Tom must have had a reprieve too

We borrowed Tom Jones' Greatest Hits from Daughter and each time I've listened to it I've been troubled. I finally got round to googling the lyrics of the Green, Green Grass of Home and I'm right: he has left out a verse, a crucial verse. He's turned it from a tragedy into a sweetly nice song.

The missing verse:

Then I awake and look around me,
At the four gray walls that surround me,
And I realize that I was only dreaming.
For there's a guard, and there's a sad old padre,
Arm in arm, we'll walk at daybreak.
Again, I'll touch the green, green grass of home.

You see? A significant change from the original. I wonder why.

Now I really must stop finding excuses for not scrubbing the kitchen floor ...