“Try a Little Tenderness” was written by Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, as well as Harry M. Woods in 1932, and originally it was recorded by the Ray Noble Orchestra in the same year. In 1966, soul artist Otis Redding recorded his version of the song, where the arrangement was changed entirely to a track that started off slow and soulful, but eventually lead up to a R&B sound, with samples from Duke Ellington-Lee Gaines infamous track “Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don’t Tease Me).
“Try a Little Tenderness” has been heavily popularised thanks to Redding’s version, which became a soul staple. The track features Redding singing about loving a woman and being more tender towards her not only in hard times, but every single day.
There is no official music video for “Try a Little Tenderness”, but the official audio upload by RHINO on YouTube has 634 thousand views and 6.7 likes since its upload in June 2019.
Release Date: 14th November 1996
Songwriter/s: Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly & Harry M. Woods
Producer/s: Jim Stewart, Isaac Hayes, Booker. T & the M.G.’s
Label: Vol/Atco
Chart Rankings & Accolades: When Redding’s cover of “Try a Little Tenderness” was released, it charted at #25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song has also been names as one of “the best songs of all time” by many publications, and has been ranked at #204 on the Rolling Stone’s list of “the 500 greatest songs of all time”.
The lyrics to “Try a Little Tenderness” can be accessed here: LINK
Sanford
June 1, 2025 at 4:02 am
I would like to know the story of why first of all Redding chose this song to cover. It was a ballad before Otis made it his own. it wasn’t covered often as far as i can tell. Aretha Franklin, Sam Cook, Frank Sinatra and a few others covered it. 2ndly how did Otis or who ever produced the record decide to make changed how the song was sung.