Tenderness (Soviet song)

"Tenderness" () is a Soviet Russian song, composed in 1965. The music was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova, with lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov and .

"Tenderness" was one of the most beloved songs from cosmonaut of the USSR, and the most beloved — the first cosmonaut of the planet Earth — Yuri Gagarin. Yevgeny Dolmatovsky recalled in the book "Stories about your songs" (1973):

Nezhnost was performed in 1967 by Tatiana Doronina (as Nyura) in Tatiana Lioznova's film ' (Three Poplars at ). Originally it was recorded by Maya Kristalinskaya in 1966. According to the memoirs of Chermen Kasaev (music editor of Radio in the Soviet Union and Soviet Central Television), when listening to a final record, Maya had tears dripping from her eyes. B. Serebrennikova wrote in the book "Singers of Soviet Pop" (1977) that "All critics who wrote about "Tenderness" noted that this is the pinnacle of Kristalinskaya's art and in general a masterpiece of song performance creativity."

It was covered many times by many artists in Soviet Union and Russia, including versions made by Yuri Gulyayev, Joseph Kobzon, Tamara Sinyavskaya, Lyudmila Zykina, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Tamara Gverdtsiteli, , Latvian singer . Also, the song was recorded in 1967 by French singer Frida Boccara in Russian (Soviet album «Поёт Фрида Боккара» / Frida Boccara sings, Melodiya), in 1969 by Cuban singer Lourdes Gil and Francis Goya (as Tenderness — CD album A Tribute... With My Sincere Admiration for Alexandra Pakhmutova, 2002). The song has been live performed in 1999 by Alla Bayanova in French, accompanied by Mikhail Pletnev.

Several Western arrangements of the tune are known under the title Tenderness. These include a version in both English and Russian by Jason Kouchak and in particular, Marc Almond's version which is known for his live performance at the Manege of the First Cadet Corps (Saint Petersburg) on October 1, 2008 and Thomas Anders' version is known for his live performance at the Kremlin Palace on April 23, 2009.