Day one of our Twelve Days of KCL Christmas. A special On This Day
Welsh singing legend Tom Jones had many hits in the Swinging Sixties but most notable was his Christmas 1966 No 1, “The Green, Green Grass of Home”
Written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr. and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell in 1965.
It was later recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis for his album Country Songs for City Folks (later re-issued as All Country). Tom Jones learned the song from Lewis' version, and in 1966, he had a worldwide No. 1 hit with it.
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 1 December, 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 Jerry Lee Lewis during the taping of the latter's Last Man Standing TV special in New York City, and credited Lewis with providing the inspiration behind his own recording.
In February 2009, Jones performed the song live on a special Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, along with "If He Should Ever Leave You" and "We Got Love", live in front of a camera in a hotel room in New York.
Jones sang the song on the 2009/10 edition of Jool's Annual Hootenanny on 1 January 2010.
