Story by: Gail Nobles Photos: Wikipedia Public Domain Intro by: Gail Nobles. Do you remember the soul blues songTramp? It was first recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1967. It was his highest charting single. The song was covered By Otis Redding, and in a duet with Carla Thomas, and this version reached number two on billboard R&B chart.

My father would play Otis Redding song Sitting On The Dock of the Bay, and he would sing along with the record a million times. I had no idea who Otis Redding was until then. I knew what he looked like from the album cover, and I only knew who Carla Thomas was by her voice.

One day my mother said: Play that Otis Redding album. And she would tell me the sad story about Otis Redding’s tragic death, and she told me about the song on his album Tramp. It was from his first album The Dock of the Bay, on side two and the third song.

When I heard the song, I thought it was an amazing song. It was amazing to me how they carried on a conversation in between singing on the record.

Carla Thomas called Otis Redding a tramp in the song it was just like I've been there with them and back home after hearing the record I would sit by the record player lost in the dialogue between them. Carla called Otis a tramp from the Georgia Woods. Old is Reading recorded Tramp as a duet with Carla Thomas for Stax Records.