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.
Love & Happiness
Al Green Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Something that can make you do wrong, make you do right
Love
Love and happiness
But wait a minute
Something's going wrong
Someone's on the phone
Talkin' about how she can make it right, yeah
Well, happiness is when, you really feel good with somebody
But nothing wrong with being in love with someone, yeah
Oh, baby, love and happiness
Love and happiness
Love and happiness (love and happiness), oh
I have to say
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
You be good to me
I'll be good to you
We'll be together, yeah
We'll see each other
Walk away with victory, yeah, yeah, oh, baby
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Love and happiness (love and happiness), oh
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Make you do right, love'll make you do wrong
Make you come home early, oh
Make you stay out all night long
The power of love
Wait a minute
Let me tell you
Oh, the power
Power of love
Power of love, power
Make you do right, love'll make you do wrong
Ha, yeah
(Love and happiness, love and happiness)
Say love
(Love and happiness, love and happiness)
Make you want to dance
Love and happiness
Love is, wait a minute, love is
Yeah, walkin' together, yeah, talkin' together
Say it again, say it together, yeah
Say wanna moans
Moan for love, say, hmm
Moan for love, hmm
Moan for love
Talkin' 'bout the power, wait a minuite
The song "Love and Happiness" by Al Green is a classic soul tune that delves deep into the nature of love and relationships. The opening lines of the song suggest that love and happiness are two interconnected concepts that can have a powerful effect on people. Love is something that Green sees as an essential component of true happiness. However, as the song progresses, he notes that there is something "going wrong." The person on the phone in the early hours of the morning is a clear indication that not all is well in the relationship. Yet, despite this, Green still sees love and happiness as the ultimate goal, something that can help a couple to "be good" to each other and "walk away with victory."
The second half of the song focuses on the power of love. Green describes the many ways in which love can affect a person's behavior, making them do things that are either right or wrong. Love has the power to make people feel joyous and free, but it can also lead them down darker paths. Despite this, there is no denying the overwhelming force that love can have. Green proclaims that "the power of love" is something that can make people "want to dance." In other words, it can have a transformative effect on their lives.
Overall, "Love and Happiness" is a song that speaks to the essence of what it means to be in a relationship. It acknowledges the challenges and struggles that couples face, but it also highlights the joy and fulfillment that can be found through love and happiness.
Line by Line Meaning
Love and happiness, yeah
The feeling of love and happiness that we all want
Something that can make you do wrong, make you do right
Love is a powerful force that can have both positive and negative effects on our actions
But wait a minute, something's going wrong
Despite the feeling of love and happiness, something isn't quite right
Someone's on the phone, three o'clock in the morning, talkin' about how she can make it right, yeah
A person is calling at an inconvenient time to try to fix something with love and happiness
Well, happiness is when you really feel good with somebody, but nothing wrong with being in love with someone, yeah
Happiness comes from feeling good with someone, and there's nothing wrong with also being in love with them
Oh, baby, love and happiness, love and happiness, love and happiness (love and happiness) oh
Emphasizing the importance of love and happiness
I have to say
Introducing a personal point of view
You be good to me, I'll be good to you, we'll be together, yeah
A partnership in which both parties treat each other well and stay together
We'll see each other, walk away with victory, yeah oh baby
Walking away from the partnership with a feeling of victory and success
Hey, hey, hey, hey
An exclamation of excitement or enthusiasm
Make you do right, love'll make you do wrong
Love is a powerful motivator that can lead us to do either the right or wrong thing
Make you come home early, make you stay out all night long, the power of love
The power of love can make us behave in ways we wouldn't have expected
Wait a minute, let me tell you, oh the power, power of love, power
Emphasizing the immense power that love holds over us
Ha yeah, (love and happiness, love and happiness), say love, (love and happiness, love and happiness)
Repeating the importance of love and happiness
Make you want to dance, love and happiness
The joy of love and happiness can inspire people to dance
Love is, wait a minute, love is, yeah, walkin' together, yeah, talkin' together
Describing one aspect of what love is - spending time walking and talking together
Say it again, say it together, yeah, say wanna moans, moan for love, say, hmm, moan for love, hmm, moan for love, talkin' 'bout the power
Lyrical wordplay painting love and happiness as something that makes us want to sing and moan in pleasure and enjoyment of life
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Al Green, Mabon Lewis Hodges
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind