Otis Redding – Hard To Handle

I first heard this song in 1989 or 1990 by the Black Crowes. I loved it from the minute I heard it. It was great to hear a rock/soul song on the radio at the time, with a throwback feeling to the early seventies. I soon found out that it was an Otis Redding song when a friend played me a video of Pigpen of the Dead singing the song and told me. 

This song was recorded in 1967, just months before Redding’s tragic death in a plane crash on December 10th of that year. He never got to see the song’s success. It was one of several tracks released posthumously as part of his 1968 album The Immortal Otis Redding, which compiled unreleased material from his final sessions. The song was written by Otis Redding, Allen Jones, and Al Bell. Jones and Bell were key figures at Stax Records. Bell was a top executive, and Jones was a prolific producer and songwriter.

The song by Otis peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100 (this is why charts don’t matter all of the time), #38 on the Billboard R&B Charts, and #15 in the UK in 1968. It must be said, though, it was released as the B side to a song called Amen, a terrific soul/gospel song, so it didn’t get the full exposure it could have with an A-side slot. 

I just saw a picture I had never seen before. Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding are talking, probably at Monterey. 

Otis’s live reputation was growing stronger after Monterey. I would have loved to have heard Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding play together. It’s not like one wasn’t enough, but I could only imagine what they would have sounded like. 

The Dead with Pigpen doing lead vocals. 

Hard To Handle

Baby, here I am, I’m a man on the sceneI can give you what you wantBut you got to go home with meI’ve got some good old lovingAnd I got some in storeWhen I get through throwing it on youYou got to come back for more

Boys and things will come by the dozenThat ain’t nothing but drug store lovingPretty little thing, let me light your candle‘Cause mama, I’m sure hard to handle, now, yessir’am

Action speaks louder than wordsAnd I’m a man with a great experienceI know you got another manBut I can love you better than himTake my hand, don’t be afraidI’m wanna prove every word I sayI’m advertising love for freeSo won’t you place your ad with me?

Boys will come a dime by the dozenBut that ain’t nothing but ten cent lovingPretty little thing, let me light your candle‘Cause mama I’m sure hard to handle, now, yessir’am

Baby, here I am, I’m a man on the sceneI can give you what you wantBut you come go home with meI’ve got some good old lovingAnd I got here in storeWhen I get through throwing it on youYou got to come back for more

Boys will come a dime by the dozenBut that ain’t nothing but drug store lovingPretty little thing, let me light your candle‘Cause mama, I’m sure hard to handle, now, yessir’am

Give it to me, I got to have itGive it to me, good ol’ lovingSome of your good loving

…

Unknown's avatar

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

34 thoughts on “Otis Redding – Hard To Handle”

  1. This song has a lot going on, certainly the funky side of soul I think. Not one I have gotten around to exploring cover wise anyway. I hadn’t heard that Dead version. Stax really had a deep bench when it came to songwriting. And well, it’s Otis. As you pointed out the charts definitely overlooked this one!

    Like

    Reply

  3. It is really nice to see a healthy Pigpen who was the leader of the Dead at this time. Otis experiments with James Brown-style funk in this song backed by Booker T Jones on piano, anchored by percussive horns and driven by a groovy Duck Dunn bass guitar.  Otis is essentially selling his sexual prowess to a woman in this song, bragging about how good he is in bed.  During the song he is aware that this woman is with another man, but he tells her that he is far superior, he is a man of action rather than one of words, and if this lady decides to go home with him, she will find this out for herself.  The chorus leaves little to the imagination with Redding talking about lighting this woman’s candle and then calling on the song title to insist he truly is “hard to handle.”  In summary, the narrator is telling us that he is a player and since he is not charging for love lessons, she needs to catch what he is throwing at her.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. Personally, I don’t remember ’em but I’ve spoken with a lot of older people (than I am) that almost always mentioned the fact that he was literally on the cusp of becoming a huge star when he died in ’67.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Of course their version was a live cut…but it was good. Otis put those horns in his version and they are great…the Crowes went back and put horns in as well.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  11. Yeah, everyone knows it but his death was so cruel, not just that it came way too early but also- this sounds ghoulish but bear with me- from a legacy point of view. A year or two later and after ‘Dock Of The Bay’ hit the loss would have been of Morrison and the other 27 club members proportions.

    On a side note I remember the Amen Corner doing ‘Amen’ live somewhere sometime. I don’t recall if it was on record or a clip somewhere. Can’t find it on a quick YT search but it was a perfect end of concert/gig song for them. Max, did they have any impact in the US? They were a decent Pop band at the time. Sorry Max, this quick side note has become a full blown chapter. Trust me to drivel on. And on…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I don’t think so obbverse…I never heard of them but that doesn’t mean anything. I just listened to a song called If Paradise Is Half As Nice…they are new to me completely.
      I just looked them up…I didn’t see any American hits but a lot of UK hits. Well NOW…I will look into them…I like what I’ve heard but I couldn’t find their version of Amen.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. They did a UK/Commonwealth cover of ‘Bend Me Shape Me’ by the American Breed which you are probably more familiar with. AC had superior vocals I always though.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Oh yes….I know that one but never that version….Scratch that…I just did. I like it…I agree they do have the better vocals. It’s hard though as you know to get the one you know out of your head.
        Obbverse I probably will steal this from ya…you will see them posted one day…and I appreciate it.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Good trade! Thats my thing obbverse. When I started out I wanted only to post the Beatles, Stones, and Who… but then that got really old. I love discovering new/old music that I never knew about and that is why I changed my blog…and Lo and Behold…the readers are traveling with me without any big complaints…and they offer ones I never heard before. I learn more from you all than I do on my posts many times.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. I read a bio about Redding that had a what if in the conclusion about how Redding would’ve been spurred on to new heights when Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were releasing the best albums of their careers. It’s just heartbreaking that he died so young and never got to do his own “What’s Going On?” or “Innervisions.” And yet what he did leave behind is SOOOOOOO good.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. I’ll admit I didn’t know the song before the Black Crowes version. I had a very basic Greatest Hits cassette of Otis at the time, but it didn’t have this song on it. I think the Crowes did a terrific job, but nobody can top Otis.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thats me as well…I didn’t know but around that time when I thought it was the Black Crowes I got showed a bootleg, at the time, of Pigpen doing it. I found out then….but I totally agree…the Black Crowes did great and introduced it to…US…and a new generation but yea…no one can top Otis.

      Like

      Reply

  14. Otis Redding was such a powerful singer and performer. You know that Booker T. and The MG’s were his band… yes, they played with many people, but they considered themselves Otis’ band. Steve Cropper wept uncontrollably when he died. To him Redding was as big of a deal as Elvis Presley. And to people about 10-15 years older than we are, Max, he was a huge star.

    Here’s a couple of his monster hits that would pack the dance floor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSdpqRNd0QU

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The manager of the Allman Brothers, Phil Walden has said it was awful and acted much like Cropper. He was Otis’s manager as well. He was a huge star and when he played Monterey….he was going to be that much larger because he tapped into the rock audience. I can’t phantom what would have happened.
      Love his music and that link!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment