Apparently there were doubts as to whether 'Dock Of The Bay' was a sound choice.  Interesting.  His own instincts appear to have been correct - for example, turning down the opportunity to record a version of 'Just Like A Woman' because it had 'too much text'.  The lyrics of 'Dock' are fairly sparse but tell a story like Dylan never could: even counting the long-winded 'Hurricane', which had quite an impact on me at eighteen.  A guy just sits, lonely, melancholy.  No chit-chat about maybe returning to Georgia and trying again.  He's in exile.

Spendthrift, you're right, some experiences can't be shared.
I once sat a woman down to watch Anita O'Day performing 'Sweet Georgia Brown' and 'Tea For Two'.  No impact whatever.

Solitary.  That's the word for it.  Hence, I suppose, this forum.  I wish I'd known my father better - we could have discussed jazz for hours. 
Thank heaven my current wife despises 'Strictly' and the like.  She does, on the other hand, like Abba - a small point I think a man should be told about before getting serious.  My first wife was no better - Sting and Madonna.  But she did go out of her way to buy me a much-desired Son House LP back in 1988.

There's no doubt that, had he lived, he would have become massive - at least until The Next Big Thing. 

Bad as they were, when you heard that line 'Listening to Marvin all night long', it conjured up memories of cigarette smoke and a girl's smell.  The guys I knew who dug soul - in any incarnation - were invariably cooler than anyone else.  They were wearing mohair suits at fourteen and fifteen, mostly dancing to Motown or Atlantic (I'd hazard a guess), around the time Otis was killed.  They were, one and all, working class sharpies who were self-employed, married young (on the whole) and loved a movie like 'Shaft'.  A guy I was very fond of, a Jewish hairdresser, died at a younger age than I am now.

The BBC did a very good documentary on Otis a few years ago, they show it from time to time , back to back with a recording of the Stax  '67 European Tour, ( great performance from Sam & Dave in there ),and like you Spendthrift I get emotional when I watch it irrespective of whether I've had a few sherberts, I think it's due to him dying so young and the voice just gets to you, and I agree DotB isn't his greatest offering but I understand it was the beginning of what was going to be a change of direction musically for him, I remember really looking forward to that RSG Otis special, I've mentioned here somewhere recently I had a mate at school who had an older brother who turned us on to Otis probably before most 12 yr olds in '65, first dance with my Daughter at her wedding was ' My Girl', I made it very clear to the dj it had to be the Otis version and not the other one, apparently I reiterated it to him several times, and one of my pooches is called ' Otis', took me 20 years and 3 dogs before the Mrs would agree, it suits him , a big gentle sole, when we got another dog last year my Son enquired as to whether I was going to call her ' Aretha'... couldn't imagine myself shouting that in the park and the Mrs wouldn't agree anyway .... !!

Does anyone recollect that photo, however vaguely?  I also seem to recall him wearing Levis cords - in green?

Staxfan reminds me that I couldn’t concentrate on my own wedding day.
I’d chosen ‘At Last’ to be our first dance, and was so terrified the DJ would dig up some awful version by someone like Rod Stewart that I couldn’t settle until he did, thankfully play Etta.