Willie and Waylon Capture Haunting Tone Of Song Whose Writer Died Three Days After He Wrote It

This haunting cover of “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” sang by two of the biggest stars in country music – Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson – might just be one of the best covers we’ve heard in a while. Otis Redding recorded the hit three days before he died an untimely death. Since then, many have pondered: was it an omen?

Just Three Minutes Away

Redding and his band were flying to Nashville for the first of three scheduled shows that fateful day in December. On the morning of December 10th, Redding, 26 and one of the greatest soul singers of the ’60s, plummeted to his death when the twin-engine plane he was in crashed into Lake Monona, only three minutes away from his final destination of Madison, Wisconsin.

Dec. 10/1967 – 60's soul singer Otis Redding passes away after his plane crashed into Lake Monona in Monona, Wisconsin. 4 of Redding's band, their valet driver & the pilot passed away as well. There was only 1 survivor, Ben Cauley, the band's trumpet player. pic.twitter.com/tID1ZDAto6

— Today In History (@TodayThatWas) December 10, 2017

First Posthumous Single To Hit #1

The song was released January 8, 1968, and hit Number One in March of that same year, becoming the first posthumous single to hit the top spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100.

The biggest song in Otis Redding's entire catalogue is the one that he never saw become a crossover anthem. His posthumous No. 1 '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay,' co-written with his great friend Steve Cropper, and was released on 8 January 1968, a month after his death. pic.twitter.com/BdyHP869i9

— Stax Records (@StaxRecords) January 8, 2018

The song again hit the charts, peaking at Number 13, when the infamous outlaws of country music, Willie and Waylon, recorded the song in 1982.

To this day, most people start humming along the second they hear, “Sittin’ here restin’ my bones And this loneliness won’t leave me alone…”

So take a minute to shut your eyes and listen to the loneliness in the lyrics. What do you think of the song and the famous singin’ Outlaws’ haunting cover?