Al Green//Tired of Being Alone

I'm back, again, from California. I arrived yesterday on the red eye and was met immediately with cold grey sleet. Welcome home. No coincidence that my friend who works at the neighborhood coffee shop asked me, "are you gonna make it?" when I went in to order my afternoon cuppa.

I thought I'd let America's own soul reverend express this feeling for me, as only he can.

I've had many a sweet memory to which "The Rev." has provided the soundtrack--washing dishes at the co.op where many friends lived in Ann Arbor, slow dances at late night dance parties, silly evenings at home with my family, roadtrips, the list goes on...

Green got his start as part of the Arkansas/Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Gospel quartet, The Green Brothers. In a sort of bizzare twist, his own father kicked him out of the group when he was caught listening to Jackie Wilson. From there, he formed a group called Al Green & the Creations, which eventually lead him to R+B/Soul stardom. That said, his early Gospel roots never disappeared, and after a strange domestic violence incident in the mid-70s, he returned to the church and became ordained. He has gone back and forth a few times regarding his musical style, sometimes singing Gospel, other times R+B/Soul. Regardless, it's good.

This song, released in 1971, came in at #293 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. I do tend to believe that Rolling Stone is generally irrelevant to what's going on in the music world at this time, but, I do have to acknowledge that this list is pretty awesome. Although I wasn't aware of it when I started OSS, I agree with a number of their selections which have been independently featured here.



I'm So Tired of Being Alone.mp3

I'm so tired of being alone.
I'm so tired of on-my-own.
Won't you help me, girl,
Just as soon as you can?