When was walking in memphis written

Handy very much grew up in a church home. Al Green of course is a legendary singer who made a name for himself in soul music before, after suffering a personal tragedy, turning to gospel.

But he was able to make such a transition because he too, being a southern Black, grew up in a religious household. Cohn covered all the bases during his visit. And the track was released on 21 February Cohn, a singer who is actually from Cleveland, managed to drop five studio albums between and It also managed to go gold across the pond. These are two musical acts that went on to have much more notable music careers. Cohn, who plays the guitar also, wrote and co-produced this song.

But then there are those songs that the writer has an obvious heartfelt, even spiritual, connection to. But a side trip to the nearby Delta area around Robinsonville, Mississippi — where Son House, Robert Johnson and others played the blues — put the spiritual and artistic icing on the cake during this trip to the South Cohn is a Clevelander , and it was almost inevitable that a song would follow.

Cohn, who is Jewish, told the Chicago Tribune in that the song was definitely written about true facts. At over four minutes, the song was pretty long for radio even in , with the chorus repeating several times and the first verse repeating for great dramatic effect at the end. As you learn from the song, Cohn did touristy things like visited Graceland but also asked friends for more obscure, off-the-beaten-path suggestions, which resulted in a visit to the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church and the Hollywood Cafe in Robinsonville, Mississippi.

Cohn makes quite a few references in the lyrics about Elvis. Cohn says he regrets this in hindsight because the song was not meant as an homage to Elvis. He wrote the song as an embodiment of his experience in the city as a whole. Take a look at the Elvis mentions and some locations you might want to check out during a visit to Memphis. Memphis is referred to in the song as the "land of the Delta Blues. Memphis is generally considered the northern boundary of this geographic area.

The Reverend Al Green is named in Cohn's song, too. Green is a Memphis-based soul singer and songwriter who later recorded gospel music and became an ordained minister.

In "Walking in Memphis," the song culminates with the iconic lyric, "'Tell me are you a Christian, child? He then lived in New York City, working as a session singer while aiming for his own recording contract.

I was 28 years old and not in love with my songs. It's never going to happen for me. He visited Memphis after reading an interview with James Taylor, where the singer said he overcame writer's block by "go[ing] somewhere I've never been, hoping to find some idea I wouldn't get just by sitting at home". Cohn followed Taylor's idea, choosing Memphis: "I always knew it was a place I had to visit because so much of my favorite music came from there.

He later recalled that after arriving in Memphis: "I did all the [expected] touristy things I went to Graceland, and I saw Elvis Presley's tomb and his airplanes". Cohn later said he wasn't sure about referencing Elvis in the lyrics of the song.