Editing Tender Mercies (section)

===Music===
{{Listen
 |filename     = RobertDuvallTenderMercies.ogg
 |title        = "If You'll Hold the Ladder (I'll Climb to the Top)", performed by Robert Duvall in ''Tender Mercies''
 |description = [[Robert Duvall]] insisted on singing his own songs in ''Tender Mercies''.
 |type         = music
 |pos          = right
 |header       =
 |filename2 = BettyBuckleyTenderMercies.ogg
 |title2 = "Over You", performed by Betty Buckley in ''Tender Mercies''
 |description2  = "Over You" was nominated for an [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Song]].
 |type2 = music
}}
''Tender Mercies'' includes no original [[film score]], and the musical soundtrack is limited to the performances of country songs and the acoustic guitar playing that occur as part of the story. A score was composed for the movie, but Beresford had it removed because he felt it was "too sweet" and sounded phony in the context of the film, although he acknowledged it as "very skillful".<ref name="BeresfordMiracles"/> Duvall sang his own songs, a right he insisted be part of his contract. He commented, "What's the point if you're not going to do your own [singing]? They're just going to dub somebody else? I mean, there's no point to that."<ref name="DuvallMiracles"/> The film's financial backers were initially concerned about whether he could sing well enough for the role. Those concerns were allayed after Duvall produced a tape of himself singing [[a cappella]] "On the Wings of a Dove", a [[Bob Ferguson (music)|Bob Ferguson]] country song featured in the film.<ref name="NYT0304"/> Duvall collaborated with Beresford in deciding on the unusual staging of the emotional scene in which Mac sings it after reflecting on the reunion with his daughter. The song is performed with Mac looking out a window with his back to the camera, his face unseen. Horton Foote thought the choice made the scene more moving and called it "an extraordinary moment" in the film.<ref name="FooteMiracles"/><ref name="DuvallMiracles"/> Duvall wrote two of Mac's other songs, "Fool's Waltz" and "I've Decided to Leave Here Forever".<ref>{{cite web|last=Thames|first=Stephanie|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/140891|title=Spotlight: ''Tender Mercies''|access-date=2009-11-25|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]}}</ref> Several leading country singers, including [[Willie Nelson]], [[George Jones]] and [[Merle Haggard]], were believed to have inspired Mac and Duvall's portrayal of him, but Duvall insisted the character was not based on anyone in particular.<ref name="DuvallMiracles"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Bennetts|first=Leslie|title=For Duvall, 52 is Only Halfway In His Career|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1983-04-25|page=11, Cultural Desk, Section C, Column 1}}</ref> Another country star, [[Waylon Jennings]], complimented his performance, saying he had "done the impossible."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hagen|first=Bill|title=Oscars tedious, unsurprising|work=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]]|date=1984-04-10|location=[[San Diego]], [[California]]}}</ref>

Betty Buckley also sang her own songs, one of which, "Over You", written by [[Austin Roberts (singer)|Austin Roberts]] and [[Boyce and Hart|Bobby Hart]], was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Academy Award]].<ref name="BeresfordMiracles"/> Although Buckley performed it in the film, country singer [[Lane Brody]] was chosen to record it for radio release,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Edwards|first=Joe|title=Nashville Sound: The Voice of the Olympics|date=1985-03-15|agency=[[Associated Press]]|location=[[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]]}}</ref> and [[Mac Davis]] later sang it at the 1984 Academy Awards ceremony.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Academy Awards|date=1984-04-09|agency=[[Associated Press]]|location=[[Los Angeles]], [[California]]}}</ref> Other songs in the film include "It Hurts to Face Reality" by [[Lefty Frizzell]], "If You'll Hold the Ladder (I'll Climb to the Top)" by Buzz Rabin and Sara Busby, "The Best Bedroom in Town" and "Champagne Ladies & Barroom Babies" by Charlie Craig, "I'm Drinkin' Canada Dry" by [[Johnny Cymbal]] and Austin Roberts, and "You Are What Love Means To Me" by [[Craig Bickhardt]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Music: Tender Mercies |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=2009-11-30 |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/2801?view=music |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017174541/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/2801?view=music |archive-date=2012-10-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |title  =Tender Mercies |medium  =Film (DVD)|publisher=[[Universal Pictures]]|time=end credits (1:30:51–1:31:12)}}</ref>