Green Onions (album)

Green Onions
Studio album by Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Released	October 1962 (1962-10)
Recorded	June–August 1962
Studio	Stax Recording Studio, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre	R&B [1] rock [2] soul [2]
Length	34:55
Label	Stax Atlantic
Producer	Jim Stewart
Booker T. & the M.G.'s chronology
Green Onions (1962) Soul Dressing (1965)
Singles from Green Onions
"Green Onions" Released: July 1962 "Mo' Onions" Released: January 1964

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
BBC Music	favorable [3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]
The Great Rock Discography	9/10 [5]
MusicHound	3.5/5 [6]
PopMatters	8/10 [7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Under the Radar	8/10 [9]

Green Onions is the debut album by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in October 1962. It reached number 33 on the pop album chart in the month of its release. The title single was a worldwide hit and has been covered by dozens of artists, including the Blues Brothers and Roy Buchanan (both with Steve Cropper on guitar), as well as the Ventures, Al Kooper, the Shadows, Mongo Santamaría, Deep Purple (live and studio versions) and Count Basie.

Three previous Stax LPs – two by the Mar-Keys, one by Carla Thomas – had been issued on Atlantic Records. Green Onions was the first album released on the Stax label. It was also Stax's first charting album, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard 200. ^[10] The album features only instrumental songs and features Steve Cropper playing a Fender Telecaster. ^[11]

The cover photo was shot by Irving Schild, who would go on to have a 52-year career as Mad magazine's primary photographer. ^[12] The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . ^[13]

In 2012, the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant". ^[14]

Track listing

Side One

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Green Onions"	Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg, Al Jackson Jr.	2:53
2.	"Rinky Dink" (Dave "Baby" Cortez cover)	David Clowney, Paul Winley	2:41
3.	"I Got a Woman" (Ray Charles cover)	Ray Charles, Renald Richard	3:35
4.	"Mo' Onions"	Jones, Cropper, Steinberg, Jackson	2:57
5.	"Twist and Shout" (The Top Notes cover)	Phil Medley, Bert Berns	2:13
6.	"Behave Yourself"	Jones, Cropper, Steinberg, Jackson	3:55
Total length:			18:14

Side Two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"Stranger on the Shore" (Acker Bilk cover)	Acker Bilk	2:22
8.	"Lonely Avenue" (Ray Charles cover)	Doc Pomus	3:30
9.	"One Who Really Loves You" (Mary Wells cover)	Smokey Robinson	2:26
10.	"You Can't Sit Down" (The Bim Bam Boos cover)	Dee Clark, Kal Mann, Cornell Muldrow	2:51
11.	"A Woman, a Lover, a Friend" (Jackie Wilson cover)	Sidney Wyche	2:33
12.	"Comin' Home Baby" (Dave Bailey Quintet cover)	Bob Dorough, Ben Tucker	3:12
Total length:			16:54

Personnel

Booker T. & the M.G.s

• Booker T. Jones – Hammond M3 organ
• Steve Cropper – guitar
• Lewis Steinberg – double bass, bass guitar
• Al Jackson Jr. – drums

Technical

• Haig Adishian – cover design
• Irving Schild – cover photography

Chart history

Name	Chart (1962)	Peak position
Green Onions	U.S. Pop Albums Chart	33
"Green Onions"	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	3
"Green Onions"	U.S. Billboard R&B Singles	1
"Mo' Onions"	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	97
"Mo' Onions"	U.S. Billboard R&B Singles	97

Notes

1. Eder, Bruce. Green Onions at AllMusic. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
2. Lydon, Michael (2016). "Booker T. And the M.G.s.". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 56.
3. Egan, Sean. "Booker T. & the MG's: 'Green Onions' review". BBC Music . Retrieved September 21, 2024.
4. Larkin, Colin (1998). "Booker T. & the M.G.'s". Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Groves Dictionaries. pp.  664–655. ISBN   1-561-59237-4.
5. Strong, Martin C. (2004). "Booker T. & the M.G.'s". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate Books. pp.  172–173. ISBN   1-84195-615-5.
6. Graff, Gary; Freedom du Lac, Josh; McFarlin, Jim, eds. (1998). "Booker T. & the M.G.'s". MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. pp.  62–63. ISBN   1-57859-026-4.
7. Leight, Elias (February 28, 2013). "Booker T. & the M.G.'s: Green Onions (Stax Remasters)". PopMatters . Retrieved September 21, 2024.
8. Evans, Paul (1992). "Booker T. & the M.G.'s". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. pp.  74–75. ISBN   0-679-73729-4.
9. Rushbury, Ian (June 29, 2023). "Booker T. & the M.G.'s: Green Onions (Deluxe 60th Anniversary Edition)". Under the Radar . Retrieved September 21, 2024.
10. Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. New York: Schirmer Trade. p.229-233 ISBN   0-8256-7284-8
11. Electric Guitar Classics:2010 Calendar Published by Sellers Publishing, Inc. Archived 2010-12-29 at archive.today Copyright 2009
12. Sampson, Tim (February 26, 2023). "An update on Irving Schild, the man behind the lens of the first Stax Records album cover photo: Green Onions! - Stax Museum". Stax Museum. Archived from the original on April 27, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
13. ^ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN   978-0-7893-2074-2.
14. "2011 – National Recording Preservation Board". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 25, 2017.