Lyr Add: The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DOCK OF THE BAY (Otis Redding)
From:
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 12:38 AM

For the record...
------------------------

SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY
© Alamo Music Corp. o/b/o Barricade Music

Sittin' in the morning sun
I'll be sittin' when the evening come
Watchin' the ships roll in
Then I watch 'em roll away again
Yeah, I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away
Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco Bay
I have nothing to live for
Look like nothing gonna come my way
So, I'm just gonna sit on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away
Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Look like nothing gonna change
Ev'rything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people want me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same

Sittin' here restin' my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
Two thousand miles I roam
Just to make this dock my home
Now, I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away
Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 May 17 - 03:15 AM

Also....
Thread #17791   Message #2812469
Posted By: Joe Offer
15-Jan-10 - 06:07 AM
Thread Name: Songs About Vietnam Part II
Subject: ADD: Sitting in the Cab of My Truck (Dockery?)

Well, here's what I hear on the "In Country" album:

SITTING IN THE CAB OF MY TRUCK
(Chip Dockery)
(Parody of Sitting on the Dock of the Bay)

Hiding in the morning sun, I'll be driving in the evening calm,
Watching the Phantoms roll in, and I watch them pull away again;
Now I'm just sitting in the cab of my truck, thinking this life ain't such a game;
Sitting in the cab of my truck, filing my chains.

I left my home in Dong Hoi, headed for the DMZ,
Well, I had something to live for, a Peoples' Hero I was gonna be;
Now I'm just sitting in the cab of my truck, looking through the windshield at flare-lighted rain;
Sitting in the cab of my truck, yankin' my chains.

[bridge]
Here I sit, having a nicotine fit - God, I'm too scared to get a cigarette lit;
'Cause that might just blow my only hope of not showing up on a starlight (?) scope.

Well, sitting here with britches so tight, 'cause I think that 'spector's (inspector's?) due back tonight;
Bleeding from my ears and my nose, from a Sky Spot (?) that finally came close;
Now I'm just sitting in the cab of my truck, watching the bombs fall through the rain,
Sitting in the cab of my truck, filing my chains.

[whistle]



(Sung by Chip Dockery on the "In Country" album - transcribed by ear) Notes from the album: Another song by Chip Dockery about the North Vietnamese truck drivers on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Sometimes, especially late in the war, the drivers were chained to the steering wheel of their trucks, thus linking the fate of the vehicle and the driver.

---

This page has clips from this and several other songs from the "In Country" album.
This page has longer clips (click).

---

This song didn't make sense to me until I read that it was from the perspective of North Vietnamese truck drivers. I'd don't know what a "sky spot" or "starlight scope" is, so I'm not sure I have those words right.

-Joe-

Joe, a starlight scope was a light gathering scope we used for night ops in 'Nam. It would magnify available light by about a 1000 times, so that a lit cigarette would give away your position. These things were bulky as hell, required moonlight or a source of light, but effective enough. All the best, Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding)
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link
Date: 30 May 17 - 11:09 AM

Don't look like the original s in any danger of being superseded.....