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 Gonna 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

The lyrics of Al Green's song What Am I Gonna Do With Myself describe the emptiness and heartbreak the singer feels after his lover has left him. He begins by acknowledging that although his lover is gone, love still remains, but this only serves to highlight how painful and unbearable his loneliness has become. He is unable to find happiness and is struggling to cope with the void left by his lover's absence. He questions what he is going to do with himself now that his lover is gone and desperately seeks an answer.

As the song progresses, it becomes clear that nothing can substitute his lover's presence and that he has tried and failed to move on. He spends his nights in agony, tossing and turning in bed, crying until his eyes are red. He acknowledges that something is missing without his lover, and he cannot find anyone else to love.

The lyrics of this song convey a deep sense of loss and heartache, capturing the feeling of being unable to move on from a love that has ended. The repetition of the phrase "what am I gonna do with myself" emphasizes the singer's desperation and his search for a solution to his pain.

Line by Line Meaning

Your gone but love love is still here baby
Although you are not physically present, the love that we shared is still here with me, baby.

Your making each day seem like a year
The mere thought of you is making each day feel like an eternity, without your presence here beside me.

Baby baby loneliness has got me uptight
Oh, baby, the feeling of loneliness is overwhelming me and keeping me on edge.

There ain't a sign of happiness in sight
I cannot foresee any possibility of happiness in my future without you.

Now now now what am I gonna do with myself
At this moment, I am at a loss on what to do with myself, without your presence and love.

I wanna know wanna know wanna know right now
I desperately want to know what to do right now to alleviate the sorrow and emptiness I feel.

I cant I tried it and I cant love nobody else
I have made attempts at loving someone else, but I cannot deny that my heart still yearns for you, baby.

Now baby baby baby yeah yeah
My love for you is so strong that it leaves me speechless and without words to express myself.

Each night I toss oh baby turn in my bed
Every night, I am restless, tossing and turning in my bed, unable to find solace without you.

I cry cry cry so much baby till my eyes are all red
The pain of your absence is so great that I cry until my eyes redden, baby.

Without you something existed you got everything my heart is missing
With you gone, life feels like something is missing, and my heart is yearning for everything that you brought to my life.

Tell me baby
Please share with me, baby, your thoughts on how I can move on from this painful absence.

What lord lord am I gonna do with myself
I am in such an emotional turmoil that I do not know how to pick myself up and move on, Lord.

I wanna know wanna know wanna know right now
The torment of not knowing what to do is eating me up, and I want an answer right now.

I cant baby cant love nobody else
Despite my efforts, I am unable to move on and love someone else because my heart is still set on you, baby.

Cause I tried and tried baby
I had sincerely attempted moving on, baby, but my heart cannot seem to let you go.

No no
I cannot bring myself to ignore and forget the love we shared, and the joy you brought into my life.

Baby calling
I hear your voice calling out to me, and my heart aches to have you back, baby.

Baby everything my heart desires
All that I desire to fill the void in my heart is you, baby.

But now what somebody somebody help me baby baby baby
I am desperate and in need of someone to help me overcome this emotional turmoil, baby. Help me, please!

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MARSHALL JONES, WILLIE MITCHELL

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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