"Be Tender with Me Baby" is a song by recording artist

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

. Written by

Albert Hammond Albert Louis Hammond OBE (born 18 May 1944) is a British-Gibraltarian singer, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific songwriter, he also collaborated with other songwriters such as Mike Hazlewood, John Bettis, Diane Warren, Holly Knight ...

and

Holly Knight ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

and produced by

Dan Hartman Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Among songs he wrote and recorded were " Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits ...

, it was released as a single from Turner's seventh solo studio album, ''

Foreign Affair ''Foreign Affair'' is the seventh solo studio album by Tina Turner, released on September 13, 1989, through Capitol Records. It was Turner's third album release after her massively successful comeback five years earlier with ''Private Dancer'' ...

'' (1989), in October 1990. Released as a single in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and continental Europe only, it reached number four in Portugal, number 18 in Ireland, number 28 in the UK, and number 35 in the Netherlands. The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

depicts Turner performing the track at a 1990 concert at

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, a ...

during her Foreign Affair Tour as an encore, and the seven-minute live version was also included on the single.

Critical reception

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

from ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' felt that Turner adopts the "pleading style of '60s

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

greats" like

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

and

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 196 ...

on the song. In an retrospective review, Pop Rescue stated that "Be Tender with Me Baby" "gives Tina a bit of a

rock ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cu ...

to play with", adding that she "gets plenty of time and space to show off her vocals, which she really does – from a softer vocal near the start, to winning the battle with the soaring strings and electric guitar." The reviewer also noted the "heartfelt ending" of the song.

Track listings

* UK 7-inch and cassette single # "Be Tender with Me Baby" (LP version) – 4:18 # "Be Tender with Me Baby" (live edit) – 4:03 * UK 12-inch single # "Be Tender with Me Baby" (LP version) – 4:18 # "You Know Who (Is Doing You Know What)" (LP version) – 3:45 # "Be Tender with Me Baby" (live) – 7:04 * UK CD single # "Be Tender with Me Baby" (LP version) – 4:18 # "Be Tender with Me Baby" (live) – 7:04 # "You Know Who (Is Doing You Know What)" (LP version) – 3:45

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Be Tender With Me Baby Tina Turner songs 1990 singles 1990 songs 1990s ballads Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Dan Hartman Songs written by Albert Hammond Songs written by Holly Knight