Green, Green Grass of Home

"Green, Green Grass of Home"
Song by Porter Wagoner
Released	1965
Genre	Country
Language	English
Writer	Curly Putman
Composer	Curly Putman
Cover versions
Johnny Darrell, Bobby Bare, Tom Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Kenny Rogers, John Otway, Muslim Magomayev, Jetsurfers

"Green, Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell, is a country song originally made popular by Porter Wagoner in 1965 and Bobby Bare in 1965. It was sung later by Tom Jones in 1966 when it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 3 December staying there for a total of seven weeks. It had also been recorded the previous year, 1965, by Jerry Lee Lewis, and included on his album Country Songs For City Folks (later re-issued as All Country), and Jones learned the song from Lewis's version. The Tom Jones record reached #11 pop, #12 easy listening on the Billboard US charts.

Since then it has been a popular cover song recorded by many such as Charley Pride, on his 1966 album Country, Johnny Cash on his 1968 album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Merle Haggard on his 1968 album "Mama Tried", Hank Snow on his 1968 album Hits, Hits, and more Hits, Joan Baez on her 1969 album David's Album, Trini Lopez on Welcome to Trini Country, Pavel Novak - Czech Singer in 1968, Stompin' Tom Connors on his album Stompin' Tom Connors, 'LIVE' at the Horseshoe in 1971, Elvis Presley in 1975 on his album Today, and Kenny Rogers on his self-titled album, Kenny Rogers, in 1977. The song was also recorded by Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers but was not released until 1976, on Sleepless Nights, a posthumous, Gram Parsons compilation album. (Parson's friend Clarence White and his band, the short-lived Nashville West, released yet another version of the song.) The song is considered a country music standard.

With lyrics in Swedish by Stig Anderson as "En sång en gång för längese'n", both Björn Ulvaeus's Hootenanny Singers and Jan Malmsjö had each 1967 Svensktoppen hit with the song, for six respectively 33 weeks. This language version was also recorded by Lotta Engberg in 1997. With lyrics in Portuguese by Geraldo Figueiredo as "Os Verdes Campos da Minha Terra", it was recorded in Brazil by Agnaldo Timóteo (1967), Belmonte and Amaraí (1968), Roberto Leal, and others. In 1978, this song was covered by Filipino singer Sam Sorono (1950–2008) on his Sings Tom Jones' Greatest Hits LP album with EMI Records. The song was also recorded with lyrics in Serbian by Riblja Čorba as "Zelena trava doma mog", in 1993. In Czechoslovakia Dušan Grúň recorded it in Slovak language as Starý rodný dom (Old Natal House) in 1967. Jussi Raittinen has made the song in Finnish, under name "On ihmeen hyvä kotiin tulla taas". In 2000, the Norwegian rock band Jetsurfers released a rock version of the song, on their debut album.

Katherine Jenkins released the song as a single on 20 November 2006, and it was included on her Serenade album during the same year. A live version was included on the single, which was recorded at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, just prior to the Australia versus Wales Rugby match on 4 November 2006.

In February 2009 Tom Jones performed the song live on a special Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, along with If He Should Ever Leave You and We Got Love live in front of a camera in a hotel room in New York.

The late Singaporean singer/songwriter/lyricist Su Yin (舒雲) covered this song in Mandarin Chinese language with Chinese lyrics written by himself and given the title name of 一片青青的草地, appearing on his LP album 黃昏放牛＊一片青青的草地, released by EMI Columbia Records in 1967.

Renowned Korean folk singer 조영남 (Jo Young Nam) did a cover of the song, with translated title and lyrics, called 고향의 푸른 잔디 (Gohyang-ui pooreun jandhi).

There is a Japanese version of the song entitled "思い出のグリーングラス" (Omoide no GURIINGURASU) by 森山良子 (Ryōko Moriyama).

In Hong Kong, this song was covered by female singer/organist Ma Chia Nar (馬嘉娜), on her LP album For Mama．There Goes My Everything with the lcoal Life Records in 1973. Also, another Hong Kong female singer May Cheng (鄭寶雯) covered the song in Cantonese language with Chinese lyrics written by Cheng Kwok Kong (鄭國江) and given the title name of 故園芳草綠, on her LP album 柔情常在, released by the local Bang Bang Records in 1979.

In September 2006 Jones performed the song as a duet with Jerry Lee Lewis during the taping of the latter's "Last Man Standing" TV special in New York City, and credited Lewis with providing the inspiration behind his own recording. Tom Jones sung the song on the 2009/10 edition of Jool's Annual Hootenanny on 1 January 2010.

Chart performance

Chart (1967)	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Australian Kent Music Report	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	2
Austrian Top 40	2
German Singles Chart	6
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Singles	10
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	11
Canadian RPM Top 100	47

The lyrics

A man returns to his childhood home; it seems that this is his first visit home since leaving in his youth. When he steps down from the train, his parents are there to greet him, and his beloved, Mary, comes running to join them. All is welcome and peace; all come to meet him with "arms reaching, smiling sweetly." With Mary the man strolls at ease among the monuments of his childhood, including "the old oak tree that I used to play on." It is "good to touch the green, green grass of home." Yet the music and the words are full of foreshadowing, strongly suggestive of mourning.

Abruptly, the man switches from song to speech as he awakens in prison: "Then I awake and look around me, at four grey walls that surround me. And I realize that I was only dreaming." He is, indeed, on death row. As the singing resumes, we learn that the man is waking on the day of his scheduled execution ("there's a guard, and there's a sad old padre...on and on [or "arm in arm"] we'll walk at daybreak"), and he will return home only to be buried: "Yes, they'll all come to see me in the shade of that old oak tree, as they lay me 'neath the green, green grass of home."

The Joan Baez version ends: "Yes, we'll all be together in the shade of the old oak tree / When we meet beneath the green, green grass of home."

External links

• "Tom Jones: Green, Green Grass of Home (1966 single)" at Discogs (list of releases)
• BBC Interview with Tom Jones re. song "Green Green Grass of Home".

Preceded by The Beatles "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out"	UK Christmas Number One single "Green, Green Grass of Home" by Tom Jones 1966	Succeeded by The Beatles "Hello, Goodbye"
Preceded by "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys	UK number one single by Tom Jones 3 December 1966 (for 7 weeks)	Succeeded by "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees