“Let's Stay Together” by Al Green

"Let's Stay Together" went out as a single in 1971 and then gave Al Green's 1972 album its name, with Willie Mitchell producing and recording it and mixing it with Terry Manning. Green wrote it with Mitchell and drummer Al Jackson, Jr., and the whole thing is a lesson in restraint: Jackson and Howard Grimes keep the drums soft as a heartbeat, Charles Hodges' organ glows, Leroy Hodges' bass rolls easy, Mabon Hodges picks out lean guitar lines, and the horns of Wayne Jackson, Jack Hale, Ed Logan and James Mitchell sigh rather than shout. Green floats over it all in a pleading, feather-light voice.

It went all the way to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent nine weeks on top of the R&B chart. Rolling Stone later ranked it 60th among its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the Grammy Hall of Fame took in the Hi Records original in 1999, and in 2010 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.