The one song Sting called a masterpiece: “It was a learning exercise for me”
Only certain songs can make you stop in your tracks as a listener upon hearing them for the first time, and as Sting knows, it is a special feeling like no other.
Some tracks can take years to fully appreciate, as you grow to understand the context of the work after gaining the appropriate life experience. Meanwhile, there are others which instantly hit the spot and remain part of your record collection forever.
Music has always played a crucial part in Sting’s existence. As a youngster, it took him to another realm away from Wallsend, and thanks to the success of his career, The Police frontman has been to places he could never have dreamed of visiting during his childhood.
During an appearance on the BBC Radio 2 show Tracks Of My Years in 2021, Sting listed his top ten favourite songs of all time, which had soundtracked his life from Wallsend to Wembley. These compositions have been with him every step of the way and have helped forge him into the man he is today.
The first track that Sting selected was a song soaked in tragedy. He opted for ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding, which knocked him for six upon first hearing it as a teenager. It should have been the hit record to kickstart a lengthy career at the top for the ‘King of Soul’. Sadly, his life was cruelly taken away from him before he could enjoy the fruits of his labour.
Redding co-wrote the creation with guitarist Steve Cropper in the summer of 1967 while living on a houseboat in California, which provided the perfect setting to inspire him to write the classic. A few months later, Redding finally recorded ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ on December 7th. It was tragically his final act in the studio as he died in horrifying circumstances two days later. Redding was heartbreakingly killed in a plane crash following a routine performance at a casino, which also took the lives of four other individuals.
The song was later released posthumously and remains his only single to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Sting, like many others, was familiar with the story of his death before hearing the song, which made him rush out to hear Redding’s final act.
Explaining his connection to the track, Sting told BBC Radio 2: “I think I was just 16 and Otis Redding had just died in a terrible plane crash. I went to my record store and bought ‘Dock Of The Bay’ on the Stax label, (there was) a lovely blue label, there was a paper bag and I took it out, put it on my turntable, the usual ritual, put the needle on it, and I hear (Imitates the song’s intro).”
He added, “What a wonderful song. I mean, sad, sad song but without any minor chords. It’s all major chords, which is kind of an achievement in many ways.”
Sting later recorded his own version of ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ in 2020, which raised money for the Alzheimer’s Association. The brief was simple, he was told “to choose a song I would like to remember if I ever suffer from Alzheimer’s because people who do suffer from Alzheimer’s remember songs more than anything else”.
It was an easy choice to select ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ with Sting saying that he regards the song to be “a masterpiece”. Being forced to study the song also reaffirmed his love of it even further adding, “It actually made me analyse the song and what its power is. It was a learning exercise for me to remember the song and pay homage to the great Otis Redding.”
Despite ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ being part of his life since he was 16, his love and appreciation of it have only heightened with age.
