This song I just wrote last night.
 
Tenderly
https://www.reverbnation.com/rexredmusicartist/song/29801498-tenderly
 
Suggestions, comments and critique is welcome. :)

Oh, the song is beautiful!  Well performed and sung.  I did find myself waiting (anticipating) a chorus, but that's not a real necessity.
Very pretty.
 
John B.

Very well done!

Johnbee58
Oh, the song is beautiful!  Well performed and sung.  I did find myself waiting (anticipating) a chorus, but that's not a real necessity.
Very pretty.
 
John B.

 
Thanks for the lovely compliments John!

The first verse is the chorus. Unconventional but done a lot. 
 
The thing that separates a poem from a song is a repeated set of lines (chorus). :)

Rex, great voice, emotional lyrics, delivered very well indeed. Piano sounded great in the mix with just a touch of a string pad. As is, it's quite an accomplishment. 
 
I also didn't hear a chorus and was in disbelief that such a good song was missing one. I respectfully disagree with your contention that a repeated set of lyric lines = a chorus, because the "money chorus" has different chords with a different melody. 
 
As I listened I found the four chords repeated over and over to be repetitive. But I still stayed in the song. Your vocals were that good. Really killer voice.
 
As your voice is easily good enough to be commercial in quality, you might consider adding that distinctive money chorus that a top 40 effort simply requires. And if you don't care about such things, then more power to you! It's great as is. But there is the possibility of a higher level of emotional connection with the listener that you aren't reaching, I think, all because it lacks that big stupid payoff of a chorus. Just my .02  . . .
 
I listened to some other tunes while I was there, and you do really quality work. Well done.
 
cheers,
-Tom

Hello Tom, thanks for the listens of my music and the compliments of my voice and music.
 
I was taught in college that a poem has no chorus (repeated lines). I am aware that that is only true in poems and song written in the purest form. Many songs have no chorus and many poems have repeated lines but they are examples of breaking the form.
 
The whole ides of having a form is to know the form then to break the form, but, to break the form in a methodical and purposeful way.
 
In the same way syncopation breaks a basic beat.
 
Once again, this song started out as a loop on audioblocks.com
 
Most of the loops I get on audioblocks are long and I can chop out the chorus parts and often they have separate chorus 1 and chorus 2 music. This song was all but about a 51 second loop but it was so beautiful I had to try and use it.
 
I wrote the words in about 15 minutes and had the loop chopped up repeated with an ending and lyrics for markers in about an hour.
 
It took me a day to sing many takes, comp them and edit them then I added, drums, a bass, a few other instruments and a nice pad underneath it.
 
I considered trying to make more music to it by matching the piano but I ran into the obstacle that the main melody in the loop was the melody I wanted for the "chorus".
 
What I refer to as the chorus in this song are the only 4 lines that are repeated 3 times and they are also the only lines that contain the song title in them "tenderly".
 
What has thrown people of is that the chorus comes first in this song.
 
I also have "broken the form" in doing this.
 
It does not have a money chorus because I was limited with the small amount of loop material. 
 
So I did the next best thing... put the chorus first. :)
 
I hope that helps.
 
RR
 

RexRed
 
 
The whole idea of having a form is to know the form then to break the form, but, to break the form in a methodical and purposeful way.
 
 
 

I agree and understand where you are coming from. Also, structure is in the eye of the beholder! Great song, hope it does well by you.
 
cheers,
-Tom

As I was listening and reading Tom's comments I found me not agreeing with his assessment.
 
FWIW I feel the structure stands well as is and is very nice to my ear. 

Great singing as usual. If I could sing like you I'd give up the guitar.
 
I wasn't real crazy about those drums coming in at the 50-second mark. That snare sounded awfully lonely out there. They're so low in the mix that they don't have much effect anyway. Have you thought about using something like an egg shaker instead? Or maybe brushes? I think the latter would be very cool myself.
 
Bill

Wayfarer
Great singing as usual. If I could sing like you I'd give up the guitar.
 
I wasn't real crazy about those drums coming in at the 50-second mark. That snare sounded awfully lonely out there. They're so low in the mix that they don't have much effect anyway. Have you thought about using something like an egg shaker instead? Or maybe brushes? I think the latter would be very cool myself.
 
Bill

 
Thanks for the compliment on my voice and I wish I could play guitar like you do! :)
 
I took out the drums altogether. You are right Bill, they are so subtle they do not make an impact (as I intended) and are more of a distraction.
 
I did add a shaker as you suggested on the downbeat but only in a couple places. It is so quiet it is nearly un noticeable and it appears only in 4 bars in two spots.
 
It is a shaker my brother bought for me when he was down in Ecuador. 
 
I made the accentuation instruments a bit more subtle and added a some FM bell keys and a lounge lizard EP in a spot towards the beginning. All almost too subtle to hear it.
 
Thanks Bill for inspiring me to take one more look at the mix here, it needed it.