“Let’s Stay Together”

AL GREEN

It’s hard to imagine a vocal performance with more passion and grace than Green’s in “Let’s Stay Together.” As it happened, “Stay” became his only No. 1 hit. Charles Hodges, who played organ on the track, told Mojo magazine that, to give Green an audience for his performance, a bunch of people who’d been hanging outside drinking were invited into the studio. “When you sing, if you look at people, you can relate to the song a little more compassionately,” Hodges said. The song proved so potent that Tina Turner’s version, cut 11 years later, got to No. 30, paving the way for her post-Ike comeback, which culminated in the No. 1 smash “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”