I’m counting down my 100 favourite songs of all time. To keep this from becoming a Bob Dylan / Tom Waits love-in, only one track per artist is allowed. Feel free to leave your comments below.
Go to 95: Dead End Street by The Kinks
Go to 95: Dead End Street by The Kinks
Go to 97: I Called You Back by Bonnie Prince Billy
Take Me to the River is the perfect combination of Green’s two musical sides: soul and gospel. Both in his performance and lyrics, the song mixes earthly love with the higher spirituality emphasized by the title and chorus’ obvious reference to baptism.
Then, just at the end of the first chorus, an almost imperceptible breakbeat comes in and lifts the song. The build is heightened in verse two as Green’s urgings become more insistent and any sense of piety is eschewed along with a return to the chorus. Instead we get Green’s hoarse howl and a tormented middle eight that pleads:
“Hold me / Love me / Please me / Tease me / Til I can’t / Til I can’t / Can’t take no more”
That last line is delivered in an orgiastic cry that leads Green to utter a guilty “Take me to the river”. Sinner and saint are at war, but it sounds like the sin has just won and the tight horns are blasting in restrained, but definitely triumphant, glory.
The final verse may have a self-satisfied strut but it is heading towards the water as Green hits preacher mode for a final rendition of the chorus. Yet are his cries of “dip me in the water” a plea for redemption from the sinner wishing to be reborn? Perhaps, but that little “feeling good” right at the end suggests Green doesn't exactly care for forgiveness.
Having covered the song with Talking Heads, David Byrne perfectly captured its sexual tension when he said that it "combines teenage lust with baptism - not equates, you understand, but throws them in the same stew, at least. A potent blend."*
Such tension was resolved in Green’s real life after the release of Al Green Explores Your Mind. In fact, the turning point occurred the same month that the record came out when his then girlfriend, Mary Woodson White threw a pot of boiling grits over him while he was in the shower, before killing herself with his .38 revolver.
Naturally the incident had a profound effect on Green, who viewed it as sign from god and two years later he became a pastor at a church in Memphis. By the mid-eighties he was only making gospel records and had dropped Take Me to the River from his live shows. He would later make his peace with the song and sing it live again, even making it the title of his autobiography.
Take Me to the River did get released as a single, but not by Green. A year later, Willie Mitchell assembled the same band and recorded a new version with singer Syl Johnson, which reached number seven in the Billboard R&B chart. More covers were to follow, including a version by Bryan Ferry, but the best is the Talking Heads take—especially this live version from the band’s phenomenal concert movie Stop Making Sense.
The song would also be used by the makers of that annoying plastic singing fish, Big Mouth Bill Bass, which co-writer Mabon Hodges says earned him more royalties than any other recording.
And then of course there was the Commitments’ version—a decent introduction for a soul-starved Irish boy, but it would soon pale when faced with the incomparable Al Green.
*This quote is taken from this excellent article about Take Me to the River by Tim De Lisle
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If you like this, try:
Take Me to the River – live at Soul Train (1975)
Tired of Being Alone
Let’s Stay Together
Go to 95: Dead End Street by The Kinks
I’m from a generation of Irish people whose introduction to classic soul music probably came via the 1991 film, The Commitments. Living in a tiny town on a mono-cultural island where entertainment consisted of two TV channels, commercial radio and a record collection of Irish folk music and Perry Como, the classic songs of the Atlantic, Stax, Hi, Chess and Motown labels remained unheard by me until Alan Parker put together a motley crew of Irish musicians to tell the hilarious story of Dublin’s saviours of soul.
The result is that I still prefer The Commitments’ take on the songs that featured in the movie and soundtrack album, which I played to death at the time. Even now, when I hear the original versions by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and James Carr, I can acknowledge their superiority but I don’t love them as much. The one exception is Al Green.
Born in Arkansas in 1946, Al Green spent his musical youth with an additional ‘E’ in his name and touring with his family’s gospel band, The Greene Brothers. After his father kicked him out for listening to Jackie Wilson records, Al continued to perform in a variety of soul acts with moderate success.
The result is that I still prefer The Commitments’ take on the songs that featured in the movie and soundtrack album, which I played to death at the time. Even now, when I hear the original versions by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and James Carr, I can acknowledge their superiority but I don’t love them as much. The one exception is Al Green.
Born in Arkansas in 1946, Al Green spent his musical youth with an additional ‘E’ in his name and touring with his family’s gospel band, The Greene Brothers. After his father kicked him out for listening to Jackie Wilson records, Al continued to perform in a variety of soul acts with moderate success.
Stylistically, Green was in thrall to his singing heroes, Wilson and Sam Cooke, but that changed after 1969 when he met producer Willie Mitchell, who was working at soul label Hi Records. Mitchell encouraged him to develop the honeyed howl that would become his distinctive style and produced the romantic recordings that would make Green a star.
His first big hit was 1971’s Tired of Being Alone, which was quickly followed by his only US Billboard no. 1, Let’s Stay Together—definitely one of the greatest love songs of all time. Green and Mitchell made a prolific team and by 1974 were releasing his seventh album for Hi, Al Green Explores Your Mind. The record only generated one hit Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy), but only because the best song on it wasn’t released as a single.
His first big hit was 1971’s Tired of Being Alone, which was quickly followed by his only US Billboard no. 1, Let’s Stay Together—definitely one of the greatest love songs of all time. Green and Mitchell made a prolific team and by 1974 were releasing his seventh album for Hi, Al Green Explores Your Mind. The record only generated one hit Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy), but only because the best song on it wasn’t released as a single.
Take Me to the River is the perfect combination of Green’s two musical sides: soul and gospel. Both in his performance and lyrics, the song mixes earthly love with the higher spirituality emphasized by the title and chorus’ obvious reference to baptism.
Actually, love seems too romantic for Take Me to the River. It makes it seem like another Let’s Stay Together, when in fact the song is propelled by an uncontrollable lust. It starts off with the line “I don’t why I love you like I do”, while Mitchell’s usual crack team of musicians, including The Memphis Horns, lay down a careful rhythm backed by unobtrusive brass. So far, all pretty innocent.
Then, just at the end of the first chorus, an almost imperceptible breakbeat comes in and lifts the song. The build is heightened in verse two as Green’s urgings become more insistent and any sense of piety is eschewed along with a return to the chorus. Instead we get Green’s hoarse howl and a tormented middle eight that pleads:
“Hold me / Love me / Please me / Tease me / Til I can’t / Til I can’t / Can’t take no more”
That last line is delivered in an orgiastic cry that leads Green to utter a guilty “Take me to the river”. Sinner and saint are at war, but it sounds like the sin has just won and the tight horns are blasting in restrained, but definitely triumphant, glory.
The final verse may have a self-satisfied strut but it is heading towards the water as Green hits preacher mode for a final rendition of the chorus. Yet are his cries of “dip me in the water” a plea for redemption from the sinner wishing to be reborn? Perhaps, but that little “feeling good” right at the end suggests Green doesn't exactly care for forgiveness.
Having covered the song with Talking Heads, David Byrne perfectly captured its sexual tension when he said that it "combines teenage lust with baptism - not equates, you understand, but throws them in the same stew, at least. A potent blend."*
Such tension was resolved in Green’s real life after the release of Al Green Explores Your Mind. In fact, the turning point occurred the same month that the record came out when his then girlfriend, Mary Woodson White threw a pot of boiling grits over him while he was in the shower, before killing herself with his .38 revolver.
Naturally the incident had a profound effect on Green, who viewed it as sign from god and two years later he became a pastor at a church in Memphis. By the mid-eighties he was only making gospel records and had dropped Take Me to the River from his live shows. He would later make his peace with the song and sing it live again, even making it the title of his autobiography.
Take Me to the River did get released as a single, but not by Green. A year later, Willie Mitchell assembled the same band and recorded a new version with singer Syl Johnson, which reached number seven in the Billboard R&B chart. More covers were to follow, including a version by Bryan Ferry, but the best is the Talking Heads take—especially this live version from the band’s phenomenal concert movie Stop Making Sense.
The song would also be used by the makers of that annoying plastic singing fish, Big Mouth Bill Bass, which co-writer Mabon Hodges says earned him more royalties than any other recording.
And then of course there was the Commitments’ version—a decent introduction for a soul-starved Irish boy, but it would soon pale when faced with the incomparable Al Green.
*This quote is taken from this excellent article about Take Me to the River by Tim De Lisle
Follow me on Twitter
If you like this, try:
Take Me to the River – live at Soul Train (1975)
Tired of Being Alone
Let’s Stay Together
Go to 95: Dead End Street by The Kinks
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