Reverend Albert Green (born April 13 1946 in Forrest City, Arkansas) is an … Read Full Bio ↴Reverend Albert Green (born April 13 1946 in Forrest City, Arkansas) is an American Grammy award winning soul and gospel singer who enjoyed great popularity in the 70s with hit singles such as "Let's Stay Together", Tired of Being Alone", and "You Oughta Be With Me". Green has boasted a voice capable of both fluid high streams of sugar and deep south growls and rasps. He has sold over 20 million records worldwide, and he was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, being referred to as "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music."

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.

Old Time Lovin'
Al Green Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Give me that old time
Old time lovin'
Give me that old time
Old time lovin', yeah, yeah

It was good they know
Mother and father, yeah
If that makes the no

It's alright for me

What I need is that old time, yeah
Old time feeling
Better have in me rocking an reeling
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Music will make you move your feet
Haven't you seen, yeah
I've been trying to love you, baby
And I my arms get it free, yeah

But what I need is that old time
Yeah, oh yeah
I don't I want you to turn your back on your friends
But I really need that old time, yeah

I know there are times
When I might neglect you, baby
I want you to come on home
I want you to come on, yeah

And the only thing I want you to do
Is give me that old, that song that will mean
Sometimes your love makes me
Give up the right from the wrong, yeah

I just keep on marching on my way, yeah

Overall Meaning

In Al Green's Old Time Lovin' the singer and lyricist talks of a return to more traditional ways of loving. The song's message is that modern love, despite its conveniences and advancements, leaves something to be desired. Green invokes memories of the good-old-days, speaking of "Mother and father" and "that old time feeling." He wants his love to be "rocking an reeling" and for his partner to give him "that old, that song that will mean." Essentially, he wants the passion and fire of past love stories, the ones we often hear in music and books, which stand the test of time. Green also acknowledges that modern life is not perfect, and that he may neglect his partner at times. However, he asserts that with that old-time love he can make it right, as "sometimes your love makes me give up the right from the wrong." The song ends on a note of perseverance, with Green promising to keep "marching on" despite any obstacles.

Line by Line Meaning

Give me that old time
Al Green wants his lover to give him the kind of love that happened in the past

Old time lovin'
He wants to feel the love that people felt long ago

Give me that old time
Al Green repeats the first line to emphasize his desire for a certain type of love

Old time lovin', yeah, yeah
He emphasizes again how much he wants the kind of love he's referring to

It was good they know
Al Green thinks that his parents' generation had the right idea about love

Mother and father, yeah
He specifically refers to his parents as an example of an older generation that knew how to love

If that makes the no
Al Green acknowledges that some people might disagree with his opinions

It's alright for me
But he doesn't care as long as he gets what he wants

What I need is that old time, yeah
He restates his desire for the type of love he's referring to

Old time feeling
He wants to experience the same emotions that people felt in the past

Better have in me rocking an reeling
He wants this new love to make him feel like he's dancing or swaying

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Al Green is still highly enthusiastic about the idea of finding an old love

Music will make you move your feet
Al Green thinks that music is the key to getting people to feel emotions and move their bodies

Haven't you seen, yeah
He thinks that anyone familiar with love knows this to be true

I've been trying to love you, baby
He's been trying to love his current partner in this way

And I my arms get it free, yeah
He's willing to hold his partner close and dance with them to get that old time feeling

But what I need is that old time
However, this isn't enough for him - he still wants that old love

Yeah, oh yeah
Al Green is still highly enthusiastic about the possibility of finding an old love

I don't I want you to turn your back on your friends
He doesn't want his partner to abandon their friends for him

But I really need that old time, yeah
He's emphasizing that he still really wants this kind of love

I know there are times
He recognizes that he isn't always the most attentive partner

When I might neglect you, baby
He admits that he can be neglectful of his partner's needs

I want you to come on home
Despite this, he still wants his partner to return home to him

I want you to come on, yeah
He's still highly enthusiastic about the idea of his partner coming back to him

And the only thing I want you to do
He doesn't want his partner to do anything else except give him an old love

Is give me that old, that song that will mean
He wants this love to be like a song that has meaning and depth

Sometimes your love makes me
Occasionally, his current partner's love fills him with the same feeling as the old love he craves

Give up the right from the wrong, yeah
His current partner's love has the power to make him realize that his priorities or actions were wrong in the past

I just keep on marching on my way, yeah
Al Green is determined to continue searching for this old love no matter what

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AL GREEN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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