Over it, Green jabs and spars with a strange, pugilistic lyric in a way thatвЂ™s closer to funk, yet more experimental than he tended to get. At first, thereвЂ™s not much to separate IвЂ™m a Ram from more stereotypical Green hits, but a rhythm guitar riff that anticipates the clavinet sound in Stevie WonderвЂ™s Superstition and a particularly taut drum and bass performance that anchors the horn-seasoned soundbed gives the song a punchier, funkier feel than normal. The key conflict that dominated his life and his art was between the sacred and the secular, but itвЂ™s fascinating to ponder what kind of an musician he might have become had his more esoteric sides caught on with record buyers. The singer wasnвЂ™t averse to the odd moment of apparent musical madness. Little wonder, then, if song and performance share some of the qualities of a dream.ДЇor all the understatement, poise and patience of the classic Green-Mitchell sound, there was another side to Green that occasionally broke the surface. Dawn was breaking as he finished the song, at which point he returned to his motel bed and fell straight back to sleep. The lyric for Tired of Being Alone had come to Green after he was awoken by music in his head during a stopover on his way back to Memphis after a gig in Detroit. Over the years, as the formula became more successful, others tried to copy it, replicating MitchellвЂ™s equipment setup and instrumentation, but there was an indefinable magic that proved impossible for anyone else to channel.

Mitchell had set up a studio in a former cinema, and believed the sloping floor gave an expansive quality to the frequencies he had also assembled a great studio band. An audacious cover of the TemptationsвЂ™ I CanвЂ™t Get Next to You gave Green a minor hit, but it was Tired of Being Alone that defined his signature sound. But by their second LP, the partnership was slipping into gear. The pair were finding their feet on their first album together, Green covering George GershwinвЂ™s Summertime and offering a straight, surprisingly inessential cover of the BeatlesвЂ™ Get Back. Mitchell and Green, now shorn of the e, took their time building a sound and style for the singer after he relocated to Memphis and signed toHi Records. Within three years, the pair would write a new chapter in the history of popular music. Months later, Greene turned up at MitchellвЂ™s Memphis home, arriving during renovations Mitchell initially mistook Greene for a decorator. Before he left Tennessee, Greene managed to persuade Mitchell to loan him a significant amount of cash (the singer remembers it as $2,000, although Mitchell told the writer Peter Guralnick it was $1,500) and they made loose plans to meet again. Mitchell and his band were won over after the gig, they agreed to give Greene a lift north, as far as their home base in Memphis. When it was GreeneвЂ™s turn to soundcheck,he performed his signature song in an unprecedentedly quiet, low-key manner. Eager to get a break, Greene introduced himself to Mitchell and tried to let the older man know he was looking for help and advice, without losing face by actually saying as much. On arrival, he discovered he was playing support to singer-songwriter Willie Mitchell and would be backed by MitchellвЂ™s band. Late in 1968, the demoralised singer вЂ“ now touring solo, his Soul Mates all pursuing day jobs back in Michigan вЂ“ performed a gig in a bar in a tiny Texas town.

The truly life-changing performance, however, came the following year and was only witnessed by a handful of people. The record became a local and then a national hit, and the band were invited to the Harlem Apollo, where an ecstatic crowd called them back to perform nine encores of the song. They were billed as Al Greene and the Soul Mates, and released this self-penned single on their own label. By 1967, the band was aware of their lead singerвЂ™s promise and star power. Greene stayed with friends, with whom he formed a band, initially called the Creations. Young AlbertвЂ™s new life in Grand Rapids, Michigan, revolved around church and music, but when his dad caught him playing a Jackie Wilson record at home, he threw his son out of the house. They piled the kids and their few belongings into a truck and hit the road under cover of darkness. One night, after being paid $800 for an entire yearвЂ™s work, his parents decided to move the family north. Greene вЂ“ who dropped the e after he released his debut album вЂ“ grew up dirt poor, one of 10 children born to a sharecropper family in Arkansas.

He didnвЂ™t think much of it at the time and quickly came to loathe having to perform it, but Al GreenвЂ™s first hit was arguably the most important record he ever made.

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