1967Released
3:04

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Green Green Grass Of Home. By Songfacts®.

This country song about a condemned prisoner who longs to escape to the green, green grass of home was inspired by a crime scene in the film The Asphalt Jungle. Nashville songwriter Curly Putnam wrote it in 1964 and it was initially recorded by country singer Johnny Darrell.

Tom Jones decided to record this after hearing a version by Jerry Lee Lewis, a legendary rocker who had started making country records. A year after Johnny Darrell's original version, Lewis recorded this on his album Country Songs For City Folks. Jones recalled to The Mail On Sunday February 6, 2011: "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 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."

Jones discussed the song's meaning with The Mail On Sunday: "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 realise that. This is about a man who is going to be hanged and he's just reminiscing on the precious parts of his life. It made me think of Wales when I recorded it – 'the old home town looks the same'. When I went back to Pontypridd in those days, getting off the train from London, those words would ring true. It seems like a lot of people relate the sentiment to their home too."

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Green Green Grass Of Home.
G♯Key
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
95BPM

Album

The album Green Green Grass Of Home is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Green Green Grass Of Home.
UMC (Universal Music Catalogue)
© 1967 Decca Music Group Limited
℗ 1967 Decca Music Group Limited

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