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Rhino's new 2-CD reissue of the classic Otis Blue – arguably the greatest soul album ever made – gives us the perfect excuse to post some highlights from a Hit Parader interview with Otis Redding from August 1967. -- Barney Hoskyns, RBP Editorial Director

What do you dislike most about England? Nothing. I love England from head to toe. I love the weather, the people. I was there in the summer and it was nice. The people are so groovy. They treated me like I was somebody. They took me wherever I wanted to go. I loved Paris too.

Did you find any language problems with your audiences in Paris? No. They sang along with almost all the songs. But England is beautiful country. If I were to leave the U.S., I'd live in England. But I'd never leave the U.S. I own a 400-acre farm in Macon, Georgia. I raise cattle and hogs. I own horses, too. I love horses as much as singing. I like to hunt on horseback.

How did you write ''Respect''? That's one of my favorite songs because it has a better groove than any of my records. It says something, too: "What you want, baby, you got it; what you need, baby, you got it; all I'm asking for is a little respect when I come home." The song lines are great. The band track is beautiful. It took me a whole day to write it and about 20 minutes to arrange it. We cut it once and that was it. Everybody wants respect, you know.

Why did you choose to do "Satisfaction"? That came from Steve Cropper and Booker. We were all in the studio one day to record an album and they suggested I do "Satisfaction." They asked me if I had heard the new Rolling Stones' song but I hadn't heard it. They played the record for me and everybody liked it except me. If you notice, I use a lot of words different from the Stones' version – that's because I made it up.

Were you in the music business before you joined Stax? No. I used to be a well driller. I made a $1.25 an hour, drilling wells in Macon, Georgia. One day I drove a friend of mine, Johnny Jenkins, up to do a recording session. They had 30 minutes left in the studio and I asked if I could do a song, "These Arms Of Mine." They did it and it sold about 800,000 copies. I've been going ever since. I wrote that song in 1960 when I wasn't even thinking of the music business. I recorded it in November 1962. I tried the song out with a small recording company but it didn't do anything. I knew it was saying something, though. I dug the words.

What was the first music you heard that impressed you deeply? My mother and father and I used to go to parties when I was a kid. We used to go out to a place called Sawyer's Lake in Macon. There was a calypso song out then, called "Run, Joe." My mother and daddy used to play that for me all the time. I just dug the groove. Ever since then I've been playing music. As I was growing up, I did a lot of talent shows. I won fifteen Sunday nights straight in a series of talent shown in Macon. I showed up the sixteenth night and they wouldn't let me go on any more. Whatever success I had was through the help of the good Lord.

What do you think of Sam & Dave and the Righteous Brothers? I'll tell you. When I first heard the Righteous Brothers, I thought they were colored, I think they sing better than Sam & Dave. But Sam & Dave are much better showmen. Sam & Dave have been together for 10 or 12 years. I think Sam & Dave are my favorites.

Why do you think white blues performers are so much more successful than the originals? Because the white population is much larger than the colored. I like what these rock and roll kids are doing. Sometimes they take things from us, but I take things from them, too. The things that are beautiful, and they do a lot of beautiful things.

What's the difference between rock 'n' roll and rhythm 'n' blues? Everybody thinks that all songs by colored people are rhythm and blues but that's not true. [Little] Johnny Taylor, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King are blues singers. James Brown is not a blues singer. He has a rock and roll beat and he can sing slow pop songs. My own songs, "Respect" and "Mr. Pitiful," aren't blues songs. I'm speaking in terms of the beat and structure of the music. A blues is a song that goes twelve bars all the way through. Most of my songs are soul songs.

What's the difference between the Stax sound and the Motown sound? Motown does a lot of overdubbing. It's mechanically done. At Stax the rule is: whatever you feel, play it. We cut everything together--horns, rhythm, and vocal. We'll do it three or four times, go back and listen to the results and pick the best one. If somebody doesn't like a line in the song, we'll go back and cut the whole song over. Until last year, we didn't even have a four-track tape recorder.

Do you think R&B has changed a great deal? Yes. I'd like to say something to the R&B singers who were around 10 years ago. They've got to get out of the old bag. Listen to the beat of today and use it on records. Don't say we're gonna go back 10 years and use this old swing shuffle. That's not it. I know what the kids want today and I aim all my stuff at them. I'd like to see all those singers make it again. I'd like to take Fats Domino, Little Richard, Big Joe Turner, Clyde McPhatter and bring them into the bag of today. They'd have hits all over again.

From your experience, what's the best advice you could give to someone who wants to get into the business? If you want to be a singer, you've got to concentrate on it 24 hours a day. You can't be a well driller, too. You've got to concentrate on the business of entertaining and writing songs. Always think different from the next person. Don't ever do a song as you heard somebody else do it. Concentrate and practice every single day. It took me four years to get into show business in a big way. Also, I think it's very important to write your own songs.

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