Maybe I’m being insensitive, but why exactly is the singer/narrator so depressed? I’ve listened to the lyrics and I don’t know if they ever give an actual reason for all the doom and gloom. The only clue I can go on is the line about “I can’t do what ten people tell me to do”. So,what exactly does this mean? He has too many bosses on his job? That he’s held a number of jobs and can’t hold any of them? If that’s the case, what does leaving Georgia have to do with it? Or, have I misheard the lyrics and it means something else?
I think the line that might clear it up is:
“I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay.”
He’s far from home, living a life he’d rather not lead.
Not all songs have to be happy, ya know.
[elton john] Sad songs they say, so much [/elton john]
It’s funny - somebody just posted a thread asking why, in Casablanca, Rick was barred from re-entering the U.S. In both cases - Casablanca and Dock of the Bay - the reason behind what’s going on isn’t the point - it’s just something to get the wheels in motion for the song or movie. Hitchcock refers to these things as “macguffins” - things that are needs to put the characters in motion, but the facts about them aren’t really needed (as in North by Northwest, where Cary Grant is chased by spies for reasons that ultimately aren’t important)
Bottom line: we don’t know why the narrator is sitting on the Dock of the Bay, but we know he is, he is sad and it lead to him expressing himself the way he did in the song…
“I can’t do what ten people tell me to do/so I guess I’ll remain the same.”
Sounds like all his friends and family want him to get a job, move back to Georgia, or take whatever other action they think will help him out, but he can’t/won’t take their advice, or is too lazy, so is doomed to just sit and stare at the water. Haven’t we all been there?
The song was probably inspired from a real life situation and the writers didn’t want to get too specific about the parties involved.
See the 'Beatle’s Sexy Sadie.
Maybe because he kept looking for this “Frisco Bay” place, unaware that such a place doesn’t exist. (And didn’t understand why everyone seemed annoyed when he asked about it.)
I agree with WordMan – the song’s more about being depressed than about how the man comes to be that way.
According to this site it was three days after. “He recorded the song on December 7, 1967. He left for a tour with his back-up group, the Bar-Kays, who had earlier come up with their own hit song, Soul Finger. On December 10 while flying to a scheduled performance, his airplane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. Some aboard survived the crash, but Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays were killed.”
It went to number 1, and was Otis’ only top 20 single.
Man, a lot of singers seem to have died in air accidents (helicopter or small plane). I guess they should spread their dates out a little more, and fly commercial.
I’ve never paid close attention to the lyrics, but I thought it was about a guy saying no matter what else was happening in the world, he had no place to be and nothing to do and was just content to be sitting on his dock.
D’oh!
Somehow I missed a couple of keywords, you know like “loneliness won’t leave” and “nothing to live for”.
