Favoritesong Wednesday #2

How soon the week rolls back around. Here we are, hello Wednesday. Last weeks track was a killer, but on closer reflection I'm not sure it is really my favorite song. I was just really excited about it at the time. I felt like big dancin' on the floor.




Otis Redding - Cigarettes and Coffee
(from the Soul Album, 1966)

This is maybe my favorite song. It probably ranks in my top 5 listened to songs ever. I wrote a paper about it for Clifford Antone's class on the blues that talked about how Dock of the Bay is a natural lyrical progression from songs like this one. I've posted the paper here on this new blog. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning the Casa V, a blogger just needs some room to stretch out you know what I'm saying.

But back to the task at hand. Cigarettes and Coffee. Lyrically this is closer to Sam Cooke's work than your average Otis Redding song, Otis generally doesn't sing about specific scenes as often, his style is more conversational than Cooke's. This plays to his strength on Cigarettes and Coffee, he can focus lyrically on setting a vivid late-night scene and the listener can easily imagine the content of the conversations between Otis and his lover based on the colloquial tone of most of Otis's other writing.


BONUS:



Awe inspiring video from the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967. Otis starts by dedicating it to all the mini-skirts out there, and then you're treated to 3 minutes of the most beautifully happy women the late 60's had to offer. At 3:08 it cuts to Otis for a fiery as hell finale, complete with a fake stage-exit.

(I've realized that this is the second time I've posted this Monterrey Pop video. Relive an old post about me singing the song at a karaoke bar in Boulder here.)