Songfacts®:

• When Otis Redding worked up a song, he would sing out the horn arrangement by vocalizing "fa fa fa" to indicate where the horns should go and what they should play. In this song, he used those "fa"s to form the rhythm, following in the tradition of songs like "Be-Bop-a-Lula" and "Da Doo Ron Ron."
  
  In the chorus, the song takes listeners behind the scenes, as we hear Otis instructing his horn section, the Memphis Horns, when to play:
  
  Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
  Your turn
  [horns play]
• Redding had developed a reputation for singing sad songs like "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)." In 1964, he had some fun sending up this image with the song "Mr. Pitiful." In "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" he does it again, singing, "Sad songs is all I know."
  
  This was far from true - Redding did lots of stompers and could sing with tremendous energy - but it was a great concept for a song about how music can move you, telling a story without any coherent words. Those sad songs can make you feel something deep inside, which is what Redding's brand of soul music was all about.
• Redding wrote this with Steve Cropper, the guitar player for Stax Records, where Redding was signed. Cropper and Redding complemented each other very well, as Cropper could flesh out Redding's ideas and bring them to fruition. Redding wasn't very good at writing about himself, so Cropper often filled in the verses from the singer's perspective. That's what happened on this track: Cropper came up with lyrics about Redding spreading his musical message through sad songs.
• David Porter, a producer-songwriter at Stax, sang the harmony vocals with Redding.
• Redding claimed that he got the idea for the horn riffs from the theme to the quiz show The $64,000 Question, which went off the air in 1958.
• Sly & the Family Stone used a very similar "fa" motif with horns in their 1970 #1 hit, "Everybody Is A Star."