Otis Redding - Mary Had a Little Lamb
Today's selection is one of the stranger recordings in Otis Redding's discography. The 1963 recording "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the B-side of "That's What My Heart Needs," Otis' second Volt 45. Otis' first hit, "These Arms of Mine," set the tone for most of his early Volt A-sides, but here Redding attempted to emulate Chuck Jackson's husky pop-soul sound over a nice latin-tinged groove. Redding doesn't really pull it off , but it's actaully a pretty good record, considering its nursery rhyme origins. It almost works as a fairly serious recording, except for when Otis drops the lyric "you can even do the twist" in the last verse and someone in the band starts going "baaa" in the coda.
1 comment:
This is a very different Otis Redding, indeed: such a refined way of singing in contrast to his well known raw and unrestrained sound.
Thanks ((Stepfather)). I would love to hear more of Otis!!!
Inge
Post a Comment