Lately I've been listening to more of Otis Redding than usual and I started thinking how little I know about these old musicians I enjoy daily, so I became curious to find out the story behind this brilliant singer. To my surprise I learned that Otis was killed in a plane crash when he was just 26 years old (what was up with plane crashes and musicians in those days?), but despise the young age he had already earned the tag "King of Soul". More astonishingly, his biggest hit, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay", wasn't released until a month after he passed and was only recorded three days before his death! Apparently the song wasn't even completely finished yet and the whistling verse was never meant to be a part of the song, it was just a spontaneous fill-in which Otis meant to improve with lyrics later on.
"These Arms of Mine" will always remain my favorite though.