Tired of Being Alone - Al Green (1972) 2/27/22

In the early days of his career...before he started releasing "Great Songs" (and before he became an ordained minister), The Rev. Al Green was a struggling singer who was trying to emulate artists like Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Wilson Pickett.

Willie Mitchell, who was in charge of Al's label, Hi Records," kept urging him to "use his own voice," but strangely, when Al wrote his very first song, Willie wasn't much interested in recording it.

Even so, they started to work on "Tired of Being Alone" it for an album called "Green's Blues," but, for some reason, it didn't make the cut.

Fortunately, they tried it again for the1971 album, Al Green Gets Next to You," and when it was released a a single IN 1972, it became the first of Al's seven consecutive gold records!

Chartwise, it reached #4 in the UK, and here at home, it peaked at #7 on the Soul Chart and #11 on the Hot 100.

(You can bet that Willie soon changed his mind about letting Al record his own stuff!)

In 1973, Al teamed up with Chicago to perform the song on the TV special "Chicago in the Rockies, which was (much) later added to the remastered version of "Chicago VI" In 2002. It was never released as a single, but maybe it should have been! Give it a listen by clicking the link below.

"Tired of Being Alone" by the Rev. Al Green: a "Great Song of the '70s." TWICE!

Original version (1971):

With Chicago (1973):