George Ezra says it was “unnecessary” to censor the word “die” in ‘Green Green Grass’ for his performance at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert.
The ‘Budapest’ hitmaker played his hit single at Buckingham Palace this past weekend at the celebration concert to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign, and fans were quick to pick up on the change in lyric.
George should have sung: “Green green grass, blue blue sky, you better throw a party on the day that I die.”
But he’s now revealed why he was asked to omit the word “die”.
He told The Sun newspaper: “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 ‘Shotgun’ singer insists the song is meant to be about celebrating life.
George laughed: “I’m not demanding anybody does anything on the day that I’ve passed away.
“It’s a song about celebrating life. And it feels good when you sing it.
“We felt it was a special song when we were producing it.
“There was a moment when we looked at each other. We were excited about it.
“It was a good sign and the response to it has been amazing.”
‘Green Green Grass’ is on George’s latest LP, ‘Gold Rush Kid’, out now.
Three albums in, George has never been happier or more comfortable in his career.
Though he admits it’s not always easy in the “intense” music industry, he knows when to “have a word” with himself when he starts worrying over small things.
He said: “I have the best job in the world. But there are parts about it that I find difficult.
“And there are a lot of things that are full-on about it. I didn’t really want to quit music.
“It’s just that I approached it in this intense, mainstream way and there was a moment where I thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’
“It causes a lot of stress in your life. But I’ve realised it doesn’t have to be so full-on.
“When I sat back, listened to this album and looked at the artwork, then I’m so proud and I know I need to go out and let people know this album exists.
“When it gets intense now I just have a word with myself, pull myself up on my bull**** and I forget the things I worry about.
“Then I see that I get to travel and perform music and that’s a beautiful thing.”