Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He started performing at age ten in a Forrest City quartet called the Greene Brothers; he dropped the final "E" from his last name years later as a solo artist. They toured extensively in the mid-1950s in the South until the Greenes moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when they began to tour around Michigan. His father kicked him out of the group because he caught Green listening to Jackie Wilson.
In 1967 at the age of 16, Al formed an R&B group, Al Green & the Creations, with several of his high-school friends. Two Creation members, Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, founded their own independent record company, Hot Line Music Journal, and had the group record for the label. By that time, the Creations had been re-named the Soul Mates. The group's first single, "Back Up Train," became a surprise hit, climbing to number five on the R&B charts early in 1968. The Soul Mates attempted to record another hit, but all of their subsequent singles failed to find an audience. In 1969, Al Green met bandleader and Hi Records vice president Willie Mitchell while on tour in Midland, Texas. Impressed with Green's voice, he signed the singer to Hi Records, and began collaborating with Al on his debut album
He was perhaps the ideal complement to the orchestral, syrupy, strong soul production work of Hi Records wizard Willie Mitchell, who also helmed 70s classics for Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles, and himself.
On October 18, 1974, Mary Woodson, a woman who was his longtime girlfriend, threw a large pot of sticky boiling grits on him as he was preparing to shower, because he didn't want to get married. She committed suicide in minutes, which deeply affected Green to turn to God and religion. This assault from behind caused third-degree burns on his back, stomach and arm. Deeply shaken, Green continued to reaffirm and grow closer to his deeply held love for God, and became an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976.
Continuing to record R&B, Green saw his sales start to slip and drew mixed reviews from critics. 1977's The Belle Album was critically acclaimed but did not regain his former mass audience. In 1979 Green injured himself falling off the stage while performing in Cincinnati and interpreted this as a message from God. He then concentrated his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel singing, also appearing in 1982 with Patti Labelle in the Broadway musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. According to Glide Magazine, "by the late 70s, he had begun concentrating almost exclusively on gospel music." His first gospel album was The Lord Will Make a Way. From 1981 to 1989 Green recorded a series of gospel recordings, garnering eight "soul gospel performance" Grammys in that period. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell along with Angelo Earl for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records. In 1984, director Robert Mugge released a documentary film, Gospel According to Al Green, including interviews about his life and footage from his church. In 1989, Green released "I Get Joy", again with producer/guitarist Angelo Earl. In 2001, he appeared in the movie and soundtrack of On the Line featuring Lance Bass.
After spending several years exclusively performing gospel, Green began to return to Rhythm & Blues. First, he released a duet with Annie Lennox, "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" for Scrooged, a 1988 Bill Murray film. In 1989 Green worked with producer Arthur Baker writing and producing the international hit "The Message Is Love". In 1991 he created the introductory theme song for the short-lived television series Good Sports featuring Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett. In 1992, Green recorded again with Baker, the Fine Young Cannibals, and reunited with his former Memphis mix engineer (this time functioning as producer) Terry Manning, to release the album Don't Look Back. His 1994 duet with country music singer Lyle Lovett blended country with R&B, garnering him his ninth Grammy, this time in a pop music category. Green's first secular album in some time was Your Heart's In Good Hands (1995), released to positive reviews but disappointing sales, the same year Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2000, Green published Take Me to the River, a book discussing his career. Green received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
In 2001, Green's live cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" was released on the soundtrack to Will Smith's film Ali (the song plays when Muhammad Ali learns of the death of close friend Malcolm X).
By 2003 Green released a non-religious (secular) album entitled I Can't Stop, his first collaboration with Willie Mitchell since 1985's He is the Light. In March 2005 he issued Everything's OK as the follow-up to I Can't Stop. Green also collaborated with Mitchell on this secular CD.
The title of Al Green's latest album Lay It Down released May, 2008, truly tells it like it is. Conceived as a collaboration between the soul legend and a handful of gifted young admirers from the worlds of contemporary R&B and hip hop, the album is drawn from a series of inspired sessions that yielded the most high-spirited, funky and often lushly romantic songs of Green's latter-day career.
The project features the sophisticated R&B voices of singer-songwriters John Legend, Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae, and it was co-produced with Green by two of hip-hop's most innovative players, drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson from the Roots and keyboardist James Poyser , the go-to guy for high-profile artists ranging from Erykah Badu to Common. Add in Brooklyn's celebrated Dap-King Horns (Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse), guitarist Chalmers "Spanky" Alford (Mighty Clouds of Joy, Joss Stone) and bassist Adam Blackstone (Jill Scott, DJ Jazzy Jeff), among others, and you've got a modern soul-music dream team, fronted by the most expressive voice in the business.
In The Garden
Al Green Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
And the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
I'd stay in the garden with him though the night around me falling,
But he bids me go; thru the voice of woe his voice to me is calling.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
The lyrics of Al Green’s “In The Garden” express a personal and intimate relationship between the singer and Jesus. The singer describes coming to the garden alone, at dawn, while there is still dew on the roses. It is a peaceful, quiet time to be alone with God. The singer hears the voice of God, the Son, and He reveals Himself to the singer. The singer’s relationship with God is so personal and deep that it brings them joy that is unparalleled. The singer describes the sound of God’s voice as being so sweet that the birds stop singing. The melody of this voice rings in the singer’s heart.
The experience of walking and talking with God is so powerful that the singer wishes to remain in the garden with Him, even as night falls. However, God’s voice speaks to the singer, calling him to go, despite the weight of sorrow in that voice. In the end, the refrain repeats, emphasizing the intimacy between the singer and God: He walks with me, He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.
The lyrics of “In The Garden” offer a beautiful and poetic expression of the Christian experience of communing with God, in a space of beauty and peace. It is an invitation to find quiet solitude and reflect, allowing for the possibility of encountering God in a personal way.
Line by Line Meaning
I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses,
I go to the garden by myself in the early morning when there is still dew on the roses.
And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.
I hear the voice of the Son of God speaking to me.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
Jesus accompanies me and speaks with me.
And he tells me I am his own;
He reassures me that I belong to him.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
The happiness we experience as we stay there together.
None other has ever known.
No one else has ever experienced this joy.
He speaks, and the sound of his voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
The sound of Jesus' voice is so pleasing that the birds stop singing.
And the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing.
The beautiful melody that he instilled in my heart is resonating within me.
I'd stay in the garden with him though the night around me falling,
I would stay in the garden with Jesus even if darkness surrounds me.
But he bids me go; thru the voice of woe his voice to me is calling.
However, he asks me to leave and his voice is full of sadness when he tells me to go.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
The happiness we experience as we stay there together.
None other has ever known.
No one else has ever experienced this joy.
Contributed by Chase A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@carmelagreen4527
I remember that I used 2 cry when he says that God," tells me I'm his own"!, this is because I needed 2 hear those words from the Lord! I'm happy that I believed it because it was true!.. The one person that I needed was there all the time 🙏😇
@irmasydnor6661
My Mom was having a heart attack and as I rode to the emergency room this was playing that was over 20 years ago and today being Mother's Day I sit here and listen Mom has been gone now 13 years and never a day without her in my thoughts always in my heart RIH Momma Happy Mother's Day
@jermainebelton44
God bless
@teresafanning960
God Bless you 🙏 💖 🙏
@bobbywatson6983
I'm a huge fan of Rev .Al Green's Gospel music
@brendacharity3024
I love Al Green's Gospel Music. Al Green was born to sing Gospel.
@irmasydnor5054
This song stays with me also because my Mom had a heart attack that night and this is the song that I liste9 to as I drove to the hospital.God is good she lived nearly 20 years afterwards.I love this and listen to often.Mom has passed on now.This song forevermore in my heart
@teresafanning960
I love AL Green!!!! Yes he does walk with me and he talks to me🙏♥️🙏 Glory to God ♥️
@ChassyAri
My grandmas favorite song I have to sing this for her 80th birthday in May ❤️ she gone cry and I won’t be able to take it lord
@mastercarpenter9798
The most heart moving, soul filling song I've ever heard.