I defended this song bitterly with my more hard-boiled friends who considered it maudlin and overwrought. I explained that not every song about hardship has to be delivered with swagger and bluster. Sometimes, as Otis sang, you have to try a little tenderness. It’s funny how a few of them have come around as we’ve gotten older and they’ve let down their guards and knelt to the real.

Indeed, everybody hurts. We don’t have to hurt alone.