Al Green Songs

Al Green songs are a special breed of song. They put melancholy and heartache right beside a steady faith in the resilience of love. Here are five of the best.

1. "You Oughta Be With Me"  This 1972 single only spent one week at number one on the Billboard charts, but it's still a classic Al Green song. Quiet vulnerability combines with romantic rationality to make a poignant love song. How many heartsick men would urge a reluctant lover to "sit right down and talk to me/about how you want be"?
2. "I'm Still in Love with You" Also released in 1972, this Al green song made it to the top of the soul singles chart and to number three on Billboard's Hot 100. He still wants his lover to talk to him and "let me know if this love is really real."
3. "Love and Happiness" Rolling Stone put this Al Green song in the top 100 of its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Although "happiness" is in the title and the song is all about the power of love, you can't expect Green to let you off that easily. There's a dark undertone here.
4. "Let's Stay Together" It's number 60 on Rolling Stone's all-time list, and it topped the charts in 1971. It's an optimistic song about how love will keep us together, but even here there's the unspoken fear that it could all gone wrong at any minute.
5. "Take Me to the River" This song was not a big hit for Al Green, but Syl Johnson got on the charts with it in 1975. Talking Heads had an even biggerhit with a cover version in 1979.