Dock Of The Bay | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: G | G :||
Verse 1
| G | B7 | C | A |
Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun, I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes.
| G | B7 | C | A |
Watching the ships roll in. Then I watch ’em roll away again, yeah.
Chorus 1
| G | E |
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay.
| G | E |
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh.
| G | A | G | E |
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wastin’ time.
Verse 2
| G | B7 | C | A |
I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay.
| G | B7 | C | A |
‘Cause I’ve had nothin’ to live for. It look like nothin’s gonna come my way.
Chorus 2
| G | E |
So I’m just gon’ sit on the dock of the bay.
| G | E |
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh.
| G | A | G | E |
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wastin’ time.
Middle 8
||: G D | C :||
Look like nothin’s gonna change.
Everything still remains the same.
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do.
| F | D |
So I guess I’ll remain the same, yes.
Verse 3
| G | B7 | C | A |
Sittin’ here restin’ my bones and this loneliness won’t leave me alone, listen.
| G | B7 | C | A |
Two thousand miles, I roam. Just to make this dock my home.
Chorus 3
| G | E |
Now I’m just gon’ sit at the dock of the bay.
| G | E |
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh yeah.
| G | A | G | E |
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, Wastin’ time.
Outro (whistle)
||: G | G | G | E :||
Dock Of The Bay’s chords and progressions
The chords Dock Of The Bay employs are not diatonic. We are in the key of G, but we wander outside constantly.
The verse moves G – B7 – C – A. Only G and C are diatonic. B and A should have been minor.
Dock Of The Bay’s chorus chords continues the rule-breaking by moving G – E, rather than Em. We also get another A chord.
The M8, which is usually the section that breaks away from the rest of the song is actually diatonic as it goes I – V – IV, or G – D – C. At the end of this section, we break the rules again as we get an F chord (bVIIx).
Finally, we have one more twist. During the outro, we move from G to E again, but instead of playing the chords for one bar each, we play G for three bars, and E for just one bar.
(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay was Otis Redding’s final song
(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay was written by Otis Redding and Stax house band guitarist Steve Cropper.
Steve was a member of Booker T and The M.G’s, and Otis was signed to Stax as a singer and songwriter.
Having been recorded just three days before Otis died in a plane crash on December the 10th, 1967, it would become the first single to top the charts in the U.S. posthumously in January 1968.
In the U.K., (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, reached #3.
The laid-back feel, lyrics with some kind of deeper hidden meaning, and an interesting chord progression all contribute to (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’s success.
Study the chords and lyrics of (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay above carefully, there is so much to learn here!
Dock Of The Bay chords | Related pages
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Intermediate Electric
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Otis Redding
Dubbed the King Of Soul, Otis Redding was an American singer-songwriter who wrote some of the most famous tunes of all time.
His career was tragically cut short only five years after his first studio album was released as he tragically died in a plane crash in 1967.
Otis Redding on the web
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You can learn how to play these Motown & Soul tunes, and in doing so, gain yourself a repertoire so you can jam with, or even join a working band.
Study these tunes in-depth and you will map out the fretboard, master the CAGED system, and learn how to design a rhythm guitar part that works in a band.
