"Ole Man Trouble" is a song written by Otis Redding and the first track from his 1965 album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul. It was released as the B-side to his hit single "Respect", the second track from Otis Blue. The song is a sign of Redding's emerging mature and reflective side that was to culminate in his posthumous single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". "Ole Man Trouble" was also released on Redding's posthumous album The Dock of the Bay.
As the "Dock of the Bay" represents a search for a place to settle down and find peace or a home, an "Ole Man" is used as a personification for the trouble that can find a person after they have already endured it for some part of their life.
| “ | Ole man trouble Go find you someone else to pick on I live my life now you see Ole man trouble Please stay away from me, now Oh I look like I'm down in my luck Please send faith to help pick me up I've lived this way so many years Ole man trouble Please wash away all my fears |
” |
Crafted as a blues song with a classic soul melody set to country overtones, "Ole Man Trouble" helped Redding capture the growing white blues/soul market. The song was covered by a group called Hills Barbata Ethridge on their album L.A. Getaway in 1971, and by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Read more about Ole Man Trouble: Chart History
Famous quotes containing the words ole man, ole, man and/or trouble:
“My ole man died—hunh—
Cussin’ me;
Ole lady rocks, bebby,
Huh misery.”
—Sterling Allen Brown (b. 1901)
“Go down, Moses
‘Way down in Egypt land,
Tell ole Pharaoh,
To let my people go.”
—Unknown. Go Down, Moses (l. 1–4)
“Philosophy, certainly, is some account of truths the fragments and very insignificant parts of which man will practice in this workshop; truths infinite and in harmony with infinity, in respect to which the very objects and ends of the so-called practical philosopher will be mere propositions, like the rest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Harold, like the rest of us, had many impressions which saved him the trouble of distinct ideas.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)