The sounds of whistling and waves crashing on the shore accompany the great soul singer Otis Redding on his signature classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” Conceived while bobbing on rock promoter Bill Graham’s houseboat in Sausalito and completed with guitarist Steve Cropper, the song became the first posthumous number-one hit when it was released in 1968. Redding was just 26 when his Beechcraft H18 airplane plunged into Lake Monona in Wisconsin on Dec. 10, 1967. He was born in Dawson, Georgia, on this day in 1941.
