Al Green’s Latest Cover Is a Stirring Take on R.E.M.’s ‘Everybody Hurts’

Al Green delivers a stirring take on R.E.M.’s classic 1992 ballad “Everybody Hurts” for his latest single.

Green leans into the original’s swaying soul groove, adding a booming choir and allowing the strings to reach the heights necessary to match his still potent vocals as he sings: “Don’t throw your hand, oh no/Don’t throw your hand/If you feel like you’re alone/No, no, no, you are not alone.”

In a statement Green said when recording “Everybody Hurts,” “I could really feel the heaviness of the song, and I wanted to inject a little touch of hope and light into it. There’s always a presence of light that can break through those times of darkness.”

Michael Stipe also raved about the cover on behalf of R.E.M., saying, “We could not be more honored, more flattered, more humbled.”

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Green’s cover of “Everybody Hurts” follows his 2023 rendition of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.” That’s a relatively quick turnaround for Green, who hasn’t released much music since his 2008 album, Lay It Down. Ten years after that, and five before “Perfect Day,” Green released his only other tune, a rendition of “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.”  

Per a press release, Green returned to the studio in Memphis earlier this year. For the sessions, he’s reunited with members of the Hi Rhythm Section — organ player Reverend Charles Hodges, bassist Leroy Hodges, and piano player Archie “Hubbie” Turner — who played on several Green albums in the late Seventies (including Al Green Explores Your Mind, which appears on our new list of the Best Albums of 1974). Others involved include guitarist Will Sexton and drummer Steve Potts of Booker T. & and the M.G.’s; producer Clay Jones; and Stax legend Lester Snell, who’s been arranging the strings.