Welcome to our collection of quotes by Al Green. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including "Take Me to the River", "Tired of Being Alone", "I'm Still in Love with You", "Love and Happiness", and his signature song, "Let's Stay Together". After an incident in which his girlfriend died by suicide, Green became an ordained pastor and turned to gospel music. He later returned to secular music.
Green was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. He was referred to on the museum's site as being "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music". He has also been referred to as "The Last of the Great Soul Singers". Green is the winner of 11 Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received the BMI Icon award and is a Kennedy Center Honors recipient. He was included in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, ranking at No. 65, as well as its list of the 100 Greatest Singers, at No. 14.
I said, 'I'm a rock star. I can't preach in nobody's church. Are you crazy?' Let alone buy one. Oh, I wound up buying one.
My dad didn't believe that I was going to make it through school, and that was the only thing I was determined to do, because he said that I wasn't going to do it.
Free music, to me, is music without boundaries. It's music that... says you don't have to play a blues in three chord change. See what I'm saying? Music that can go from any range.
I started recording in '67. In the first part of '68, my first single was 'Backup Train.' That was success to a degree. Four years have passed by since then, and I have managed to come up with a few measly sellers.
'Al Green Explores Your Mind' is really kind of a very personal record for me.
God told me, 'I gave you the music, Al. Sing the music I gave you -- all the music.' So I did.
They used to talk about it in shop class, say, 'That kid right there can sing,' and I was going, like, 'I wonder who they're talking about?'
There's more to hip-hop than just trying to make everything rhyme, and you find out in life that everything don't rhyme. The music they're cutting is musically fantastic.
GM is operating in an intensely competitive global environment and reaching this tentative agreement allows us to continue to build momentum in the market with the award-winning vehicles and components produced in Canada.
Trials can be hard, if you don't know God.
I feel like the 'Greatest Hits' is a homegrown remedy for love.
I was knocking on people's doors. I knocked on a white couple's door, and I told them, I says, 'Excuse me, but I've been born again.' The guy said, 'Hon, call security. There's a little black guy here talking about how he been born again. Call the police.'
When I was ordained as a pastor, I walked away from secular music for seven, eight years. It took me that time to learn that God is love.
My brothers and I had a gospel quartet, and that was the only music people listened to. But I was already gravitating towards songs by Sam Cooke, and then one day I put on a Jackie Wilson record, and baby, I was thrown right out of the house.
There's a tendency to make more money at concerts. That's from a financial standpoint. Night clubs have a better feel, better contact between the artist and the audience.
Before I knew it, I was singing, 'I'm so tired of being alone,' and that's Al right there. From then, my attitude was, 'Let Otis be Otis and James be James. I'm not going to emulate them anymore.'
I did a whole concert in Atlanta with my fly open, and I had a black suit on and a white shirt. My white shirt was protruding from the fly.
No child wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed.
Pakistan's being an ally and helping the United States, we ought to show Pakistan that we are appreciative for the help that's been extended.
I learned more stuff in church than I did in the world.
People still come up to me and ask me to sign their records. That's right, records! Man, they don't even make records no more!
If I could live my life all over I'd do everything the same; the film in my camera would remain the same; there's no way lord, to leave this love behind.
Suicide is not an answer, it's destruction.
Some people believe that fairness comes with obeying the rules. I'm one of those people.
I'm thankful for every moment.
The music is the message, the message is the music. So that's my little ministry that the Big Man upstairs gave to me -- a little ministry called love and happiness.
I didn't have a mother; I had a mama. I measure other women by the stature of my mama.
I have found people on both sides of the aisle, white and black, that'll give you the shirt off their back. And I've also found people that won't give you a piece of bread if you're starving to death.
Teach success before teaching responsibility. Teach them to believe in themselves. Teach them to think, 'I'm not stupid'. No child wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed.