About The Song
“Love and Happiness” is a song by Al Green from his album I’m Still in Love with You. Green co-wrote the song with Teenie Hodges. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on London Records in 1973 and in the United States on Hi Records in 1977. It has been covered by Etta James, Al Jarreau, and many other performers.
The song was ranked #98 in Rolling Stones’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #861 in Dave Marsh’s The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Soul Train historian Stephen McMillian called it “quintessential Al Green” and “one of the greatest soul songs of all time.”
Green wrote “Love and Happiness” with Teenie Hodges, with whom he also collaborated in writing “Take Me to the River”, “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, “Full of Fire”, and other songs. It was produced by Willie Mitchell in the 1972 recording session for the album I’m Still in Love with You. Of the recording process, Green said:
I wouldn’t say it was a return to the old style soul of my early days, but I definitely pulled it from the same source of raw and gritty need. The result was like a slow fever, building on the beat, pushing up the temperature with each breath of the staccato horns and pushing through to delirium as we came up on the fade.
In his 2000 autobiography Take Me to the River, Green said of the song:
“Love and Happiness” was like mixing explosive chemicals — everything had to be added at just the right time and at just the right dose. The tempo was the most important thing to Willie, and, if you listen close, you can hear Teenie counting off with his foot on a cardboard box for the take that nailed it.
On April 27, 1973, London Records released “Love and Happiness” as a UK single, backed with “So You’re Leaving” (catalog number 10419). Hi Records, however, did not release the song as a single at the time that the album I’m Still in Love with You was on the charts, instead releasing the title track, “Look What You Done for Me”, and “For the Good Times”. The song nonetheless gained popularity in the U.S. from radio airplay, and his performance of the song on Soul Train on March 3, 1973.
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Lyrics
Love and happiness, yeah
Something that can make you do wrong
Make you do right
Yeah, hmm
Love
Love and happiness
(But wait a minute)
Something’s going wrong
Someone’s on the phone
Three o’clock in the morning, yeah
Talking ’bout, how she can make it right, yeah
Well, happiness is when
You really feel good about somebody
There’s nothing wrong
Being in love with someone
Yeah (babe)
Oh, baby
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Yeah
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Oh-oh
Have to say
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Yeah
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
You be good to me
And I’ll be good to you
We’ll be together, yeah
We’ll see each other
Walk away with victory, yeah-yeah
Oh, baby
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Oh
Love and happiness (love and happiness)
Oh!
Hey, hey, hey
Make you do right, hey
Love’ll make you do wrong, hey
Make you come home early, am
Make you stay out all night long
The power of love
Wait a minute
Let me tell you about the power
The power of love
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The power, of love
Power
Make you do right, yeah
Love’ll make you do wrong, huh, yeah
Lady (love and happiness)
Hey, lady (love and happiness)
See the love
(Love and happiness) make you wanna dance and sing
(Love and happiness)
Make you wanna dance
Love and happiness, heh-heh
But love is
Wait a minute
Love is, heh-heh
Walkin’ together, heh-heh
Talkin’ together
Singin’ together
Prayin’ together
Say, I wanna moan, say
Moan for love, I say
Let me moan for love, I say
Wanna moan for love
Talkin’ about the power