Green, Green Grass of Home
"Green, Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr., and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell in 1965, is a country song made popular by Porter Wagoner the same year, when it reached No. 4 on the Country chart. It was also recorded by Bobby Bare and by Jerry Lee Lewis, who included it in his album Country Songs for City Folks. Tom Jones learned the song from Lewis' version and, in 1966, he had a No. 1 hit in several countries with it. The song was also recorded by, among others, Joan Baez on her 1969 album David's Album, Elvis Presley on his 1975 album Today, and Ted Hawkins on his 1986 album On The Boardwalk.
Lyrics
The singer 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 sweetheart, Mary, comes running to join them. They meet him with "arms reaching, smiling sweetly". With Mary, the singer 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".But the singer then awakens to see grey walls surrounding him and realizes that his return home was only a dream and that he is actually in prison. It is the day of his scheduled execution. He sees a guard and "a sad old padre" 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 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 Tom Jones, who was appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, visited Colony Records while staying in New York City. 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 also spent 7 weeks at No. 1 on the Irish Singles Chart. 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 Lewis 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.