Artist
Al Green
Lyrics
I'd like to dedicate this song to Little Junior Parker, a cousin of mine who's gone on but we'd like to kinda carry on in his name, by singing
I don't know why I love like I do
After all the changes that you put me through
You stole my money and my cigarettes
And I haven't seen hide nor hair of you yet
I wanna know
Won't you tell me
Am I in love to stay, hey, hey
Take me to the river
Wash me down
Won't you cleanse my soul
Put my feet on the ground
I don't know why she treated me so bad
After all the things that we could have had
Love is a notion that I can't forget
My sweet sixteen I will never regret
I wanna know
Won't you tell me
Am I in love to stay, hey, hey
Hold me, love me, please me, tease me
'Til I can't, 'til I can't take anymore
Take me to the river
I don't know why I love you like I do
After all the things that you put me through
There's sixteen candles that burn on my wall
Turning me into the biggest fool of them all
I wanna know
Can't you tell me
Am I in love to stay, hey, hey
I wanna know
Take me to the river
I wanna know
Won't you dip me in the water
I wanna know
Won't you wash me in the water
Wash me in the water
Wash me in the water
Won't you wash me in the water
Feelin' good
I don't know why I love like I do
After all the changes that you put me through
You stole my money and my cigarettes
And I haven't seen hide nor hair of you yet
I wanna know
Won't you tell me
Am I in love to stay, hey, hey
Take me to the river
Wash me down
Won't you cleanse my soul
Put my feet on the ground
I don't know why she treated me so bad
After all the things that we could have had
Love is a notion that I can't forget
My sweet sixteen I will never regret
I wanna know
Won't you tell me
Am I in love to stay, hey, hey
Hold me, love me, please me, tease me
'Til I can't, 'til I can't take anymore
Take me to the river
I don't know why I love you like I do
After all the things that you put me through
There's sixteen candles that burn on my wall
Turning me into the biggest fool of them all
I wanna know
Can't you tell me
Am I in love to stay, hey, hey
I wanna know
Take me to the river
I wanna know
Won't you dip me in the water
I wanna know
Won't you wash me in the water
Wash me in the water
Wash me in the water
Won't you wash me in the water
Feelin' good
RS500_rank
117
Length
3:45
BPM
118
Released Year
1974
Genre Era
Genre
Key
E m
Produced By
Willie Mitchell
Released Info
Nov. '74 on Hi
Chart Weeks
Non-single
Musicbrainz ID
3778693a-953f-a4cc-8378-ad6b50d869ea
Song Note Source
Rolling Stone 500
Song of Day Date
Written By
Green, Mabon Hodges
Album
Al Green Explores Your Mind (The Right Stuff)
Song Status
Al Green and Hi Records house guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges wrote "Take Me to the River" not by a river but by a lake: They holed up in a rented house at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for three days in 1973 to come up with new material. "I was trying to get more stability in my life at the time," Green said. "I wrote, 'Take me to the river/Wash me down/ Cleanse my soul.' " When it became the first Top Forty hit for Talking Heads in late 1978, "River" gained a whole new audience.