Livin' for You

Album: Livin' for You (1973)
Charted: 19
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Written by Al Green and producer Willie Mitchell, this was Green's fourth song to top the US Billboard R&B charts (known then as Hot Soul Singles).
  • This was Green's first #1 R&B hit without co-writer/drummer Al Jackson Jr., who had just reunited with his instrumental Soul group Booker T. & the MG's.
  • Mitchell remembered stopping by Green's office on Thanksgiving Day with the idea for this song, and the two knocked it out in the hour before dinner - a curious feat considering the song was released three days before Thanksgiving that year!
  • This was Green's first single since "Tired Of Being Alone" that didn't reach gold status and didn't break into the Top Ten on the Pop charts.
  • Had Green's band had their way, the Livin' for You album would've had a whole new sound: reggae. Willie Mitchell's Hi Rhythm Section suggested a trip to the Bahamas to get a feel for the emerging sound of the islands, but the trip never happened.

Comments: 1

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1974 {April 6th} Al Green performed "Livin' For You" on the Saturday-afternoon syndicated television program, 'Soul Train'...
    Ten weeks earlier it had peaked at #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Soul Singles chart and it spent seventeen weeks on the chart...
    And it reached #19 on Billboard's Top 100 chart...
    Between 1967 and 2008 the Arkansas native had thirty-six records on the Soul Singles chart, sixteen made the Top 10 with six* reaching #1...
    Beside the above "Livin' For You", his five other #1 records were, "Let's Stay Together" {for 9 weeks 1972}, "I'm Still In Love With You" {for 2 weeks in 1972}, "You Ought To Be With Me" {for 1 week in 1972}, "L-O-V-E (Love)" {for 2 weeks in 1975} and "Full of Fire" {for 1 week in 1975}...
    The Reverend Albert Leornes Greene will celebrate his 73rd birthday in seven days on April 13th, 2019...
    R.I.P Don Cornelius {1936 - 2012}...
    * He just missed having a seventh #1 record when his "Sha-La-La" peaked at #2 for two weeks, and it was "Woman To Woman" by Shirley Brown and "I Feel A Song (In My Heart)" by Gladys Knight and the Pips that kept it out of the top spot.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Crystal Waters

Crystal WatersSongwriter Interviews

Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top Proverb

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top ProverbSong Writing

How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Vanessa Carlton

Vanessa CarltonSongwriter Interviews

The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.

Danny Clinch: The Art of Rock Photography

Danny Clinch: The Art of Rock PhotographySong Writing

One of rock's top photographers talks about artistry in photography, raising funds for a documentary, and enjoying a County Fair with Tom Waits.