Last week, I took part in Jim Adam’s’ “Song Lyric Sunday” and I thought I would do so again. This time around, he wants writers to pick a song about grass, cows, beef, condiments, fries or fast food.
Honestly, outside of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, I don’t know too many songs about cows. I certainly don’t know any songs about condiments – is there a Mayo song out there? I am opting to go with a song about grass.
Green, Green Grass of Home is a song that has been recorded by many artists. It was written by Claude Putnam, who most everyone called “Curly.” The first recording of the song was in 1965 by a country singer named Johnny Darrell. It was Porter Wagoner who made it popular that same year when it went top 5 on the charts. Bobby Bare and Jerry Lee Lewis also recorded it. That brings me to the version I am featuring.
In 2011, Tom Jones said in an interview, “I used to collect anything Jerry Lee Lewis recorded, and still do. I was in New York in 1965 when I bought his country album Country Songs For City Folks. Green Green Grass Of Home stuck out.
I said to my recording manager, Peter Sullivan, I’d like to record this. He said, ‘A country song?’ I said ‘Yeah’ because I hadn’t done a country song up to that point. Les Reed did the arrangement and played piano on the track and made it more of a pop song than a country song, because when Jerry Lee Lewis did it, it was strict country.
I got on well with Jerry Lee. I did have a bit of a dust-up with him one night in Vegas, but most of the time, we got on great. He came over to do a British tour in 1966 and I had just recorded the song. He told me he’d love to hear it, so I played it to him in his hotel room. He was knocked out with it and said: ‘You’ve done something different here, the arrangement is great. It sounds like a No 1 to me.’ I said: ‘I hope you’re right.’ He was.”
Since this feature is called, Song Lyric Sunday, I thought this quote from Tom needed to be included, “I think the lyrical content is important here. The guy in the song is really in a jail cell, but you don’t know until the end. That got to me. Good God, it paints a picture and yet a lot of people who love ‘Green Green Grass Of Home’ don’t even realize that. This is about a man who is going to be hanged and he’s just reminiscing on the precious parts of his life.“
I love that the song has the surprise ending and it got me, too. His version was a number one song for seven weeks in the UK. It was his biggest hit in the UK. It didn’t do bad in the states, either. It went to number 11 on the pop chart, and number 12 on the easy listening charts.
Although many folks have recorded the song, I have always considered Tom’s version the best. There is something about his inflection and that wonderful arrangement that makes it special. Give it a listen:
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 