George Ezra was asked to change “day I die” lyric before performing at Jubilee

George Ezra has confirmed that the “powers that be” asked him to change the lyrics of his recent song ‘Green Green Grass’ for his performance at the Platinum Party At The Palace concert last weekend.

The singer performed the track at Buckingham Palace on Saturday evening as part of an all-star concert to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.

However, fans soon noticed that the lyrics “Green green grass, blue blue sky, you better throw a party on the day that I die”, were edited to remove the apparent reference to dying.

Speaking to The Sun earlier this week, 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.”

He went on to explain that the lyric was not morbid, but instead a “celebration of life”.

Opening up on the performance, he added: “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’.”

Today (June 10) sees Ezra release his anticipated third album ‘Gold Rush Kid’.

In our round-up of the week’s releases, Rolling Stone UK said of the record: “On his third album, George Ezra doubles down on the earworms that have cemented his position as one of the UK’s biggest songwriters, but at the same time, those tunes are laden with new depths.

“The frivolity of ‘Green Green Glass’ sees Ezra repositioning the concept of death and mourning as a riotous celebration, while ‘I Went Hunting’s frank exploration of mental illness is arguably the most affecting thing he’s ever done.”