"Green, Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr., and first recorded by singer

Johnny Darrell Johnny Darrell (July 23, 1940 – October 7, 1997) was an American country music artist. Darrell was born in Hopewell, Alabama but grew up in Marietta, Georgia. After a stint in the army, he moved to Nashville and began managing a Holiday Inn ...

in 1965, is a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

song made popular by

Porter Wagoner Porter Wayne Wagoner (August 12, 1927 – October 28, 2007) was an American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. In 1967, he introduced singer Dolly Parton on his television show, ''The ...

the same year, when it reached No. 4 on the Country chart. It was also recorded by

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs " Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and " 500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Earl ...

and by

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...

, who included it in his album ''

Country Songs for City Folks ''Country Songs for City Folks'' is the fifth studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1965. Background After leaving Sun Records in 1963 for Smash, Lewis embarked on what is often referred to as his "wilderness years," c ...

'' (later re-issued as ''All Country'').

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

learned the song from Lewis' version and, in 1966, he had a worldwide No. 1 hit with it.

Lyrics

A man returns to his childhood home for what seems to be his first visit there 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. They 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", feeling that "it's good to touch the green, green grass of home". Abruptly, the man switches from song to speech, as he awakens and sees "four grey walls" surrounding him and remembers that he is in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

. As he resumes singing, we learn that the man is waking on the day of his scheduled

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. He sees a guard and "a sad old

padre __NOTOC__ Padre means father in many Romance languages, and it may also refer to: Music * "Padre" (song) People * A military chaplain * A Latin Catholic priest * A member of the San Diego Padres baseball team Places * Padre Island, a barrier ...

" who will walk with him to his execution at daybreak, and then he will return home "in the shade of that old oak tree, as they lay me 'neath the green, green grass of home". The

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

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."

Tom Jones version

Welsh singer

, who was appearing on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

'' in 1965, visited Colony Records while staying in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. On asking if they had any new works by Jerry Lee Lewis, he was given the new country album. Impressed with the song, Jones recorded and released the song in the UK in 1966 and it reached No. 1 on December 1, staying there for a total of seven weeks. The song has sold over 1.25 million copies in the UK as of September 2017. Jones' version also reached No. 11 pop, No. 12 easy listening on the ''Billboard'' US charts. In September 2006, Jones performed the song as a duet with

during the taping of the latter's ''Last Man Standing'' TV special in New York City, and credited Lewis with providing the inspiration for his own recording. In February 2009, Jones performed the song live with

Vincent Moon Vincent Moon (real name Mathieu Saura, born 25 August 1979) is an independent filmmaker, photographer, and sound artist from Paris. He was the main director of the Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, a web-based project recording field work music vid ...

on a special ''Take-Away Show'', along with "If He Should Ever Leave You" and " We Got Love", in front of a camera in a hotel room in New York. Jones sang the song on the 2009-2010 edition of '' Jool's Annual Hootenanny'' on January 1, 2010.

Charts

Certifications

Other versions

Since then it has been recorded by many other solo vocalists and groups including: *1965:

Del Reeves Franklin Delano Reeves (July 14, 1933 – January 1, 2007) was an American country music singer, best known for his "girl-watching" novelty songs of the 1960s including "Girl on the Billboard" and "The Belles of Southern Bell". He is also know ...

on his second album, ''Doodle-Oo-Doo-Doo'' *1966:

on his album, ''The Streets of Baltimore'' *1966:

Bonnie Guitar Bonnie Buckingham (March 25, 1923 – January 13, 2019), better known as Bonnie Guitar, was an American singer, musician, producer, and businesswoman. She was best known for her 1957 country-pop crossover hit " Dark Moon". She became one of t ...

on her album ''Miss Bonnie Guitar'' *1966:

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Rec ...

on the album ''Country'' *1967:

Gene Parsons Gene Victor Parsons (born September 4, 1944, in Morongo Valley, California) is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and engineer, best known for his work with the Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released so ...

with the band

Nashville West Nashville West was a short-lived American country rock quartet, that was briefly together in the late 1960s. The group comprised multi-instrumentalist Gene Parsons, guitarist Clarence White, singer-guitarist-fiddler Gib Guilbeau and bassist Wayn ...

(album released in 1978) *1967:

The Statler Brothers The Statler Brothers (sometimes simply referred to as The Statlers) were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally, and from 1964 to 1972, they sang as opening act and backup singers ...

on their album ''Sing The Big Hits'' *1967:

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country and pop hits " King of the Road", " Dang Me", and "Eng ...

on his album ''Walkin' in the Sunshine'' *1967: A

Serbo-Croatian language Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia a ...

version by Miki Jevremović as Zelena Zelena Trava Doma Mog ...Diskos – EDK-3068 Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, EP, Mono *1967: A

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

version by

Stig Anderson Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997), better known as Stikkan Anderson, was a Swedish music manager, lyricist and music publisher. He was the co-founder of Polar Music, and is best known for managing the Sw ...

as "En sång en gång för länge sen", of which both

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, producer, a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals '' Chess'', '' Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamma Mia!'' He co-produced the films ...

' Hootenanny Singers and

Jan Malmsjö Jan Wilhelm Malmsjö (born 29 May 1932) is a Swedish stage and film actor, musical star and singer. He is married to Marie Göranzon and father to Jonas Malmsjö. Biography Malmsjö was born in Lund, Sweden. He trained at the prestigious Roy ...

each had a 1967

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...

hit with, for six and 33 weeks respectively. *1967: Dalida, under the name of Les grilles de ma maison, disc (Super 45 t : 71167) *1967:

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

on the album '' Welcome to My World'' *1967: Jürgen Herbst recorded a German cover version ''Der Weg zurück nach Haus' '' (CBS 2529) *1967: Agnaldo Timóteo, Brazilian singer, recorded the song on the album Obrigado Querida (Odeon – MOFB 3488), under the name of Os Verdes Campos Da Minha Terra, lyrics in Portuguese by Geraldo Figueiredo *1967:

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Germ ...

under the name of "Le toit de ma maison" on the album Le Jour où la colombe *1968:

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his c ...

on the album ''

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison ''Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison'' is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. After his 1955 song " Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in recording a performance at ...

'' *1968:

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final ...

on the album ''To Each His Own'' *1968:

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on ...

on the album ''Hits, Hits, and More Hits'' *1968:

on the album ''Green Green Grass of Home'' *1968:

Johnny Paycheck Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003) was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song " Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greate ...

on the album ''Country Soul'' *1968:

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

on the album '' Mama Tried'' *1968:

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

on the album '' The George Jones Story'', and again on his 1972 release, ''Take Me''. *1968:

Trini Lopez Trinidad López III (May 15, 1937 – August 11, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and actor. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's " If I Had a Hammer", which earned a Golden Disc for him. His other hits include ...

on '' Welcome to Trini Country'' *1968: Pozo-Seco Singers on ''Shades of Time'' *1968: Pavel Novák Czech singer as ''Vím, že jen sním'' *1969:

on the album '' David's Album'' *1969:

Gé Korsten Gérard Korsten (popularly known as Gé) (6 December 1927 - 29 September 1999) was a South African opera tenor and actor who had a great influence on Afrikaans culture. Born in Schiedam, as the youngest of eight children, Korsten and his fami ...

South African singer recorded an Afrikaans version "Groene Velde Van My Land" on the album ''Sing Seeman Sing'' *1969:

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

performed it live a number of times *1971: The Deutschmeisters on their self-titled album *1971:

Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has re ...

(a parody version as "The Green, Green Grass of Home, No. 2") on the album ''Stompin' Tom Connors, 'LIVE' at the Horseshoe'' *1972: The Fatback Band on the album ''Let's Do It Again'' *1975:

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

on the album ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' *1976:

Gram Parsons Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...

and

The Flying Burrito Brothers The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris ...

on the album '' Sleepless Nights'' *1977:

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

on the album ''

'' *1980:

John Otway John Otway (born 2 October 1952) is an English singer-songwriter who has built a cult audience through extensive touring. Biography 1970s and 1980s Otway was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Although his first single, "Gypsy"/"Misty Mounta ...

released as a single *1986:

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, ...

quotes from the song in the opening line of "Sad Waters" on the album ''

Your Funeral, My Trial ''Your Funeral... My Trial'' is the fourth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 3 November 1986 by Mute Records. ''Your Funeral... My Trial'' was originally released as a double EP. The album was issued on CD with a differ ...

'' *1986:

Ted Hawkins Ted Hawkins (October 28, 1936 – January 1, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter born in Biloxi, Mississippi. He split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California, where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, ...

on the album ''On the Boardwalk (The Venice Beach Tapes)'' *1989: A Danish version by

Allan Olsen Allan Olsen (born 18 March 1956 in Grønholt, Vendsyssel) is a Danish folkrock musician and singer-songwriter. His famous live performances combine his songs with satirical and dryly-tempered anecdotes. The music is delivered either acoustically ...

as "Det grønne græs" on the album ''Norlan'' *1993:

Dennis Brown Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lo ...

on the album ''The General'' *1993:

Riblja Čorba Riblja Čorba ( sr-Cyrl, Рибља Чорба, pronounced ; translation: lit. ''Fish Stew'') is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band formed in Belgrade in 1978. The band was one of the most popular and most influential acts of the Yugosla ...

as "Zelena trava doma mog" on the album ''Zbogom Srbijo'' *2006:

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Maria Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.''Serenade'''' *2008: Mike Farris on the album ''Shout! Live'' *2010:

Curly Putman Curly is a surname, given name, nickname or stage name. It may refer to: First name, nickname or stage name * Crazy Horse (1840–1877), Oglala Sioux war chief nicknamed "Curly" * Curly (scout), nickname of Ashishishe (c. 1856–1923), Crow Ind ...

on the album ''Write 'em Sad - Sing 'em Lonesome'' *2014: Uke-Hunt on the album ''Uke-Hunt'' *2021:

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

on the album '' Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985)''

References

External links

*
BBC Interview with Tom Jones re. song "Green Green Grass of Home".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Green Grass of Home 1965 songs 1966 singles 1967 singles Schlager songs Songs written by Curly Putman Johnny Darrell songs Porter Wagoner songs Tom Jones (singer) songs Jerry Lee Lewis songs Bobby Bare songs Johnny Cash songs Joan Baez songs Elvis Presley songs Kenny Rogers songs Trini Lopez songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Number-one singles in Norway Songs about death Decca Records singles RCA Records singles RCA Victor singles Christmas number-one singles in the United Kingdom Song recordings produced by Peter Sullivan (record producer)