The great Steve Cropper wrote Dock Of The Bay with Otis Redding a week before the singer perished in a plane crash in December 1967. It went on to become the sixth most played song of the 20th century. Cropper also produced the track, which ushered in a long career writing, producing and appearing with some of the greatest artists of his time. A reluctant frontman, he considers himself a collaborator, a skill he proved for many years as part of Booker T & The MiGs, with whom he wrote Green Onions, and as a co-writer of such Stax label signature hits as In The Midnight Hour and Knock On Wood. Here he talks about growing up in Memphis, Stax and its founders, the fraught completion of Dock Of The Bay two days after Redding's death, and his latest album Fire It Up.

An accompanying Spotify playlist is available here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/60in28zBvRJr4xCPHq5c1z?si=7f6614c90643493e

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For Jim Irvin's companion podcast, You're Not On The List, visit jimirvin.com or go here: https://open.spotify.com/show/6eYWsZLbZo7MWFuwH4GQCn?si=FfwRXE6WSX2MVi-VcNYZAg&dl_branch=1