“Hello Mary Lou” is a song written by U.S. singer Gene Pitney and Cayet Mangiaracina and performed by Ricky Nelson in English and German in 1961. It reached #9 on the Billboard music charts on May 28, 1961, although the other side of the single, “Travelin’ Man”, hit #1. In the United Kingdom, where it was the unrivalled A-side, it hit #2, and it was a hit in much of Europe, particularly Norway, where it spent 14 weeks at #1. The song features an influential guitar solo by James Burton, often cited by later guitarists such as Brian May. The song is from his sixth album called Rick Is 21.
By Ricky Nelson
Lyrics
Hello Mary Lou
Good-bye heart
sweet Mary Lou I’m so in love with you
well i knew,Mary Lou we’d never part
so hello Mary lou
good-bye heart
You passed me by one sunny day
flashed those big brown eyes my way
and ooh I wanted you forever more
now I’m not one who gets around
swear my feet stuck to the ground
even though I never did meet you before
I said “Hello, Mary Lou
Goodbye heart
Sweet Mary Lou I’m so in love with you
Well I knew Mary Lou
we’d never part
So hello Mary Lou
good-bye heart
well hello Mary Lou
good-bye heart
I say hello Mary Lou
Good-bye heart
“Heartbreak Hotel” is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley’s first on his new record label RCA Victor. His first number-one pop record, “Heartbreak Hotel” topped Billboard’s Top 100 chart, became his first million-seller, and was the best-selling single of 1956. It was written by Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton.
The lyrics were based on a newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window. Axton subsequently presented the song to Presley in November 1955 at a country music convention in Nashville. Presley agreed to record it, and did so on January 10, 1956 in a session that featured his band, The Blue Moon Boys, as well as guitarist Chet Atkins and pianist Floyd Cramer. “Heartbreak Hotel” is composed of an eight-bar blues progression, and features major echo during the entire track, in an attempt to follow the characteristic of Presley’s Sun recordings.
The single topped Billboard’s Top 100 chart for seven weeks, was number one on the Country and Western chart and reached number five on the R&B chart, becoming Presley’s first million-seller, and the best-selling single of 1956. It would eventually be certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Presley had first performed “Heartbreak Hotel” during a live show in December 1955 during a tour of the Louisiana Hayride, but the song gained strong popularity after his appearance on Stage Show in March 1956. It became a staple of Presley’s repertoire in live appearances, last performed by him on May 29, 1977 at the Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1995 “Heartbreak Hotel” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine named it one of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. That year it was also included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”. A rock and roll standard, since its original release “Heartbreak Hotel” has been covered by several rock and pop acts, including Willie Nelson and Leon Russell, who recorded a duet version that topped the Country charts in 1979.
By Elvis Presley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71fuhzYDeT4
Lyrics
Well, since my baby left me,
I found a new place to dwell.
It’s down at the end of lonely street
at Heartbreak Hotel.
You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.
And although it’s always crowded,
you still can find some room.
Where broken hearted lovers
do cry away their gloom.
You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.
Well, the Bell hop’s tears keep flowin’,
and the desk clerk’s dressed in black.
Well they been so long on lonely street
They ain’t ever gonna look back.
You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.
Hey now, if your baby leaves you,
and you got a tale to tell.
Just take a walk down lonely street
to Heartbreak Hotel.
這首歌的歌名，是源自愛德華佛萊納根神父的名言。愛德華佛萊納根神父原籍愛爾蘭，1917年，他在教會核准後成立” Boys’ Town “，收容無家可歸和不被親人接納的孩子。起初只收留了六個男孩，後來獲得廣大迴響，收容的孩子與志工越來越多，許多被神父照顧過的孩子長大後又回來照顧其他不幸的孩童。1938年，德華佛萊納根神父的故事被拍成電影，片名就是” Boys’ Town 孤兒樂園”。 Continue reading →
“Harbor Lights” is a popular song by Hugh Williams (pseudonym for Will Grosz) with lyrics by Henryk Szpilman and translated by Jimmy Kennedy. This song was originally sung in Polish by Irena Santor as “Portowe Światła”, and then by Frances Langford in 1937, and was published again in 1950. Continue reading →
“Green, Green Grass of Home”, written by Claude “Curly” Putman, Jr. and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell, is a country song originally made popular by Porter Wagoner in 1965 and Bobby Bare in 1965. It was sung later by Tom Jones in 1966 when it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 3 December staying there for a total of seven weeks. It had also been recorded the previous year, 1965, by Jerry Lee Lewis, and included on his album Country Songs For City Folks (later re-issued as All Country), and Jones learned the song from Lewis’s version. The Tom Jones record reached #11 pop, #12 easy listening on the Billboard US charts.
Since then it has been a popular cover song recorded by many such as Charley Pride, on his 1966 album Country, Johnny Cash on his 1968 album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Merle Haggard on his 1968 album “Mama Tried”, Hank Snow on his 1968 album Hits, Hits, and more Hits, Joan Baez on her 1969 album David’s Album, Trini Lopez on Welcome to Trini Country, Pavel Novak – Czech Singer in 1968, Stompin’ Tom Connors on his album Stompin’ Tom Connors, ‘LIVE’ at the Horseshoe in 1971, Elvis Presley in 1975 on his album Today, and Kenny Rogers on his self-titled album, Kenny Rogers, in 1977. The song was also recorded by Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers but was not released until 1976, on Sleepless Nights, a posthumous, Gram Parsons compilation album. (Parson’s friend Clarence White and his band, the short-lived Nashville West, released yet another version of the song.) The song is considered a country music standard.
With lyrics in Swedish by Stig Anderson as “En sång en gång för längese’n”, both Björn Ulvaeus’s Hootenanny Singers and Jan Malmsjö had each 1967 Svensktoppen hit with the song, for six respectively 33 weeks. This language version was also recorded by Lotta Engberg in 1997. With lyrics in Portuguese by Geraldo Figueiredo as “Os Verdes Campos da Minha Terra”, it was recorded in Brazil by Agnaldo Timóteo (1967), Belmonte and Amaraí (1968), Roberto Leal, and others. In 1978, this song was covered by Filipino singer Sam Sorono (1950–2008) on his Sings Tom Jones’ Greatest Hits LP album with EMI Records. The song was also recorded with lyrics in Serbian by Riblja Čorba as “Zelena trava doma mog”, in 1993. In Czechoslovakia Dušan Grúň recorded it in Slovak language as Starý rodný dom (Old Natal House) in 1967. Jussi Raittinen has made the song in Finnish, under name “On ihmeen hyvä kotiin tulla taas”. In 2000, the Norwegian rock band Jetsurfers released a rock version of the song, on their debut album.
Katherine Jenkins released the song as a single on 20 November 2006, and it was included on her Serenade album during the same year. A live version was included on the single, which was recorded at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, just prior to the Australia versus Wales Rugby match on 4 November 2006.
In February 2009 Tom 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.
The late Singaporean singer/songwriter/lyricist Su Yin (舒雲) covered this song in Mandarin Chinese language with Chinese lyrics written by himself and given the title name of 一片青青的草地, appearing on his LP album 黃昏放牛＊一片青青的草地, released by EMI Columbia Records in 1967.
Renowned Korean folk singer (Jo Young Nam) did a cover of the song, with translated title and lyrics, called 고향의 푸른 잔디 (Gohyang-ui pooreun jandhi).
There is a Japanese version of the song entitled “思い出のグリーングラス” (Omoide no GURIINGURASU) by 森山良子 (Ryōko Moriyama).
In Hong Kong, this song was covered by female singer/organist Ma Chia Nar (馬嘉娜), on her LP album For Mama．There Goes My Everything with the lcoal Life Records in 1973. Also, another Hong Kong female singer May Cheng (鄭寶雯) covered the song in Cantonese language with Chinese lyrics written by Cheng Kwok Kong (鄭國江) and given the title name of 故園芳草綠, on her LP album 柔情常在, released by the local Bang Bang Records in 1979.
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. Tom Jones sung the song on the 2009/10 edition of Jool’s Annual Hootenanny on 1 January 2010.
By Tom Jones
Lyrics
Green, green grass of homeTom Jones
The old home town looks the same As I step down from the train And there to meet me is my mamma and poppa Down the road I look, and there runs Mary Hair of gold and lips like cherries It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home
Yes, they’ll all come to meet me Arms a-reaching, smiling sweetly It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home
The old house is still standing ‘Though the paint is cracked and dry And there’s that old oak tree that I used to play on Down the lane I’ll walk with my sweet Mary Hair of gold and lips like cherries, It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home
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
