147 Hello Otis Redding - My Girl

Chart  entered : 25  November  1965

Chart  peak : 11

Number  of  hits  : 15

Another  black  legend  here  but  it's  something  of  a  surprise  to  me  that  he  racked  up  15  hits  even   if  most  of  them  were  relatively  small.

Otis  was  born  in  Georgia  in  1941  to  a  farmer  of  the  same  name  who  was  also  a  gospel  singer. The  younger  Otis  could  sing  and  play  from  a  young  age  but  as  a  teenager  grew  up  on  Sam Cooke  and  Little  Richard. Leaving  school  at  15  Otis  worked  in  some  dead  end  jobs  as  well  as playing  piano  behind  local  performers. In  1958  he  won  a  talent  contest  and  gradually  built  his reputation  as  a  singer  with  various  bands  including  a  short  stint  with  Little  Richard's  backing  band   after  he  abandoned rock and  roll.

In  1962  Otis  signed  with  the  small  Confederate  label  and  recorded  his  first  single  the less  than sensitive  "Fat  Gal" backed by  his  friend  Johnny  Jenkins' band,  The  Pinetoppers. It  was  an  original Otis  composition  but  betrays his  love  for  Little  Richard  both  in  the  singing  and  playing  and  it's  rock and  roll  sound  is  antique for  1962. It  had  to  be  re-issued  on  another  label Orbit  because  R & B stations  wouldn't  play  a  disc  with  a  Confederate  flag  design  on  the  label.

Later  that  year  Otis   drove  Jenkins  to  a  recording  session  in  Memphis and  got  the  chance  to  sing   a  couple  of  self-penned  numbers  when  Jenkins  finished  early. Studio  chief  Jim  Stewart  was   impressed  by  the  second  song  "These  Arms  Of  Mine"  and  signed  him  up. It's  a  rolling  piano  ballad featuring  Jenkins  on  the  keys  and  some  interesting  guitar  work  from  Steve  Cropper. Otis  is  finding his  own  style,  less dependent  on  Cooke  and  Richard  but  there's  a  bit  too  much  syllable-stretching for  my  tastes. Nevertheless  it  created  enough  ripples  to  become  a  minor U.S. hit  the  following March.

"That's  What  My  Heart  Needs"  was  released  in  June  1963. It  was  a  hit  on  the  R & B  chart  only  and  suffers  a  little  from  its  similarity  to  Bring  It  On  Home  To  Me.  It  does  however  have  some  good  clipped  guitar  from  Cropper, some  timely  brass  interventions  and  in  the  last  half  minute  the  gospel  screams   from  our  man  that  influenced  everyone  from  Joe  Cocker  to  David  McAlmont.

That  November  he  scored  his  biggest  hit  to  date  with  "Pain  In  My  Heart"  written  by  Allen   Toussaint  under  the  contract-dodging  pseudonym  "Naomi  Neville"  and  previously  recorded  by  Irma Thomas  as  "Ruler  Of  My  Heart" . It  establishes  the  classic  Stax  sound, a  simple  piano  riff, impassioned  singing,  inventive  rhythm  guitar  and  sympathetic  swelling  horns. Rob  Bowman's description  from  Soulsville  USA : The  Story  of  Stax  Records  is  worth  quoting " Otis's  dynamic   control  is  front  and  center  as  he  uses  his  voice  as  a  horn, swelling  and  decreasing  in  volume  , swallowing  syllables  and  worrying  the  word  "heart "". It  was  his  first  release  in  the  UK  on  London.

It  became  the  title  track  to  his  debut  LP  released  at  the  beginning  of  1964. It  made  a  minor  impact  on  the  Billboard  chart. His  next  single  "Come  To  Me"  a  co-write  with  Phil  Walden  wasn't  on  the  album   and  is  another  deep  soul  ballad  with  understated  organ  replacing  the  horns. He  then  went  back  to  the  album  for  another  single  "Security" which  is  more  uptempo  but  has  melodic  similarities  to  Stand  By  Me. It  barely  made  the  charts.

His  next  single  was  "Chained  And  Bound"  with  Cropper  producing  as well  as  playing  lead  guitar on  another  wracked  ballad. A  local  disc  jockey  characterised  his  style  with  the  epithet  "Mr  Pitiful"  upon  which  Otis  and  Cropper  promptly  came  up  with  a  song  of  that  name  released  in  January  1965. It's  a  sprightlier  affair  with  a  self-justifying  lyric  and  a  punchy  horn  arrangement  and  became  his  biggest  hit  to  date  in  the  US. His  modestly-titled  second   album "The  Great  Otis  Redding  Sings  Soul  Ballads"  followed  on  its  heels  and  outsold  its  predecessor  though  not in  the  UK.

 In  April  1965  he  released  "I've  Been  Loving  You  Too  Long" co-written  with  Jerry  Butler  of  The  Impressions. It's  probably  the  quintessential  Otis  Redding  ballad  and  the  first  to  crack  the  US  Top  30. It  was  almost  immediately  covered  by  The  Rolling  Stones  on  their  LP  Got  Live  If  You  Want  It   (  although  it  was  a  studio  track  with  dubbed  audience  noise )  which  raised  his  profile  with  white  audiences. Otis  later  covered  "Satisfaction"  in  gratitude.

He  followed  it  up  with  "Respect", the  song  soon  to  be  immortalised  by  Arethra  Franklin. Otis's version  lacks  the  barnstorming  spelling  out  of  the  title  which  was  Franklin's  own  innovation  and  is more  of  a  plea  for  sex  from  his  spouse  than  an  empowerment  anthem.

The  latter  three  tracks  mentioned  all  featured  on  Otis's  next  album  "Otis  Blue"  released  in  September  1965 . At  this  point  Atlantic  who  had  taken  over  Otis's  licensing  in  the  UK  diverged  from  the  US  release  schedule  and  picked  his  cover  of  "My  Girl"  for  a  single  release  because  The Temptations  version  had  been  so  minor  a  hit.

Otis's  arrangement  isn't  radically  different  from  the  original. The  brass  is  more  in  your  face  and Otis's  vocal   is  much  more  ragged  than  David  Ruffin's. There's  an  obvious  question  whether  Otis's  style  is  suited  to  a  song  of  sweet  contentment  but  I  guess  if  you're  a  glass  is  half  empty  person  you'd  plump  for  this  version. Otis  knows  such  joys  are  fleeting , perhaps  have  already  passed  by.