About The Song
Al Green might not be the greatest singer in the world, but I’d certainly say he’s in the top one. The Reverend’s luscious tones are like aural caramel, and before tragedy threw his career course off track in the late 1970s, he was one of the most celebrated artists of the era.
One of the tracks that launched him to this lofty status was the velveteen 1971 hit ‘Let’s Stay Together‘. From the first oozing horns, the song coaxes up a grooving sensuality that has never really been rivalled. And yet, somehow, this masterpiece that easily sits among the greatest songs ever written, was cooked up by Green in five minutes flat.
His trusted producer, Willie Mitchell, had been working on a smooth arrangement with the drummer Al Jackson during some downtime in the studio. When the eventual demo was handed to Green he didn’t think much of it. He rattled off the lyrics in not much longer than the actual runtime of the music itself, and then he thought his work was done.
Mitchell recalls that Green simply batted the song away. For two whole days, he had to convince the singer that he had just placed the missing topline melody on a soul arrangement that was bound to be a hit. They even fought over this – imagine such a thing! Eventually, Green decided that he would cut a recording of the track.
It was Friday night, and with the buzz of the weekend in the air, he acquiesced. The resultant anthem does, indeed, capture that catharsis first-hand, imbuing the song with a sensation of swing. And this free flow of goodwill continued onto Monday when Mitchell polished up Friday’s work, which apparently didn’t need much Pledge because it was ready to be pressed that same morning.
Then by the time Thursday came around, it was already entering the charts at number eight. Just a week beforehand, Green had been refusing to put his name to his very own masterpiece. And just a fortnight down the line, the serene sweetness was claiming Green his one and only top spot hit. It remains baffling how such beauty was met with such reluctance, and perhaps even more bewildering is how such majesty came together so effortlessly.
In fact, it even proved an easy blessing for Tina Turner after her 1983 cover welcomed her back into the charts in the UK and US for the first time in over a decade. Her rather more robust take on the classic served to revitalise her career, and once again line the coffers of Green for his five minutes worth of work one idle weekday in 1971.
Video
Lyrics
Let’s stay together
I, I’m I’m so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
Is all right with me
‘Cause you make me feel so brand new
And I want to spend my life with you
Let me say that since, baby, since we’ve been together
Ooh, loving you forever
Is what I need
Let me, be the one you come running to
I’ll never be untrue
Oh baby
Let’s, let’s stay together (‘gether)
Lovin’ you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad
Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad
Why, somebody, why people break up?
Oh, then turn around and make up
I just can’t see
You’d never do that to me (would you, baby?)
Just being around you is all I see
Here’s what I want us do
Let’s, we oughta stay together (‘gether)
Loving you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad
Come on
Let’s, woo (let’s stay together) let’s stay together
Loving you whether, whether times are good or bad