“Take Me to the River” is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges. Al Green originally recorded the song for his 1974 album, Al Green Explores Your Mind. Writing in The Independent in 1994, Tim de Lisle wrote: “Musically, it was much like any other track sung by Green and produced by Willie Mitchell, the Southern-soul maestro who ran Hi Records, the Memphis Horns and the Memphis Strings: R’n’B with lashings of subtlety, a light, easy, late-night sound, in which the strings, the horns, the organ, the guitars and that wild-honey voice blend into a single swinging, winning thing. It doesn’t sound like a band playing: it sounds like a lot of instruments humming.” In 2004, Al Green’s original version was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The record company, Hi Records, did not release Green’s track as a single, but instead passed the song to his labelmate, Syl Johnson. Johnson’s recording of the song, also produced by Willie Mitchell and featuring most of the same musicians as on Green’s version, but with additional harmonica and a grittier vocal performance, reached No. 48 on the US Billboard in 1975, and No. 7 on the U.S. R&B chart, but reached just No. 95 in Canada.
The band Talking Heads recorded the song for their second album More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978). Their version, recorded with co-producer Brian Eno in Nassau, Bahamas, was edited and released as a single, and reached No. 26 on the US Billboard in February 1979, as well as hitting the singles charts in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Thomas Ryan wrote of Talking Heads’ version that it “broadsided the status quo by combining the best ingredients of conventional pop music and classic soul music, stirring them together, and then presenting the mix in the guise of punk rock.”
Eva Cassidy included this song in her album Live at Blues Alley. The album was recorded live at the Blues Alley nightclub in January 1996. It was the last album recorded by Cassidy before her death in November 1996. Unable to interest a major label in recording her music, Cassidy cashed in a small pension she had accumulated while working at her day job in a plant nursery to self-fund this recording of herself and her live band.
In 2014, Mavis Staples and Sam Moore performed the song with a gospel choir at the 37th Kennedy Centre Honours, where Green was an honoree recipient.
The French band Malted Milk and Toni Green entered a collaboration with American singer Toni Green on the “Milk and Green” project between 2015 and 2017 opened the doors to the biggest European festivals with more than 10,000 albums sold. Their version of Take Me To The River slows the song down and allows Green to make the most of her vocal skills.
