Otis, Otis, Otis

I had planned some months ago to do one blog about the Top Ten Male singers who give me a thrill. Sidetracked, it didn't get written, but when I stuck Otis in the CD player today, I thought I'd just write about him. Jeez, "I've Been Lovin' You Too Long, I Can't Stop Now," written with the Ice Man, Jerry Butler makes everybody wish they had love like Otis. There's "I've Got Dreams to Remember." Everybody remembers "Sitting on The Dock of the Bay," "Try A Little Tenderness," "Shake" and probably "I Can't Turn You Loose," although he sang it as Turn You A Loose. But there's also call me "Mr. Pitiful" and "These Arms of Mine," which gives me chills and if I hadn't been stuck in high school and had known where, I'd have chased him down and helped get rid of those arms that were so yearning. He was only 26 when he died in the plane crash. He'd be 67 this year. What is it about his talent that makes him so present even now, 40 years later. His power, raw power, pure talent as a writer, his charisma on stage? Yes. In the years since his death, he's been inducted into the Rock Hall, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, got a postage stamp commemorating his talent, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rock Hall listed THREE of Otis' songs among its list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll." All good, proper recognition of his monumental talent. I'm listening right now to this great Rhino boxed set. The hard thing about listening to him and trying to write is that he is never background music. You have to listen because when he sings, you believe him, feel him. He lets me know what he is going through, thinking about, feeling. No doubt, Otis is missed and loved by Ruth Adkins Robinson.