"The Green Leaves of Summer"

English

"Beautiful Brown Eyes"

1960 (1960)

3:20

Columbia

Dimitri Tiomkin

Paul Francis Webster

History[edit]

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]

Chart performance[edit]

The Brothers Four recording of the song went to #65 on the US, Hot 100.[4]

Sil Austin

& His Jazzmen

Kenny Ball

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 and Maya Casabianca (fr), A version by Les Compagnons de la chanson reached No. 3 on the French and Belgian charts.[5][6]

Michèle Arnaud

A Finnish-language translation, "Kesän vihreät lehvät", written by Sauvo Puhtila, was performed by both and Vieno Kekkonen (fi).

Eino Grön

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

Popular culture[edit]

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.[7]