In the 1970s, singer-songwriter-actor Mac Davis showed off his talents on “The Mac Davis Show,” which once brought together Donna Summer, Dolly Parton, and Tom Jones.
I was sad to see that singer-songwriter Mac Davis recently passed away. In addition to writing memorable songs such as “In the Ghetto” and “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me,” Davis was one of those personalities who seemed everywhere in the 1970s. He even hosted his own variety show, The Mac Davis Show.
Davis often appeared on television and in movies, such as North Dallas Forty (1979) and The Sting II (1983). His bubbly personality combined with this multiple talents made him a part of American’s lives during the 1970s, along with similar multi-talented singer-songwriters like John Denver and Paul Williams.
Davis was born in Lubbock, Texas on January 21, 1942. His first popular successes came as a songwriter for artists like Elvis Presley (“A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto”) and Bobby Goldsboro (“Watching Scotty Grow“).
These shows often had magic moments of a type we would not see on television again, although perhaps we get them sometimes with the Internet. One such unusual moment occurred on The Mac Davis Show. Davis joined the unlikely grouping of Dolly Parton, Donna Summer, and Tom Jones singing a medley of gospel songs such as “I’ll Fly Away.”
Although the four are all extremely talented, something about the performance does not quite click with their different styles and voices. But that makes it all the more awesome to watch. Check it out.
What is your favorite memory of Mac Davis? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On May 10 in 1749, the tenth and final volume of the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding was published. Many consider the comic story, whose full name was The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, one of the earliest and most influential English novel. When many people hear the name “Tom Jones” today, they are likely to think of the Welsh singer with that name.
Tom Jones, the singer, was born as Thomas John Woodward on June 7, 1940. People know Jones for a number of hits ranging from “It’s Not Unusual” in 1965 and “Green Green Grass of Home” in 1966 to a cover of Prince’s “Kiss” in 1988 with Art of Noise. But from 1969 to 1971, Jones also hosted a TV variety show, This is Tom Jones.
Jones’s show featured a variety of guests that led to some great pairings that allowed Jones to show off his vocal range, such as an amazing duet with Janis Joplin. Another unusual pairing from 1969 that surprisingly works well is Jones singing with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Check out Jones singing “Long Time Gone” with CSNY, which also features great vocals by Stephen Stills. I wonder if Jones and Neil Young ever shared a stage again. But based on this performance, I would buy a ticket.
David Crosby wrote “Long Time Gone” as a response to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. The group, without Tom Jones, performed the song at Woodstock. “Long Time Gone” is a political song challenging authority that remains relevant through the decades.
And it appears to be a long, Such a long, long, long time before the dawn. Speak out, you got to speak out against The madness, you got to speak your mind, If you dare.
The 75-year-old Tom Jones continues to create interesting music, and he is releasing a new album that includes a cover of Gillian Welch‘s “Elvis Presley Blues.” While it may seem unusual for Jones to cover a folk/Americana singer-songwriter like Welch, Jones has always been willing to sing great songs, no matter what the genre.
Jones’s cover of “Elvis Presley Blues” is also interesting because Jones was friends with Elvis Presley. Welch’s song is a tribute to Presley and a lament, as the singer thinks “about the day he died,” comparing Presley’s world-changing shaking to the steel-driving man John Henry. Jones, who also was famous for “shaking it,” seems the perfect person to sing the song. His version and the video featuring Jones watching video of his friend makes the song more personal, adding a new poignancy to the lyrics.
“Elvis Presley Blues” appears on Jones’s upcoming album Long Lost Suitcase. Check out the video for the song.
Long Lost Suitcase, a CD being released as a companion of sorts to Jones’s recent autobiography Over the Top and Back, hits stores December 5. Jones’s website describes the new album as “a catalogue of tracks that have impacted on Tom throughout his legendary career.” What do you think of the new Tom Jones video? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In 1969, Jerry Lee Lewis and Tom Jones ran through some of Lewis’s hits on Jones’s TV show, This Is Tom Jones. As noted in a previous post, Jones was a big fan of Lewis, and it was Lewis’s recording of “Green Green Grass of Home” that inspired Jones to do his own hit version.
Here, the groove is more upbeat as the two run through songs that include: “Great Balls Of Fire,” “Down The Line,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On.”
Additionally, the two guys look like they are having a great time. Check it out.
For these and other reasons, in recent years Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York also have stopped using capital punishment. Other state legislatures are considering bills to abolish the death penalty.
“Green, Green Grass of Home” and Its Twist Ending
Thinking about Maryland’s death penalty, I remembered a hit song from the 1960s called “Green, Green Grass of Home.” Claude “Curly” Putman, Jr. wrote “Green, Green Grass of Home,” which is probably his biggest hit song along with Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (he also co-wrote the George Jones song “He Stopped Loving Her Today”).
“Green, Green Grass of Home” belongs in a unique group of songs that have a twist ending. The song begins with the singer talking about a trip home, but in the last verse, we learn that it was all a dream. Although there is no specific reference to the death penalty or executions, the verse makes clear that the singer will die at the hands of the state in the morning. Then I awake and look around me, At the four gray walls that surround me, And I realize that I was only dreaming, For there’s a guard and a sad old padre, Arm in arm we’ll walk at daybreak, And at last I’ll touch the green green grass of home.
Putnam performs a clever sleight of hand in the song. He gets us to see the singer as a human being, one with feelings we can relate to, because everyone has been homesick. Only then does he let us know that the singer is on death row. Had the song begun by telling us the singer was condemned, we would have seen him in a different light and judged him as something other than human. But like Steve Earle’s “Over Yonder,” the song “Green, Green Grass of Home” lets us see the humanity even in the worst of us, which is pretty cool.
But Porter Wagoner was the first one to have a hit with “Green, Green Grass of Home” in 1965. Check out this performance and note the subtle special effects where the prison bar shadows appear at the end.
Tom Jones Version
The next year in 1966, Tom Jones had a hit with the song. His version went to number 1 on the U.K. charts.
This TV rendition of the song goes for a less subtle approach than the Porter Wagoner shadows. Here, Tom Jones sings from a jail cell. The setting of the song, though, kind of spoils the surprise ending.
Jerry Lee Lewis Version
Tom Jones was inspired to record “Green, Green Grass of Home” after hearing it on Jerry Lee Lewis’s 1965 albumCountry Songs for City Folk. While it is easy to remember Lewis’s place in rock and roll history, sometimes his excellent country work is overlooked.
Here is Lewis’s version.
Joan Baez Version
Joan Baez gives a unique version by being one of the rare woman’s voices to tackle the song. It is appropriate because there currently are approximately sixty women on death rows around the country.
Baez does a nice job in this performance from The Smothers Brothers Show.
Finally, in 2006, Lewis and Jones performed “Green, Green Grass of Home” together. While the lyrics of the song constitute a soliloquy that does not lend itself to being a duet, it was still cool to see the great Tom Jones singing with the legend who inspired him to record one of his biggest hits. [October 2014 Update: Unfortunately, the video of the duet is no longer available on YouTube.]
Capital Punishment After “Green, Green Grass of Home”
One may only speculate about the impact of the song on society or society’s impact on the song. But in 1965-1966 when the song was a big hit for Porter Wagoner in the U.S. and for Tom Jones in the U.K., the death penalty was at low levels of popularity in those countries.
Great Britain would abolish the death penalty on a trial basis in 1965 and abolish it permanently in 1969. In the U.S., executions ground to a halt in the late 1960s as courts considered court challenges to the U.S. death penalty.
Within a decade, after states passed new laws, the U.S. death penalty machine began chugging along in the late 1970s, even as other countries continued to abolish capital punishment. But more recently, since the turn of the century, several states have joined the other states and countries that have decided the death penalty is unnecessary, uncivilized, and wasteful of resources.
Maryland has now joined those civilized states and countries. The end of the death penalty, unlike “Green, Green Grass of Home,” is not a dream.
What is your favorite version of “Green, Green Grass of Home”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
, a CD being released as a companion of sorts to Jones’s recent autobiography 
, hits stores December 5. Jones’s 
. While it is easy to remember Lewis’s place in rock and roll history, sometimes his excellent country work is overlooked.