Al Green on David

[Kay]

Al Green speaks about Ruffin's singing

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; 12/3/2003

The topic was singing, and Al Green, who knows a thing or two about it, was talking about the ability to communicate passion beyond words shared by so many vocalists of the 1960s.

"You listen to David Ruffin," he said recently, recalling the late lead voice of the Temptations. The Rev. Green, who still holds Sunday services at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, Tenn., was doing interviews to promote "I Can't Stop" (Blue Note, 3 { stars), his first secular album in more than 20 years, and was in the mood to share his theories about what happened to soul. "The guy (Ruffin) can flat-out do it, and I don't mean technique. He's going to take you where he's going."

Then Green, 57, decided to demonstrate. He began to sing "Ain't Too Proud to Beg": "Well I got a love so deep, in the pit of my heart." He copied the familiar Ruffin declaration right down to that extra pressure on love, nailing the phrase exactly. "You see how he's singing that. By the time he gets to `Ain't too proud to beg and you know it,' well sure enough, you know it. That's meat, man. He sang with that bravado, you can't help but feel what he's feeling."

That, Green laments, is the one thing missing from the pyrotechnical outbursts of modern singers.

"Now I like singers out there, don't get me wrong," Green said, mentioning Jill Scott and Erykah Badu among his favorites. "But there's a kind of unselfish thing that the David Ruffin did that you don't hear much anymore. It's too much about the singer now, not the song or the story. Nobody seems like they want to make me believe."

He does make a good point

[timmy84]

He should know, he's one of the baddest singers period!

[Diamond Girl]

What's the saying, it takes one to know one

[rainymourning]

kay said:

Al Green speaks about Ruffin's singing

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; 12/3/2003

The topic was singing, and Al Green, who knows a thing or two about it, was talking about the ability to communicate passion beyond words shared by so many vocalists of the 1960s.

"You listen to David Ruffin," he said recently, recalling the late lead voice of the Temptations. The Rev. Green, who still holds Sunday services at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, Tenn., was doing interviews to promote "I Can't Stop" (Blue Note, 3 { stars), his first secular album in more than 20 years, and was in the mood to share his theories about what happened to soul. "The guy (Ruffin) can flat-out do it, and I don't mean technique. He's going to take you where he's going."

Then Green, 57, decided to demonstrate. He began to sing "Ain't Too Proud to Beg": "Well I got a love so deep, in the pit of my heart." He copied the familiar Ruffin declaration right down to that extra pressure on love, nailing the phrase exactly. "You see how he's singing that. By the time he gets to `Ain't too proud to beg and you know it,' well sure enough, you know it. That's meat, man. He sang with that bravado, you can't help but feel what he's feeling."

That, Green laments, is the one thing missing from the pyrotechnical outbursts of modern singers.

"Now I like singers out there, don't get me wrong," Green said, mentioning Jill Scott and Erykah Badu among his favorites. "But there's a kind of unselfish thing that the David Ruffin did that you don't hear much anymore. It's too much about the singer now, not the song or the story. Nobody seems like they want to make me believe."

He does make a good point

He sure does. And this was three years ago! I do find the thought of Al doing a David impression quite funny though