Steve Cropper

Soul of the Guitar 1994

(L-R) Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Booker T. Jones, House of Blues, LA 1994

How did “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” come about?

Well, Otis started it in Sausalito, an idea among several ideas. He always had more ideas than any writer I ever worked with. Most of the time we got together a day or two before recording and we’d write all night long in a hotel room. This time he came down to the studio that afternoon and was so excited—we probably finished it in less than an hour. He had an intro and that first little verse about watching the ships come in and watchin’ ’em roll away again. He was humming a little melody and I sat there and finished the lyrics with him and wrote the bridge to it.

What was it like being in The Blues Brothers Band?