Mr. Pitiful

Producer

“Mr. Pitiful” was recorded in December 1964 at the Stax Records studios. The song was written by guitarist Steve Cropper and singer Otis Redding, his first collaboration… Read More

Mar. 19651 viewer5.9K views

Mr. Pitiful Lyrics

Call me Mr. Pitiful
Baby, that's my name now, oh
Call me Mr. Pitiful
That's how I got my fame

But people just don't wanna understand that
What make a man feel so blue
Ooh, they call me Mr. Pitiful
'Cause I've lost someone just like you, now

They call me Mr. Pitiful
This everybody know, now
They call me Mr. Pitiful
Most everyplace I go

But nobody seems to understand, now
How can a man sing such a sad song
Ooh, when he lost everything
When he lost everything that he had

How can I explain to you?
How somebody can get so very blue, now
How can I tell you about my past?
If all things won't end

Mr. Pitiful
That's my name, now
They call me Mr. Pitiful
That's how I got my fame

But nobody seems to understand
Oh, what make a man can feel so blue, now
They call me Mr. Pitiful
'Cause I'm in love with you

Can I explain to you?
Everything is going wrong
I've lost everything I've had
I have to sing these sad songs to get back to her
And I want you and I want you and I want you

And I want you and I wanna tell you that now
That everything is going through my mind
And I wanna sing
And I don't wanna sing this song with you
And I'm gonna sing this song for everybody
'Cause I want them to understand what I talkin' about
I want you to understand what I'm sayin'

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About

Genius Annotation

“Mr. Pitiful” was recorded in December 1964 at the Stax Records studios. The song was written by guitarist Steve Cropper and singer Otis Redding, his first collaboration with Cropper, as a response to a statement made by radio 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” as a single.