Otis Redding ..I've Been Loving You Too Long

Otis Redding began his career in the early Sixties as an R&B bawler in the Little Richard mold. But he defined himself and the burgeoning Stax sound a few years later in the wake of the death of his idol, Sam Cooke, from whom he inherited the mantle of Soul Brother No. 1. For his album Otis Blue of 1965, Redding made a play for the mainstream by balancing Richard’s sexual bark and Cooke’s elegant tenor. The record’s centerpiece was the slow-burning plea “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.”

Only a few months after Cooke was fatally shot by a motel keeper in Los Angeles, Redding brought his composition to the legendary house band (none other than Booker T. & The MG’s) at Stax Records. Like Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Otis’s ballad is anchored by an insistent vocal lead that climbs to emotional peaks and settles down into a confessional lament. He begins the song with the title itself—a cry for his departed hero as much as for any unnamed lover.

In part thanks to The Rolling Stones, who included a cover of “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” on their first live album, Redding enjoyed breakout success with his ballad. 

In 1967, he wowed the unwashed masses at the Monterey Pop Festival with it, securing crossover success. But on December 10 of that year, he joined Cooke in the hereafter when his tour plane plunged into an icy Wisconsin lake.

Here's Otis singing it live...