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.

What Am I Going to do With Myself
Al Green Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Your gone but love love is still here baby
Your making each day seem like a year
Baby baby loneliness has got me uptight
There ain't a sign of happiness in sight
Now now now what am I gonna do with myself
I wanna know wanna know wanna know right now
I cant I tried it and I cant love nobody else
Now baby baby baby yeah yeah

Each night I toss oh baby turn in my bed
I cry cry cry so much baby till my eyes are all red
Without you something existed you got everything my heart is missing
Tell me baby

What lord lord am I gonna do with myself
I wanna know wanna know wanna know right now
I cant baby cant love nobody else
Cause I tried and tried baby
No no

Baby calling

Baby everything my heart desires
But now what somebody somebody help me baby baby baby

Overall Meaning

In Al Green’s song What Am I Going to do With Myself, the singer is struggling with the reality of a broken relationship. The beginning lyrics acknowledge that although the person is gone, the love remains. However, the days drag on and feel like years, and the loneliness has started to take a toll. The singer is searching for any sign of happiness, but nothing seems to bring joy or relief from the overwhelming heartache. The refrain of “what am I gonna do with myself” serves as a cry for help and an admission of feeling lost.

The second verse expands on the depth of the pain the singer is feeling. Every night is a struggle, tossing and turning in bed and crying until his eyes are red. The person who has left has taken everything that the singer’s heart desires, and he is left with a gaping hole that he doesn’t know how to fill. The repetition of “I can’t” reinforces the hopelessness the singer feels in trying to move on and find love or happiness with anyone else.

Overall, Green’s song captures the raw emotion of heartbreak and the inability to escape it. The lyrics convey a sense of desperation and a longing for something that is seemingly unattainable, which many listeners can relate to.

Line by Line Meaning

Your gone but love love is still here baby
Though you are not with me, the feelings I have for you still persist, baby

Your making each day seem like a year
Each day without you feels like an eternity, baby

Baby baby loneliness has got me uptight
The feeling of being alone and missing you has made me anxious, baby

There ain't a sign of happiness in sight
The absence of you has left me in complete despair with no sign of happiness in my life

Now now now what am I gonna do with myself
I am in a state of confusion and uncertainty, wondering what I can do with my life now that you are gone

I wanna know wanna know wanna know right now
I am desperate for an answer and need to know right now

I cant I tried it and I cant love nobody else
I have tried to move on and love someone else, but I simply can't because my heart still belongs to you

Now baby baby baby yeah yeah
I am still so in love with you, baby, yeah, yeah

Each night I toss oh baby turn in my bed
I am unable to sleep and I toss and turn in my bed thinking about you, baby

I cry cry cry so much baby till my eyes are all red
I cry uncontrollably, baby, to the point where my eyes turn red

Without you something existed you got everything my heart is missing
Without you, there is something missing in my life that only you can provide, baby

What lord lord am I gonna do with myself
I am hopeless and seeking divine intervention to help me figure out what to do with my life

I cant baby cant love nobody else
I am unable to love anyone else but you, baby

Cause I tried and tried baby No no
I have made several attempts to move on, but it always fails, baby, no, no

Baby calling
I am calling out to you, baby

Baby everything my heart desires
You are everything my heart desires, baby

But now what somebody somebody help me baby baby baby
I am lost and in need of help to overcome this pain and loneliness, somebody help me, baby, baby, baby

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MARSHALL JONES, WILLIE MITCHELL

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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