Take Me to the River

"Take Me to the River" is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges.

[5] Al Green originally recorded the song for his 1974 album, Al Green Explores Your Mind, produced by Willie Mitchell and featuring musicians Charles, Leroy and Mabon "Teenie" Hodges (of The Hodges Brothers), drummer Howard Grimes, and the Memphis Horns.

[6] Green and Mabon Hodges wrote the song while staying in a rented house at Lake Hamilton, Arkansas, for three days in 1973 in order to come up with new material.

[9] 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.

[11] In 2004, Green's original recording was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

[3] 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,[18][7] reached #48 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, and #7 on the U.S.

[3] Their version, recorded with co-producer Brian Eno in Nassau, Bahamas, was initially resisted by Byrne who felt the band should not release a cover.

"[34] In the liner notes for Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads, singer David Byrne writes: "Coincidence or conspiracy?