Doors – "Runnin' Blue" (1969)

Got to find the dock of the bay

Maybe find it back in L.A.

You don't hear much about Robby Krieger, the guitarist for the Doors, despite the fact that he wrote or co-wrote some of their best songs.  

"Runnin' Blue," from the band's fourth studio album, Soft Parade, was Krieger's tribute to Otis Redding, who had died when the small plane he and his band were touring in plunged into a Wisconsin lake on December 10, 1967.  Redding was only 26.

Redding's biggest hit, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," was recorded shortly before his death.  It became the first posthumously-released #1 single ever.  

"Runnin' Blue" begins with these introductory lines, which were adapted from a Lead Belly song, "Poor Howard":

Poor Otis, dead and gone

Left me here to sing his song

Pretty little girl with the red dress on

Poor Otis dead and gone.

Robby Krieger

Jim Morrison sings the verses of "Runnin' Blue," but Krieger sings the chorus (accompanied by Grand Ole Opry mandolin legend Jesse McReynolds).

Here's "Runnin' Blue," which sounds more like a Blood, Sweat & Tears song than a Doors song:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: