1975 · Behind the Songs
More up-tempo than his previous releases, this single became Green’s sixth and final number one on the R&B chart.
By 1975, Al Green had been a star for long enough that the question was no longer whether he could make hits, but what kind of hits he wanted to make. The ballads had defined him — “Tired of Being Alone,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “Call Me (Come Back Home)” — but Green, guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, and producer Willie Mitchell had other ideas. Together they wrote “Full of Fire,” a single that was notably more up-tempo than Green’s previous releases, and released it in 1975 as the title track from the album Full of Fire, with “Could I Be the One” on the B-side. The record peaked at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It was, as history would show, Green’s sixth and final number one on the R&B chart — the last in a run of chart-toppers that had defined soul music in the early seventies.
The song arrived in a specific sequence. It followed “Oh Me, Oh My (Dreams in My Arms)” from earlier in 1975 and preceded “Let It Shine” in 1976. That chronology matters because it places “Full of Fire” at a transitional moment. Green was still working with Mitchell, still recording for Hi Records, still operating within the sound that had made him famous. But the tempo shift signaled a restlessness, a desire to push beyond the slow-burn balladry that had become his trademark. The fire in the title was not just a metaphor for passion; it was a description of the record’s energy.
A Collaboration at the Top
The writing credit on “Full of Fire” tells its own story. Al Green, Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, and Willie Mitchell are listed as co-writers, a trio that represented the core of the Hi Records creative team. Hodges was not just a session guitarist; he was a songwriter whose contributions shaped the sound of Green’s records from the inside. His guitar work — the clipped, rhythmic figures, the sudden melodic fills — was as identifiable as Green’s voice. Mitchell, meanwhile, was the architect, the producer who knew how to take a song from a rehearsal room idea to a finished record without losing its spark.
That three-way collaboration was unusual even by the standards of the time. Many soul hits were written by dedicated songwriting teams and then handed to artists to record. Here, the artist, the guitarist, and the producer were in the room together, building the song from the ground up. The result has a lived-in quality, the sound of musicians who know each other’s moves and trust each other enough to take chances. The up-tempo feel was a collective decision, not a commercial calculation imposed from above.
The Last Number One
The chart performance of “Full of Fire” deserves careful attention. Number twenty-eight on the Hot 100 was a solid showing, but the real story was on the Hot Soul Singles chart, where the record reached number one. It was Green’s sixth number one on the R&B chart, and it would be his last. That fact gives the song a weight that goes beyond its three minutes of playing time. It marks the end of an era — not just for Green, but for a particular kind of soul music.
In the early seventies, Green had dominated the R&B chart with a run of hits that seemed unstoppable. Each new single was an event, each one a further refinement of the sound he and Mitchell had perfected. “Full of Fire” was the culmination of that run, the final number one before the chart landscape shifted and Green’s own priorities began to change. To listen to it now is to hear an artist at the peak of his commercial powers, still capable of commanding the top spot, even as the ground was beginning to move beneath him.
What to Listen For
The first thing you notice is the tempo. After years of slow and mid-tempo ballads, Green sounds liberated by the faster pace. His voice, always agile, takes on a new kind of athleticism here. He is not just singing the song; he is riding it, pushing against the beat and then falling back into it. The up-tempo arrangement gives him room to show a different side of his talent — not the pleading lover of the ballads, but a confident, energetic performer who can handle anything the band throws at him.
Listen to Teenie Hodges’ guitar. On the ballads, his playing was often about restraint, about finding the single note that would make a phrase ache. Here, he is busier, more rhythmic, driving the song forward with choked chords and quick fills. It is still unmistakably Hodges — no one else played quite like him — but it is Hodges in a different mode, responding to the song’s energy rather than creating space for reflection.
Then notice how Mitchell balances the elements. The horns are more prominent than on the ballads, the rhythm section pushes harder, the background vocals are punchier. Yet Green’s voice never gets lost. Mitchell knew that no matter how much energy he put into the track, the star was the singer, and the mix reflects that understanding. The fire is in the playing, but the control is in the production.
“Full of Fire” may not be as widely remembered as “Let’s Stay Together” or “Tired of Being Alone,” but its place in Green’s story is secure. It was his last R&B number one, the final chart-topper in a run that helped define an era. More than that, it was proof that Green and his collaborators were not content to repeat themselves. Even at the height of their success, they were looking for new ways to make the music move. The fire had not gone out; if anything, it was burning brighter than ever.