Otis Redding Wasn’t First to ‘Try a Little Tenderness’
Few songs are so strongly identified with soul singer Otis Redding as “Try a Little Tenderness.” Though everyone from Three Dog Night and Tom Jones to Michael Bublé and Chris Brown have attempted to put their own stamp on it, no one has been able to improve on Redding’s definitive performance.
But “Try a Little Tenderness” did not originate with Redding. The song was first recorded in 1932, nine years before Redding was born, by the Ray Noble Orchestra with vocalist Val Rosing.
Written by American lyricist Harry M. Woods, who wrote “When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along)” and British composers Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, whose best known work is “Show Me The Way to Go Home,” “Try a Little Tenderness” became a standard of the Swing Era, with stars like Bing Crosby waxing a popular version in 1933. The journey from crooner Crosby’s smooth take to Redding’s blistering track was a gradual one.
Aretha Franklin recorded the song in 1962, which was heard by Redding’s idol Sam Cooke, who incorporated “Try a Little Tenderness”…
