"Love and Happiness" (Al Green)

Al Green's I'm Still in Love with You (1972) is 99.9% perfect from start to finish.  On every track, Green's voice ripples over the gospel-tinged, Memphis-flavored grooves with a sustained sincerity and sexiness that no one has been able to match since.  (Even an unexpected cover of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" works fairly well.)
But the cornerstone of the album is "Love and Happiness," a track Green co-wrote with his rhythm guitarist, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges.  Somehow, Green and Hodges take a chunk of dirt floors, down home soul and make it as sweet as raw honeycomb.  Again, it has a lot to do with Green's vocals: he hits you in the gut with that dulcet delivery, leaping from a whisper to glorious falsetto in a single measure.  He simply pulls you in, like an old friend and confidant, and you find yourself nodding along to every line he sings: "Yeah, man, I've done some crazy things for love, too...on the phone / 3 o'clock in the morning...yep, been there..."  
But the song also is defined by the groove that Booker T. & The MG's drummer/human metronome, Al Jackson, Jr., locks into from moment one.  Without it, the supple horn blasts, perfectly syncopated gulps of church organ, funky guitar licks, and on-point harmony backing vocals wouldn't have a footing; Jackson's percussion builds the track's rock-solid foundation.  
Which, curiously enough, is kind of what the Reverend Green is driving at in the song: happiness comes from a rock-solid foundation of love.