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.
You Don't Know Me
Al Green Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You don't understand
You don't know me
Just what kind of man
If you love me
Just take my hand
I will help you to understand
Carry the same old name
But a change has come
To make me someone new
I may look the part
But it wasn't from my heart
Quit livin' that lie
When I met Jesus face to face
You don't know me
You don't understand
You don't know me
Just what kind of man
If you love me
Just take my hand
I will help you to understand
I may wear the same old clothes
Lookin' like I haven't been told
I can see Jesus Christ
Right through this veil of tears
You don't know my heart
I'm talkin' about the sacred part
It gets a little better
And better and better
All through the years
You don't know me
You don't understand
You don't know me
Just what kind of man
If you love me
Just take my hand
I will help you to understand
This thing started a long time ago
I'm talkin' back in the Bible days
People thinking they know you
And living a live
And dealing in contrary ways
Don't let it stop your stuff
You gotta be tough
These things will soon come to pass
Keep your head in the sky
You can get by
And come out the victor at last
You don't know me
You don't understand
You don't know me
Just what kind of man
If you love me
Just take my hand
I will help you to understand
Al Green's song You Don't Know Me is a classic with a message that is both deeply personal and universally relevant. The lyrics speak to the idea that it's hard for people to truly know and understand each other. The chorus, “You don't know me, you don't understand,” repeats throughout the song and is a direct challenge to those who might think they know the singer.
Green suggests that a change has come over him - "To make me someone new" - and that this change came from meeting Jesus face to face. He expresses a desire for others to understand his faith and journey, singing "If you love me, just take my hand, I will help you to understand." Green also touches on the idea that appearance can be deceiving: “I may look the same, Carry the same old name, But a change has come…” The song concludes with a message of perseverance and determination: “Don't let it stop your stuff, You gotta be tough, These things will soon come to pass.”
Overall, the song seems to be about the difficulty of truly knowing oneself or others. It highlights the possibility for spiritual transformation and the importance of sharing one's journey with others.
Line by Line Meaning
You don't know me
You are not familiar with who I really am
You don't understand
You do not comprehend my situation or my personality
You don't know me
You are not familiar with who I really am
Just what kind of man
What type of person I am
If you love me
If you care about me and my wellbeing
Just take my hand
Let me show you the way
I will help you to understand
I will guide you towards comprehending my true self
I may look the same
I may appear unchanged
Carry the same old name
Retain the same title or identity
But a change has come
But a transformation has occurred
To make me someone new
To alter me into a different person
I may look the part
I may seem to fit into the mold
But it wasn't from my heart
But it was not a genuine representation of myself
Quit livin' that lie
Stop perpetuating the falsehood
When I met Jesus face to face
When I had a spiritual encounter with Jesus
I may wear the same old clothes
I may have the same attire
Lookin' like I haven't been told
Appearing ignorant or uneducated
I can see Jesus Christ
I have a clear vision of Jesus
Right through this veil of tears
Despite my emotional pain and sorrow
You don't know my heart
You are unaware of the depths of my soul
I'm talkin' about the sacred part
I am referring to my holiest self
It gets a little better
It improves gradually
And better and better
Continues to improve increasingly
All through the years
Over the passage of time
This thing started a long time ago
This sequence of events started a while back
I'm talkin' back in the Bible days
I am referring to events that happened during biblical times
People thinking they know you
Individuals believing they have you figured out
And living a live
Living a certain way
And dealing in contrary ways
Behaving in a manner opposite to expectations
Don't let it stop your stuff
Do not let it hinder your progress
You gotta be tough
You must be strong
These things will soon come to pass
These occurrences will shortly fade away
Keep your head in the sky
Maintain a positive outlook
You can get by
You can manage to navigate the situation
And come out the victor at last
And ultimately emerge victorious
Contributed by Ava Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.