George Ezra has revealed the “powers that be” asked him to change the lyrics of his song Green Green Grass during the Platinum Party At The Palace concert at the weekend. The 29-year-old singer performed the song during the special Jubilee show on Saturday, held outside Buckingham Palace in celebration of the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
However, the lyrics “Green green grass, blue blue sky, you better throw a party on the day that I die”, were edited to remove the reference to dying. After the performance, fans on social media questioned why the singer had altered the line.
Speaking to The Sun, Ezra said: “I think the reaction to it has kind of worked in our favour to say it was unnecessary. My gut instinct was that you don’t need to change it.
“I don’t know if it came from the royals or the producers of the show, but it’s pretty obvious that if you’re playing for the royal family and the powers that be say ‘We don’t want you to sing that lyric’, then you’re not going to argue.”
The singer said that the song is not as morbid as it might initially seem, as he feels it is about “celebrating life”. Alongside Green Green Grass he also played his hit song Shotgun, in front of 22,000 spectators and a television audience of millions.
The musical tribute also featured global stars including Queen + Adam Lambert, Diana Ross, Alicia Keys and Eurovision 2022 runner-up Sam Ryder. Ezra admitted that he did not quite realise the importance of the occasion.
He said: “The Jubilee is a really good example of something going over my head – the magnitude of it. It was only when we got on stage and I saw all the flags that I realised ‘Oh, this really is huge’.”
On Friday, he also released his third album, Gold Rush Kid, with Green Green Grass featuring among the record’s three singles.
