Written by Al Green with his guitarist, Teenie Hodges, "Take Me To The River" first appeared on Green's 1974 album Al Green Explores Your Mind. It wasn't a hit, but attracted lots of cover versions, including by Syl Johnson in 1975, Foghat in 1976 and Bryan Ferry in 1978. Green and Johnson's versions were well known in R&B circles, but the Talking Heads brought it to the New Wave rock crowd and had the highest charting version of the song, reaching #26 in the US.
The song is about a baptism, a topic that jelled with Al Green, who later became an ordained minister. You wouldn't think a New York City-based art-rock band could pull off a gospel-tinged song by a Southern soul singer, but Talking Heads kept the spiritual feel of the song while putting their own spin on it - lead singer David Byrne doesn't sound like a traditional vocalist and could inhabit a character quite believably. His version of preaching on "Take Me To The River" foreshadowed a later Talking Heads hit, "Once In A Lifetime."
A key element that set Talking Heads' version of this song apart from the other covers is the tempo. They had been playing the song live for a while and had a good feel for it when they entered the studio, but when they recorded it, they played it as slowly as they could without losing the groove. This gave the song a seductive feel that set it apart.
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