# Mr. Pitiful

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**"Mr. Pitiful"** is a song written by [Otis Redding](/source/Otis_Redding) and [Steve Cropper](/source/Steve_Cropper)[1] and included on the 1965 album *[The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads](/source/The_Great_Otis_Redding_Sings_Soul_Ballads)*.

## History

"Mr. Pitiful" was recorded in December 1964 at the [Stax Records](/source/Stax_Records) studios. The song was written by guitarist [Steve Cropper](/source/Steve_Cropper) and singer [Otis Redding](/source/Otis_Redding), his first collaboration with Cropper, as a response to a statement made by radio [disc jockey](/source/Disc_jockey) Moohah Williams, when he nicknamed Redding as "Mr. Pitiful", because of sounding pitiful when singing ballads. Cropper heard this and had the idea to write a song with that name when taking a shower. Cropper then asked Redding in a car how he felt about this idea, and soon after they recorded the song in about 10 minutes. It was finally cut two or three times and then released with the B-side "[That's How Strong My Love Is](/source/That's_How_Strong_My_Love_Is)" as a single.

## Chart performance

The song became a hit and the most successful from the album *[The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads](/source/The_Great_Otis_Redding_Sings_Soul_Ballads)*, peaking at No. 10 on the [*Billboard* R&B](/source/Billboard_R%26B_chart) and at No. 41 on the [*Billboard* Hot 100](/source/Billboard_Hot_100) chart.[2]

## Cover versions

- It was covered in 1969 by [Etta James](/source/Etta_James) as "Miss Pitiful".
- [Robert Plant](/source/Robert_Plant) of [Led Zeppelin](/source/Led_Zeppelin) makes a nod to Otis Redding in the song "[The Crunge](/source/The_Crunge)" (from the 1973 album *[Houses of the Holy](/source/Houses_of_the_Holy)*), which is known for paying tribute to [soul](/source/Soul_music) and [funk](/source/Funk).
- It appeared on *[The Commitments](/source/The_Commitments_(film)#Soundtracks)* (1991) soundtrack (sung by [Andrew Strong](/source/Andrew_Strong)). This version of the song also appears in season 2, episode 12 of the sitcom *[Frasier](/source/Frasier)*, "[Roz in the Doghouse](/source/Frasier_(season_2)#ep36)".
- The song was covered by [Taj Mahal](/source/Taj_Mahal_(musician)) on his 1997 album *[Seňor Blues](/source/Se%C3%B1or_Blues_(Taj_Mahal_album))*.
- [The Rolling Stones](/source/The_Rolling_Stones) covered it live five times between August and December 2005 on their [A Bigger Bang Tour](/source/A_Bigger_Bang_Tour).
- [Tower of Power](/source/Tower_of_Power) covered it with vocals by [Sam Moore](/source/Sam_Moore) on their 2009 album *Great American Soulbook*.

## References

1. ["Search Results for 'mr. Pitiful' | SecondHandSongs"](https://secondhandsongs.com/search?search_text=Mr.+Pitiful). *SecondHandSongs*

1. Bowman 1997, p. 56.

- Bowman, Rob (1997). [*Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records*](https://books.google.com/books?id=XLdsRwpZ9oYC&q=Soulsville%20USA%20Rob%20Bowman%20steve%20cropper&pg=PP1). New York, NY: Schirmer Trade. ISBN 978-0-8256-7284-2. [OCLC 36824884](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36824884)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mr. Pitiful](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Pitiful) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Pitiful?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.