"Green, Green" is a hit single released by American folk music group The New Christy Minstrels on June 4, 1963. It was composed and written by group members Barry McGuire and Randy Sparks and became the group's first hit. Since then, it has been covered by many singers and artists from all over the world, but especially in Japan.
"Green, Green" sold over one million copies in 1963, and was awarded a gold disc. It was nominated in 1964 for the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording and Best Performance By A Chorus.
The New Christy Minstrels also recorded the song in German, named "Grün, grün ist Tennessee".
Green, Green has been covered by many artists from all over the world including:
Poet and children's literature author Hikaru Kataoka took notice of the song in the 1960s. At this time he was working for the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, where he was in charge of production, song writing and translation. He wrote new Japanese lyrics for "Green, Green", and in May 1967, it was broadcast on NHK during the children's programming of Minna no Uta (Songs for Everyone) sung by and arranged by . Since then the lyrics have become very popular in Japan.
The lyrics have been published in several Japanese music textbooks.
British YouTuber Thomas hypothesizes that Koji Kondo was inspired by the Japanese version of "Green, Green" when he was making the Super Mario World's overworld music in the 90s, due to the song having a âÂÂhappy, rhythmical and an easy to remember melodyâÂÂ.