Rev. Al Green, at home in Memphis, was not quite ready for his telephone interview. Apologetically, Rev. Green’s New York publicist explained that there would be a delay of approximately one hour, adding: “But it’ll be worth it!” At the appointed hour, the publicist begged for another hour and then, thirty minutes more. The afternoon was merging into evening. The voice that finally came on the line, barely audible, sounded like a very tired version of the voice that once recorded “Tired Of Being Alone,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “Love and Happiness,” “Call Me” and “Let’s Get Married.” Rev. Al Green had just got out of bed.
Within minutes, the slightly sleepy Rev. Green was transformed into AL GREEN!, the most dynamic, joyous, sexiest singer in souldom, born again in 1974 after his girlfriend Mary Woodson poured boiling grits on him while he was in the bathtub, subsequently shooting herself to death. Rev. Green believed it was a sign from God. Recording gospel music would be his new calling and the Hi Records hits would be relegated to abbreviated versions performed in recital.
In 1976, Rev. Green was ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, where he still preaches every Sunday and leads Wednesday evening Bible study classes. In 1979, after falling from the stage at a Cincinnati concert. Rev. Green interpreted the accident as yet another heavenly portent and retired from performing secular music.
Last year, Rev. Al Green, who turned 58 in April, was reunited with 75-year-old Willie Mitchell, his original Hi Records producer/arranger and the genius behind Green’s ’70s hits, at Royal Studios in Memphis for the recording sessions that resulted in I Can’t Stop, Green’s heralded return to music dedicated to the more worldly pleasures and featuring the deep soul accompaniment of guitarist “Teenie” Hodges and his bass-playing brother Leroy. In honor of the occasion, Mitchell pulled out “No. 9,” the RCA 77DX ribbon microphone that only Al Green is allowed to use.
In recent concerts, as opposed to the years when he teased his audiences with snippets of his hits, Rev. Green is performing entire songs from his entire career, a situation that should delight his dedicated fans when they witness him at the Saenger Theatre. As always, a coterie of lucky ladies will be handed long stem roses directly from the Minister of Love himself.
The new album’s really brilliant, Al.
We thank you very much. I mean, we’re working on it—we’re working on it.
As my wife says, “It sounds like Al Green!”
Yeah, that’s what my wife says.
How’s Willie Mitchell doing?
Oh, I talked to him last night. He’s doing fantastic! He’s doing a lot better now.
Do you remember the first time you met him? Wasn’t it in Texas?
Yeah. I went out there to do a show and he just happened to be the bandleader. That was it.
He must’ve been impressed by your voice.
I suppose so. I guess so. I really don’t know. He wanted me to come to Memphis to his studio and I was like, “Man, I’m not really interested in being in a studio.” I went anyway.
That was the Royal Studio?
Yeah.
I’ve heard that nothing’s changed there, not even the cobwebs.
Right. He’s still got the same cobwebs.
Does that effect the sound some way?
A spider ain’t no damn fool, you know what I’m saying? [laughs] Some of the strongest material, strangely enough, is the spider web.
I’m fascinated by this No. 9 microphone that Willie only uses for recording you and nobody else. Do you think it’s special?
Well, I don’t know. I guess I’ve been singing on it so long now, I reckon I do. I ain’t had a chance to sing on none of the others.
Do you still preach at your church every Sunday?
Yeah, I preach every Sunday.
What do you tell your congregation about the seemingly hopeless situation in the world today?
I tell them don’t worry about it. It’s gonna go identically like God said it’s gonna go, just like the Bible says it’s gonna go. So don’t worry ’bout that. ’Cause, you see, it ain’t gonna be no different than what God says it’s gonna be.
What’s going to happen?
It’s in the Bible. This is gonna happen—it’s gonna be like that. Crazy in a minute—you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just hang on! Oh yeah! OH YEAH! That seems to be my new word today—I mean, for every day: Oh yeah!
That’s a beautiful 1956 Lincoln Mark II on the cover of your CD.
Some guy let us use that car for the cover. I don’t really know the value ’cause I’m not a collector.
What do you drive?
I have a SUV. Seems like the SUVs done took over the market almost. Everybody needs to be able to go out and do the back country and still be able to ride downtown on Canal Street.
At your shows, do you still give out roses to all the ladies?
All the time, all the time! OH YEAH! All of our shows are sold out two weeks before I come because everybody knows Al Green is gonna do a damned good show ’cause I’m a preacher and I can say that! Everybody wants to see the whole—the real—Al Green, not just one piece and don’t do the other. They want to see everything.
I have young teenagers over here on the left and old granny-looking ladies and their husbands on the right. Amen! I start singing “I’m Still In Love With You” and everybody has a fit! I’m just up there trying to do what I do. I like making music.
You’re going to be appearing in New Orleans with Bobby “Blue” Bland.
They never tell me who’s going to be on the shows. I was on a show with Stephanie Mills the other day.
What singers inspired you when you were a child?
Sam Cooke was my favorite singer. Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding…
Didn’t your dad kick you out of the family gospel group [the Green Brothers] for listening to Jackie Wilson?
That’s true, man—I got kicked out of the house! My dad said, “If you’re gonna listen to that, you gonna need to go find somewhere to stay.” I was listening to “Baby, Work Out!” [sings] “Work baby, work out! Work baby, work out!” And my dad said, “Get out! Get out!” [laughs] For my work out, I got kicked out!
What happened to your brothers? Did they have careers in music?
Nah, they don’t have careers in music. They went and got jobs. Me, I was determined to be what everybody laughed at me and said I wasn’t gonna be. I was in the fifth grade and everybody was talking about what they wanted to be. Some said a fireman, others said a policeman, all these different things. I said, “When I grow up, I want to be singer!” The whole class laughed, man!
So my teacher said, “Well, Al, why don’t you pick something a little bit more down to earth…a little bit more reasonable!” Me, dumb as I was, I started crying in the classroom. That’s all the other kids wanted to see, man. The big stupid rascal up here is crying in the classroom! [mock crying] “I’m gonna be a singer and I wanna be a singer and that’s what I wanna be!” Oh God, those kids were laughing all over the floor—they were just cracking up! It was like sick, man!
I got laughed at then and when I was born again in Los Angeles, California, I got laughed at. I been laughed at all my life! All my life, God has turned the laughter into prosperity and into success. Just let them laugh!
Amen!
I told Willie Mitchell I wanted to go sing gospel songs. He cracked-up: “Man, you’re crazy! You’ve already got pop records.” I said, “Yeah, but we haven’t won no Grammys yet.” I did The Lord Will Make A Way and I won my first Grammy. I’ve been laughed at all my life. Man, I don’t worry about that.
Laughter’s a good thing, Al.
It’s good medicine, ain’t it, man? I can laugh at myself. My dad would tell me, he said, “Hey son—don’t believe all them things people tell you. Just laugh at yourself.”
How do you preserve your voice? It sounds just as good as it did in the ’70s.
No, it don’t—I just woke up. It couldn’t sound like the ’70s. [laughs] I don’t do nothing for it. It’s really a gift. I was born again and I used to sing real pretty. Willie Mitchell had me singing [sings]: “Spending my days” real pretty. I can sing like that now but that’s not the most important thing now—to sing pretty. It’s important for you to sing correctly and to mean what you sing with conviction. To me, that’s important now instead of singing pretty.
Do you take care of your throat in a special way?
No.
Do you have any little rituals you go through before you perform?
No, I’m afraid not. I don’t go and eat five sticks of matches or have to tie shoestrings eight times to have good luck. Or blow up a balloon. [laughs] No, I don’t have any of those things.
I want to come to New Orleans because I’ve been coming to New Orleans all the time. And I’ve been at the Heritage Festival and I’ve been at the Saenger Theatre a number of times. There’s some fine people in New Orleans, there’s some fine people in the South. I’m from the South. I was raised in Michigan but I was actually born in Arkansas. We kinda like to do a little something extra for our people.
I think the South’s the best place in the world.
OH YEAH! We like to do a little extra when we come down to New Orleans ’cause we always feel like we’re at home down there.
I want to ask you about my second-favorite Memphis singer, after you—O.V. Wright.
Oh man, I just met O.V. Wright’s wife at the store the other day. [laughs] She said, “I’m Mrs. O.V. Wright.” I’m going like, “WHO?!” She said, “Mrs. O.V. Wright! You used to be my next door neighbor.”
O.V. was an incredible singer, man. Like that song, “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry.” That’s a bomb! He was a fantastic singer!
Are there any songs you’ve always wanted to record?
A lot of different songs. There’s a few that I haven’t recorded but they’ve been sung so well I don’t feel that I need to. “Try A Little Tenderness”—I liked that by Otis Redding and I liked it by Sam Cooke, too. Being raised up in Michigan, I like that “American Pie,” Jefferson Airplane, Bruce Springsteen—they play a lot of that up there. Then I come down to the South and I like B.B. [King] and Otis Redding and Stax and all those people—the Staple Singers. I’ve got a multi-facted type of feel for music. When I was living in Michigan, I was the biggest Elvis Presley fan I could find. I was 14-years-old. I had no idea I was ever gonna move to Memphis.
It’s been a fun—and still is—a really fun ride. We don’t have any complaints. It’s been beautiful and still is beautiful. The Big Man upstairs keeps on doing great things.
Can you tell me your favorite Bible verse?
I think I would like the 23rd Psalm for myself.
What does Al Green sing in the shower?
[sings, in an extremely rough voice] “Rescue me, I want you in my arms…Rescue me, I want your tender charms… ’Cause I’m lonely and I’m blue…I love you and your love, too…Come on and rescue me!”
Or “Sitting out in the morning rain…BA-DUM! I used to feel so uninspired…Du du du BA-DUM!” I do all the sounds and everything. “You make me feel…BA-DA-DA-DA!” All kinds of silly stuff like that, man. I don’t know what I be doing. I’m in there by myself and I figure I can do the “BA-DA!” and everything else.
What’s your favorite food?
I like simple stuff like fish or chicken. We don’t have a special cook or anything flying around with us—nothing like that. Too many people in our group to have all that. We have 20 people along with us. We can’t afford to have a lot of the things that the big ol’ stars have. We have what we have and that’s to try to keep your mind straight and clear, and not all goofed up on a lot of these drugs and things. We never did get into that bag. We try to do what’s right and what’s good. My daddy told me, he said, “Well, if you do that, that’ll come back to you.”
I don’t have a big ol’ mansion—a 15-million-dollar mansion on the hill or other horizon [laughs]. I live in a little simple house, man. It ain’t nothing to break your neck on, you know what I’m saying? I don’t put a lot of value into material things.
Lots of people still come to your church every Sunday?
Shoot, there were people there last night, man, for Bible class even! I was like, “Okay, where you from?” They said, “New Jersey! Look, Al, I know this is not Sunday but we just wanted to come in and just sit back here quietly and listen to you teach this.”
This is awesome. It’s not what I’m doing, I haven’t done anything. God has done everything! We have people coming over to our church from Germany, Tokyo, Finland! Our little church don’t hold but 500 people. People come over here–they can’t even speak English, man. People say they just want to be in services with me, to see how different that is from a show. That’s good, too. I know a lot of folks come for different reasons. I appreciate all of it—I really do.
Thanks for talking to me today. You’ve been an idol of mine for a long time.
Well, let God be the idol and let us—you and I—make some good music that’ll inspire people to fall in love, get married, have children and stay in love and hang in there and don’t give up and love one another. That’s what our music is about.
And you have certainly inspired a lot of people to love another.
Thank you, Bunny! Bye-bye!
