Sittin' in the mornin' sun - I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

1968 : (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding

This year produced some very things - including myself and the lovely Mrs Reed.  As well as this track which I know and like, although again I'm somewhat surprised it managed to win the year.

It's another short but sweet track featuring some iconic whistling at the end of it.  I suspect you know it, but if you don't then address your ignorance immediately - it's only 2:38 of your time.  Wikipedia tells us that Otis is backed by several members of Booker T & The MGs (including Booker himself) and he wrote it with Steve Cropper, who was their guitarist - and, thanks to a Wikipedia rabbit-hole, one of the guitarists in The Blues Brothers band.  Which lead me down another rabbit-hole - I never knew that Dan Akroyd set up the House Of Blues chain.  

Anyways. back to Otis - this was one of the last tracks he recorded before he died in a plane crash in December '67 and it was released in early January '68 and became the first ever posthumous single to top the charts in the US.  And it did well over here as well getting to #3, which was his most successful single.   And that's pretty much all it has to say on the matter other than going through the usual random cover versions - Michael Bolton (which I was ready to be rude about, but Otis' widow loved it, so I will keep quiet), Sergio Mendes and Sammy Hagar (which apparently is a terrible version).  

secondhandsongs.com gives us a better selection of Glen Campbell, The Staples Singers, Tom Jones, Cher, Tony Christie, Al Jarreau, Vinnie Jones (really?), Craig David and Sting - I imagine some of these are pretty good.  I can, however, confirm that Vinnie's version is very not good  and there's a whole album of covers which you can subject yourself to - including, quite coincidentally, two Blues Brothers tracks.  His version of "Minnie The Moocher" is really quite, errr, something (and I strongly suggest you take my word for it).

I'm still surprised it took the year though - what was the competition like?  The best selling single in the UK was The Beatles' "Hey Jude" - that feels like it must have been close to the top.  Other tracks that jumped out of the UK charts were Tom Jones' "Delilah", Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World", Cliff Richard's "Congratulations", Andy Williams's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", The Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash", Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs Robinson", Aretha Franklin's "Say A Little Prayer" and Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park" - what a top, top track that is!  The US charts come up Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love", Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown's "Fire" - none of which are likely to challenge for the year, but they're all very representative of the time.  The US charts also throw up Aretha Franklin's "Think" nicely continuing The Blues Brothers link.

I like Otis' track, but that list of alternatives that I pulled out of the UK charts really make me struggle to understand how it won - I really can't see it's been streamed more than "Hey Jude".  But let's allow him his victory - The Beatles will be getting their day in the sun very soon.  Yup, here comes the sun and no mistake...

1967 - A somewhat surprising winner
1969 - Of all of their tracks, I wasn't expecting this one