"The Green Leaves of Summer", composed by Dimitri Tiomkin with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, was written for the 1960 film The Alamo.^[1] It was performed in the film's score by the vocal group The Brothers Four. In 1961, the song was nominated for an Academy Award; its parent soundtrack, for the film The Alamo, was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.^[2]

History

In The Alamo, the song is heard on the last night before the Battle of the Alamo. Davy Crockett (John Wayne), when asked what he is thinking, responds "not thinking. Just remembering" as the song is heard. The men of the Alamo reminisce on their lives and reflect on their own mistakes, faith, and morality.

The song itself has no lyrical connection to the Alamo, or to any other historical events, but is simply a nostalgic reminiscence of the narrator's idyllic youth.^[3]

The basic theme of this song completely coincides with the tune of the song written by Nikita Bogoslovsky from the Soviet movie Treasure Island in 1937. Dmitry Tiomkin, probably, saw this movie somewhere and brazenly stole the whole melody right down to the last note, realizing that none of the Americans would ever see a Soviet film. It is disputed whether Dmitry Tiomkin stole the melody from the 1937 Soviet movie Treasure Island. There is a song approximately 38 minutes into the movie^[4] where a male character sings a slow song in a minor key; the song bears little resemblance to the melody of "The Green Leaves of Summer," other than it is slow and in a minor key. This is the only song in the Soviet movie that is similar in any way to "The Green Leaves of Summer."

Chart performance

The Brothers Four recording of the song went to #65 on the US, Hot 100.^[5]

Other recordings

"The Green Leaves of Summer" has been covered by a number of musicians including:

• Sil Austin
• Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen
• Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
• Frankie Avalon
• The Ray Conniff Singers
• Ken Dodd
• Anita Harris
• Hampton Hawes
• Mahalia Jackson
• Frankie Laine
• The Johnny Mann Singers
• Patti Page
• Nick Perito
• Peter and Gordon
• Nelson Riddle
• The Springfields
• The Ventures
• A French-language translation, "Le Bleu de l'été", was performed by Michèle Arnaud and Maya Casabianca (fr), A version by Les Compagnons de la chanson reached No. 3 on the French and Belgian charts.^[6][7]
• A Finnish-language translation, "Kesän vihreät lehvät", written by Sauvo Puhtila, was performed by both Eino Grön and Vieno Kekkonen (fi).

Popular culture

The song received renewed interest when Nick Perito's version was featured in the title sequence of the 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino.^[8]

References