Al Green, Here I Am (Come and Take Me) | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 74th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” by Al Green. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 74th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, performed by 🎙 Al Green.

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“I can’t believe that it’s real / The way that you make me feel / A burning deep down inside / A love that I cannot hide.” Ooh wee 🎙 Al Green! Green is always good for a heaping dose of that Memphis soul. 🎵 “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” is one of eight top-ten hits by the legendary soul musician. “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” spent 15 weeks on the charts in 1973, peaking at no. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not too shabby! “And if keeping you and loving you means / Laying all my troubles down,” Green sings in the pre-chorus, then, “Here I am, baby, come and take me!” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” is one of many standouts from Green’s 1973 album, 💿 Call Me.  

The star of the show is Al Green, PERIOD.  While Rolling Stone botched their updated, 2023 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, they showed Green the respect he deserves (10th).  His vocals are once-in-a-lifetime good, ranging from his highly effective middle register, an incredibly ripe falsetto, and of course, those signature howls. In addition to the voice and the love-oriented songwriting (“All this love’s inside of me / I believe there’s going to be an explosion, yeah”), the production (the late, great 🎛 Willie Mitchell) and the arrangements are stunning.  On “Here I Am,” the listener is spoiled by organ, electric piano, guitar, soulful drum groove, epic, and punchy horns. The horns complement Green superbly, particularly during the chorus section, the centerpiece. There is incredible sophistication and grit exhibited by the backdrop simultaneously. All told, 🎵 “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” is equivalent to four-and-a-quarter minutes of sheer heaven 😇.  

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🎙 Al Green • 💿 Call Me • 🏷 Hi Records / Fat Possum • 🗓 1973 

Al Green, “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 74 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Hi Records / Fat Possum; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]