On Dec. 9, 1967. In 1967, Otis Redding appeared on “Upbeat,” a syndicated musical variety show that regionally rivaled American Bandstand and aired on WEWS. A day later, Redding left on a Sunday afternoon from Cleveland for Wisconsin, but the plane carrying him and his band crashed into a lake, killing all but one person on board.

Redding had just recorded a few days earlier what would posthumously go on to be his biggest hit, "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay." Turns out, the whistling at the end of the song is a reminder of a piece left unfinished by tragedy. Redding put the whistling at the end of the song because he had plans to write another verse when he got back to the studio after his trip to Cleveland. He never got the chance to write another verse.

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