The 500 - #254 - (Complete & Unbelievable) The Dictionary Of Soul - Otis Redding

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #254
Album Title: (Complete & Unbelievable) The Dictionary of Soul
Artist: Otis Redding
Genre: Memphis Soul
Recorded: May to September, 1966
Released: October, 1966
My age at release: 1
How familiar was I with it before this week: A couple songs

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, dropping 194 to #448 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Try A Little Tenderness

In the wee hours of December 10, 1967, Ben Cauley, trumpet player for the funk band Bar Kays, shut his eyes for a little sleep. The plane he was on, a Beechcraft H18, was flying from Cleveland International Airport to Dane County Regional Airport (formerly Truax Field) in Madison, Wisconsin.

Typical flight path - Cleveland to Madison Wisconsin

Cauley awoke suddenly upon hearing his bandmate, Phalon Jones, screaming, "Oh no!" as he looked out of the plane's window. Seconds later, Cauley found himself waist deep in ice-cold water inside the fuselage of the aircraft. He unbuckled his safety belt quickly and grabbed a seat cushion as a floatation device. There was a breach in the side of the downed Beechcraft, allowing the frigid water of Lake Monona to rush through. Kicking his legs furiously, Cauley exited the breach and somehow made it to the surface, a short distance from shore. A non-swimmer, he was unable to return to help his bandmates (Jones, Ronnie Caldwell, Carl Cunningham and Jimmy King) or the other passengers, valet Matthew Kelly, pilot Richard Fraser and singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Otis Ray Redding Junior.

At the time, 26-year-old Redding was enjoying music industry acclaim. He had just released his fifth studio record, The Dictionary Of Soul, and he was on a promotional tour of the United States. In April, 1966, performed for three consecutive nights at the famed Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. California, to a predominantly white audience. A live recording, featuring a selection of the songs he performed at the time, was posthumously released in October, 1968.

Otis Redding In Person At The Whiskey A Go Go (1968).

The show received critical acclaim from  the press and the many musicians in attendance, including Bob Dylan. Dylan was so dazzled, he offered Redding the opportunity to record his song Just Like A Woman. Redding politely declined. However, English band Manfred Mann did not, and had a hit with it later that year.

Redding’s electrifying performances galvanized his appeal with white audiences, notably at the Monterey International Pop Festival, June 16-18, 1967. The festival was also the American debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, and Ravi Shankar. Further, it marked the first large-scale performance by Janis Joplin. With such star-studded talent, that festival is remembered as perhaps the starting point for "The Summer of Love", the, now-infamous, hippie, flower-power, social movement that would end the tumultuous decade.

Promotional poster for the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival.

Redding's performance electrified the audience. According to music historian Ian Inglis:

"Redding had not been considered a commercially viable player in the mainstream white American market...(but)... his performance at Monterey Pop was a natural progression from local to national acclaim and the decisive turning-point in his career."

This performance was also captured on video and posthumously released as a record in 2019. It is an astonishing, 18-minute video that has to be seen to be believed. 

One hundred and sixty six days after that fateful plane crash, on the afternoon of December 10, 1967, the wreckage of the Beechcraft H18 was retrieved from the depths of Lake Monono. Redding's body was recovered along with the other six passengers.

Survivor Ben Cauley would, understandably, be haunted by the memories of the crash for decades after. He continued to perform music with the Bar Kays and several other funk and soul acts until suffering a stroke in 1989. He died in 2015 at the age of 67.

Crews retrieve the Beechcraft H18 from the waters of Lake Monono.

In January, 1968, (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay was released. Redding had finished recording it three days prior to the tragedy that claimed everyone aboard the plane. The record immediately rocketed to the top of the charts, becoming the first #1 hit ever released posthumously and Redding’s biggest hit. The song was in sharp contrast to the high-energy sound that led to his many nicknames – The Big O, The Mad Man From Macon, Rockhouse Redding and, of course, The King Of Soul. In The Dock of the Bay, Redding reflected on a simpler life, 'sitting alone, watching ships roll in and out of the harbour from sunrise to sunset as the tides come and go.'

At 26, Redding was on the verge of massive commercial success when that fateful night intervened. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest singers and front-men of his generation. How fitting then that Dock Of The Bay was his final song. Its contemplative simplicity provided a beautiful pause in his hurly-burly life. Perhaps, it also invites the listener to pause, and stop and wonder..."What might have come next for this massive talent had his life not been cut so tragically short?"

It can also serve as a reminder to us that life is short and, sometimes, we have to stop, take stock of our own lives, count our blessings and enjoy the moment.

Shakespeare was right, ‘Life is but a brief candle’.

I hope you can find a moment to do that soon. Thanks for reading.