It’s common knowledge that Otis Redding got the inspiration for Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay while staying on a floating home in Sausalito.
According to Julian Gould, author of Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Otis “was in San Francisco for a six night engagement at Basin Street West… As near as I can determine, the suggestion that Otis stay on the houseboat most likely came from the rock impresario Bill Graham, who lionized Otis. (Many years later, Graham described Otis’s appearance at the Fillmore in December 1966 as ‘the best gig I ever put on in my entire life.’)”
Music historian Joel Selvin has written that the location of the home was on what is now Main Dock. As I reported for the Sausalito Historical Society, Redding actually finished the song in Memphis in November 1967. His recording came out after his death in a plane crash and became an international classic.
Nearly sixty years later, Michael Scott (Issaquah) passes along a link to a YouTube video of two street musicians singing the soulful ballad, accompanied by other musicians all over the world.
Hope you enjoy it.