Bill Withers, Green Grass | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 150^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Green Grass” by Bill Withers.

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 they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 150^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Green Grass” performed by Bill Withers.  

In 1970, legendary soul musician Wilson Pickett (1941 – 2006) advised a lady leaving him for another man, “Don’t Let The Green Grass Fool You”. Bill Withers (1938 – 2020) makes a similarly prudent assertion on “Green Grass”.  Withers isn’t addressing a romantic relationship, however.  Instead, he addresses perceived differences between people who might not be so different.  In Withers’ eyes, “that green grass on the other side / Is just an illusion.” “Green Grass” is the fourth track from Withers’ fourth album, ‘Justments, released in 1974. Withers penned the record and produced it with James Gadson and Melvin Dunlap.

“Green Grass” possesses a classy, sophisticated, and soulful sound.  Some of the ear candy that shapes this soundscape includes piano, keyboard, strings, an active bass line, and the anchoring drums groove. The instrumental riffs shine throughout, ornamenting the signature, refined vocals from Bill Withers. The melodies are incredibly tuneful, while the lyrics, arguably, carry more weight.  “Looking out at the people looking in / Feeling good must be some kind of sin,” Withers sings in the first verse, and continues, “Looking in at the people looking out / Feeling guilty – scared to move about.” He is more overt during the first half of the second verse, singing, “Rich people watching the people poor / Trying to figure out how to get some more / Poor people watching people rich / You know, they call them dirty you-know-which.” Thought-provoking to say the least.   The chorus is the crème de la crème, where one of the orchestra’s most beautiful instruments, the harp, appears:

“Ah, but you know that green grass on the other side

Is just an illusion

We all have our own confusion

We all have our own confusion.”

Sometimes, we think others have it better than us or lack our problems. But they have their own problems, and those problems may be different but worse than our own.  The songwriting is impeccable. We’d expect no less from Mr. Withers. Yes, he is better known for “Lean On Me”, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and such, but the far less known “Green Grass” is a song every Bill Withers and soul enthusiast should add to their listening rotation. It’s brilliant.