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Printed in Eye Magazine May 1968Article written by Lillian Roxon Illustration by Michael Foreman

Otis Smith



From his 2008 obituary:


All Night Worker Otis Smith passes gently into the good night

Smith went on to pair up with Lloyd Baskins, forming the All Night Workers, which found national success with its 1965 recording “Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket,” a tune that was paired with “Why Don’t You Smile?,” co-written by friends Reed and John Cale. However, the band’s popular single couldn’t stop it from splitting up in 1968, by which point Smith had moved to New York City’s Albert Hotel, a somewhat famed hangout for a variety of musicians at the time. After achieving limited success in that circuit, Smith was recruited to play percussion with Bob Dylan’s band in Los Angeles in 1979. Because Dylan was experimenting with a variety of bands, Smith wasn’t selected to be a permanent part of Dylan’s lineup.