1 hit had Redding been alive? Probably not. He hadn’t even reached the top 20 prior to this.
Would any other song have reached #1 as Redding’s first posthumous single? I don’t think so. Nothing released afterward made a dent on the charts.
I think the fact that this is one of his greatest compositions — up there with ‘Respect’ — made the timing tragically perfect.
Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ come
Watching the ships roll in
And then I watch ’em roll away again, yeah
[Chorus]
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooh, I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time
[Verse 2]
I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the ‘Frisco bay
‘Cause I’ve had nothing to live for
And look like nothin’s gonna come my way
[Chorus]
So I’m just gonna sit on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooh, I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time
[Bridge]
Look like nothing’s gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same, yes
[Verse 3]
Sittin’ here resting my bones
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone
It’s two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home
[Chorus]
Now, I’m just gonna sit at the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooh-wee, I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time
Meet Me In Montauk 
I would hope that a song this good would have had success even if Redding hadn’t died, but we’ll obviously never know.
I think so too. So Sad 😞
A beautiful song. One of those classics that just feels perfectly constructed. The story surrounding it is tragic, but there’s something poignant about this song cementing itself as a staple of his discography so listeners for many years could honor his memory by putting it on!
It also happens to be one of my favorite songs to cover, so I’ve gotten to enjoy sharing it myself!