Try a Little Tenderness

This article is about the song. For the John Osborne play, see Try A Little Tenderness (play).

"Try a Little Tenderness"
Single by Otis Redding
from the album Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul
B-side	"I'm Sick Y'all"
Released	November 14, 1966
Format	7" 45 RPM
Recorded	Stax Studios, Memphis, Tennessee: 1966
Genre	Soul
Length	3:46 (album version) 3:20 (single version)
Label	Volt/Atco V-141
Writer(s)	Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly Harry M. Woods
Producer	Jim Stewart Isaac Hayes Booker T. & the MG's
Otis Redding singles chronology
"Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" (1966) "Try a Little Tenderness" (1966) "I Love You More Than Words Can Say" (1967)

"Try a Little Tenderness" is a love song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods, and recorded initially on December 8, 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra (with vocals by Val Rosing) followed by both Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby in 1933. Subsequent recordings and performances were done by such recording artists as Otis Redding, Pat O'Malley in the Jack Hylton's Big Band, Little Miss Cornshucks (1951), Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Rod Stewart, Frankie Laine, Percy Sledge, Earl Grant, Al Jarreau, Sheena Easton, Nina Simone, Etta James, Tina Turner, Three Dog Night, John Miles and Andrew Strong, Chris Brown, Michael Bublé, The Von Bondies, Cassia Eller and Amber Riley in the Fox show Glee.

Otis Redding version

A popular version in an entirely new form was recorded by soul artist Otis Redding in 1966. Redding was backed on his version by Booker T. & the MG's, and Stax staff producer Isaac Hayes worked on the arrangement. Redding's recording features a slow soulful opening that eventually builds into a frenetic R&B conclusion. This version peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has been named on a number of "best songs of all time" lists, including those from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is in the 204th position on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Aretha Franklin had covered the song in 1962 for her LP The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin on Columbia Records. After hearing it, Sam Cooke added it to his live shows, as can be heard on his live LP Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964). In Cooke's version, only two verses are included, as part of a medley (with "For Sentimental Reasons" and "You Send Me").

Covers

The song has been covered numerous times, including a version by Three Dog Night that peaked at #29 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1969. It was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her 1968 recording, 30 by Ella, in an arrangement by Benny Carter. The song was featured prominently in the 1991 feature film The Commitments and its subsequent soundtrack, as were numerous other Redding songs, such as "Mr. Pitiful". Saxophonist David Sanborn covered the song from the 1995 album "Pearls." Michael Bolton covered the song on his 1999 album Timeless: The Classics Vol. 2.

In the 2000s it has been covered by Michael Bublé on his second album It's Time and by Sarah Jane Morris on her album August (a stripped cover with just Marc Ribot on electric guitar). The Von Bondies render a cover of the song as a hidden track at the end of their album Pawn Shoppe Heart. John Farnham and Tom Jones performed it in a series of Australian shows in February 2005, which can be heard on the live album and DVD. It was also sung on Children In Need 2007 by duo Sam and Mark. Even famous actor Jack Webb once covered it; it was later placed on the Rhino Records album Golden Throats. The song was also covered by Chris Brown in This Christmas as well as Gloria Lynne on her album "Try a Little Tenderness" 1965 on Everest Records. In 2002, it was covered by Rik Waller on his album From Now...

In one of the more unusual versions of this song, Jack Webb (better known as the "Just the facts, Ma'am." police detective in the Dragnet radio and TV series) spoke the lyrics over an instrumental background, and this rendition was included in the first of Rhino Records' Golden Throats compilations.

The Brazilian singer Cássia Eller (1962-2001) stroke a great success with versions of this song in her third studio album (Cássia Eller, 1994, track 4) and in her first live album (Cássia Eller Ao Vivo, 1996, track 8).

Uses in other media

• Andrew Strong sang a version in the Irish/British film the Commitments (film) 1991, a 1991 comedy-drama film adaptation of a novel of the same name by Roddy Doyle. It tells of unemployed Dubliners who form a soul band. It was directed by Alan Parker from a screenplay adapted by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, and Doyle himself.
• An instrumental version of the song was used in the opening credits of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, over scenes of a nuclear-weapon laden B-52 bomber accepting a refueling probe.
• In the 1986 movie Pretty in Pink, Duckie appears, in a famous scene, dancing and singing to this song in the record store.
• In the 1988 movie Bull Durham, Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh, played by Tim Robbins, butchers the lyrics to this song while singing it during a long bus trip. Crash Davis, played by Kevin Costner, gets visibly upset at Nuke's performance and informs Nuke of the correct lyrics.
• In the end of the season 5 opener of the TV series Sex and the City, "Anchors Away", the Otis Redding version of the song plays during the credits.
• In the 2000 movie Duets, actors Paul Giamatti and Andre Braugher provide the vocals on screen (Andre Braugher was actually lip-syncing vocals provided by Arnold McCuller). Their respective characters, Todd and Reggie, find musical chemistry during their performance of this song that leads them to the national karaoke competition.
• In the 2001 animated film Shrek, Donkey, before letting the title character burst in during the marriage of Princess Fiona and Lord Farquaad, sings this song to encourage him to wait until the preacher says, "If anyone objects, let him speak now or forever hold his peace."
• in 11-Feb-1987 on the seventh season of the Magnum, P.I. episode "Forty", the song as sung by Otis Redding featured predominately.
• Singer Chris Brown performs "Try a Little Tenderness" in the 2007 film This Christmas.
• In the play Sailor's Song by John Patrick Shanley, the character Carla dances to this song.
• British Airways (as BOAC) ran an advertising campaign several years ago with the line "Try a little VC10-derness".
• Otis Redding's version was used for season seven of SYTYCD in a hip-hop routine danced by Comfort Fedoke and José Ruiz.
• Amber Riley from the hit T.V. Show Glee performs her cover on the episode "Funeral".
• Hip-Hop artists Kanye West & Jay Z sampled the song for their single "Otis," from their collaborative album Watch The Throne.