Always & forever, many repeated thanks to Getting Through Anxiety & The Melodramatic Confessions of Carla Louise for creating this fantastic monthly challenge!
August 15th is a “Band/Singer that starts with the letter ‘O.'” I was going to pick Oasis, but I only really know “Wonderwall.” Even though that’s a fantastic song, I wanted to think about this one a little bit longer & try to find someone whose music I know a bit better.
That’s why this post is late. That’s my story & I’m sticking to it.
O…o… who starts with O?
At first, I thought about choosing Ozzy Osbourne. But, my passion for his music has been less ardent after hearing it, ad nauseum, for so long. That makes my pick a little more ironic, because his work is far older & played far more often.
I’m gonna stick with Otis Redding, though. He wrote/recorded these & so many other songs that he’s just a musical icon in my book:
- Respect (Otis wrote it, Aretha Franklin reworked it, made it her own, & made it famous)
- Try a Little Tenderness (Written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, & Harry M. Woods, previously recorded by Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra, Otis put a bit of soul into his recording of this song)
- Knock on Wood (Written by Eddie Floyd & Steve Cropper, Otis did one of the first covers of this song with Carla Thomas about a year after it was released)
- (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (Written by Otis Redding & Steve Cropper, Otis recorded this song right before his death in a plane crash; it was released posthumously)
- Hard to Handle (Written by Otis Redding, Al Bell, & Allen Jones, released after Otis’s death, & covered by artists like: The Black Crowes, Grateful Dead, Tom Jones, & Etta James)
