Green Green Grass of Home

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"Green Green Grass of Home" (Claude "Curly" Putman Jr.) is a country song originally made popular by Tom Jones in 1966. (It had been recorded earlier that year by Jerry Lee Lewis, without success.) Since then it has been a popular cover song, recorded, for example, by Elvis Presley in 1975, by Johnny Cash on his 1968 Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison album, Kenny Rogers on his self-titled album, Kenny Rogers, in 1977, Porter Wagoner, and also by Stompin' Tom Connors on his album Stompin' Tom Connors, 'LIVE' at the Horseshoe in 1971.

[edit] Overview

The song is about a man who has been away from home for a while. He tells that he is returning to his small home town in the country. When he steps down from the train, he touches the green grass. His parents and "sweet Mary" (who seems to be an old Sweetheart) are there to welcome him. He observes tokens of his childhood, including "the old oak tree that [I] used to play on".

However, then comes a spoken section when 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." The man is, in reality, awaiting his execution, and he will only return home when he is dead and 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."

Preceded by The Beatles Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out

UK Christmas Number One single Green Green Grass of Home 1966

Succeeded by The Beatles Hello, Goodbye