Young Girls They Do Get Woolly

Don't let anybody tell you we don't do important work here at the Chronicle... which is why I spent a good chunk of my morning on a fact-finding mission to resolve the Great Lyric Debate of "Try a Little Tenderness" (check out tomorrow's review of My Blueberry Nights to understand why). Specifically, I needed to know if Otis was talking about a shaggy or a shabby dress.

Tim Robbins already memorably mangled the lyrics in Bull Durham, so he was no help, and I clicked off Michael Bublé's singing-automaton version right after he humorlessly changed "young girls" to "women." Eventually, I decided to go straight to the source – archival Otis Redding. Come for the "shaggy," stay for the awesome performance. The overeager snare somewhat defuses the delicious tension of the song, but nonetheless – damn, that man was sexy.