Lyr Req: songs about trees...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: open mike
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 12:38 AM

Yes, I mentioned the Lambeth Children, O by Malvina Reynolds..

here are the lyrics...
http://www.lovelylambeth.com/history-03.html

and here:
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr087.htm

also there is a line in the song "the Water is Wide"

midi here:
http://www.ireland-information.com/irishmusic/thewateriswide.shtml

"i leaned my back against an oak....
thinking it was a trusty tree
but first he bent and then he broke..
so did my love prove false to me"

there is also another song about how it is good
to be flexible like the willow (or grass?)
and bend instead of breaking like an oak...

not sure if it is walk the way the wind blows??? or not...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: Tangledwood
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 04:46 AM

""Wind in a Million Leaves" by Australia's John Warner"

Thank you Charley, that looks like one that will be worth chasing up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees..
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 04:50 PM

Tangledwood-

John Warner is a national treasure, and he has a new website: Click here for website!

John is also a member of the sea music group The Roaring Forties and more information can be harvested from their website as well.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: Tangledwood
Date: 10 Jan 09 - 06:22 PM

Thanks for the link to the new website, I'll give it a thorough browse when I finish here. Yes, i was lucky enough to see the Roaring Forties at Woodford a few years ago and Anderson's Coast is one of my favourite songs to play. (thinks - must play "Shore Leave" later - haven't done so for a while)

Subject: Lyr Add: MACHINES ARE CLOSING IN (Paul Spencer)
From: GUEST,Machines Are Closing In - Paul Spencer
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 08:11 AM

Machines Are Closing In - Paul Spencer, 1997

Tomorrow when all the bush is grey
The darkness before the break of day
Then headlights and diesel engine noise
Our warning, machines are closing in
At daylight the slaughter will begin
We'll see then what selfishness destroys

How much is ancient forest worth?
How dear our world of death and birth?
My life belongs to planet Earth

Police cars come in to join the fight
The small things all run away in fright
The bush birds disperse on silent wings
The primates can fight among themselves
The cops throw some friends of mine in cells
The road clears the day of work begins

The ground shakes as timber crashes down
Our anger, enchanted by the sound
Released by the growling of machines
Alone now, the tears are free to flow
This old bush, ten thousand years to grow
Forsaken for seven bucks a ream

As you can tell, Paul was and remains a dedicated anti-woodchip activist..

Subject: Lyr Add: BY THE DRY CARDRONA (James K. Baxter)
From: AnneMC
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 06:43 AM

BY THE DRY CARDRONA (cherry tree)
Lyrics by James K. Baxter
http://folksong.org.nz/drycardr/index.html (has midi)


Oh I can tell where the cherries grow,
By the dry Cardrona
Where I picked them long ago,
On a day when I was sober
On a day when I was sober.
(Audience repeats the last line of each verse)

My father wore a parson's coat
By the dry Cardrona
He kept a tally of the sheep and the goats,
And I was never sober.

My mother sewed her Sunday skirt
By the dry Cardrona
They say she died of a broken heart
'Cause I was never sober.

I loved a young miss, and only one
By the dry Cardrona
But she up and married the banker's son,
For I was never sober.

I courted a widow of forty-nine
By the dry Cardrona
She owned a stable and a Scheelite mine,
But I was never sober.

Oh lay my bones till the judgment crack
By the dry Cardrona
A blanket swag upon my back,
To pillow me drunk or sober.

All rivers run to the rimless grave
Even the wild Cardrona,
But never a one will come my way
Till I am stone cold sober.

But I can tell where the cherries grow,
By the dry Cardrona
Where I picked them long ago,
On a day when I was sober.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 06:56 AM

Which reminds me of another New Zealand one - quoting from memory, from Denis Glover's "Sings Harry" cycle, as set to music by Douglas Lilburn:

Once my strength was an avalanche
now it follows the fold of the hill.
Once my love was a flowering branch
now withered and still.
Once it was all fighting and folly
and a girl who followed me.
Who plucked at me plucked holly
but I pluck the flowers of the sea...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:45 AM

an old related thread Celtic songs about trees

Cill Chais (Irish Gaelic with two English lang translations)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees..
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:33 PM

Shto Si Goro Povyakhnala is maybe my favorite Bulgarian song. I haven't found the lyrics, in translation or other wise, online, but I think the songs begins by asking the trees why they are weeping.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAMBETH CHILDREN O (Malvina Reynolds)
From: open mike
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:02 PM

Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems

The Lambeth Children O
Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1966 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1994. This song is based on a 1966 news report from the town of Lambeth, Ontario, Canada, concerning how "About fifty children, hanging from branches, forced the woodmen to spare the trees yesterday in this village just south of London" (The Muse of Parker Street, p. 95).

((Version One)):
Fifty children sitting in the trees,
Fifty children swingin in the breeze,
Up in the branches and off their knees,
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O,
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O.
Eleven fine maples growing in a row,
The road to be widened doomed them to go,
But fifty kids of Lambeth cried "No, no!"
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O,
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O.
Roads we've enough and roads everywhere,
Roads for the cars we can very well spare,
But long live the maple trees, green or bare,
And hooray for the Lambeth children, O,
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O.
Woodsmen came with their axes and their saws,
But kids on the branches, chirruping like daws,
And the woodsmen said, "The devil with the laws,
And hooray for the Lambeth children, O,
And hooray for the Lambeth children, O."
Lambeth town in Ontario,
That's where the maple trees stand in a row,
That's where the loveliest children grow,
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O,
Hooray for the Lambeth children, O.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 05:23 AM

If you are still looking how about a fairly unknown:
Cutting down the trees by the late Rick Keeling. Written back in the early 70's it is still one of my favourite songs.

They're cutting down the trees down our street,
They're cutting down the Sycamore and the Oak
And Jimmy says they're gonna build a highway,
Like the one he once seen in a book.

Etc.....
From my (bad) memory
Available on Waiting for the Leaves Rick Keeling
from Forest Tracks.

Andy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 05:31 AM

Wooden Tree by Ivor Cutler

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:12 AM

Brian McNeill, The Yew Tree.

Though this suggests it needs an updated ending: Lightning kills 16 cows near Pencaitland.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Looking for song lyrics about trees...
From: SharonA
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 10:06 AM

"Autumn Leaves"

"High Hopes" (with the ant moving the rubber tree plant)

"Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead

"The Dreaming Tree" by Dave Matthews Band

"Cherry Tree" by 10,000 Maniacs

"Saking the Tree" by Peter Gabriel

...and any number of Christian hymns that make reference to the cross as a tree.

Subject: Lyr Add: TREE WASSAIL
From: robinia
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:21 AM

what about the lovely "Tree Wassail"-


We praise the trees, strong may you grow, we praise your roots that downward go
We praise your branches reaching high, bearing leaves that touch the sky.
        In the spring with blossoms crowned, in fall apples ripe and round.
        Bless the flower and bless the seed, and bless the fruit of every tree.
May winters cold to you be kind, may you blossom in the spring sunshine
May gentle rain in its season fall, may you be loved by one and all
        In the spring with blossoms crowned, in fall apples ripe and round
        Bless the flower and bless the seed, and bless the fruit of every tree.
We thank you for your blossoms sweet, we thank you for the fruit we eat.
Receive our thanks for all you give, growing joy, long may you live.        
        In the spring with blossoms crowned, in fall apples ripe and round,
        Bless the flower and bless the seed, and bless the fruit of every tree.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: GUEST,threelegsoman
Date: 28 Dec 09 - 07:07 PM

Hi Ger,

May I suggest The Bristlecone Pine the oldest living trees on the planet. It is one I have uploaded, can't remember if you have used it at all.

Tony

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: open mike
Date: 28 Dec 09 - 10:16 PM

i mentioned bristlecone pine,
and it has been the title song
on one of Bryan Bowers'
(autoharp player)
newer albums.
www.bryanbowers.com

Subject: Lyr Add: ANNIE (E Clapton, K Lambert, R Lane)
From: quokka
Date: 29 Dec 09 - 10:46 AM

Not sure of the name of this one but it's lovely:
(may be called simply "Annie" -Ronnie Lane & Eric Clapton)

Old oaks stand tall, Annie
See the world grow small, Annie
But when they fall, Annie
Where will we be?

Winter has come, Annie
No strength in the sun, Annie
But when it's gone, Annie
Where will we be?

When those colours have faded
When old Jack comes to call
Don't tell him no, tell him maybe...
Oh Annie, God bless us all
God bless us all

In the chill wind that calls, Annie
Every leaf must fall, Annie
God bless us all, Annie
Wherever we be
God bless us all, Annie
Wherever we be

Cheers,

Quokka

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: GUEST,Topher
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 11:39 AM

Okay so when i was young my mom sang a lullaby or hymn that she called the red oak tree, I know that she didn't make it but i haven't been able to find it, i can remember a couple of the lyrics but not all of the song,
"Make me a grave where I can quietly lay, where the --- and the sky above, oh make me a grave where I can quietly lay, neath the elm and the ash, and the red oak tree."
any help is appreciated...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: quokka
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:33 PM

Hi, guest topher - You probably need to start a new thread looking for this song

Cheers,
Quokka

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: breezy
Date: 07 Jan 10 - 11:44 AM

'Sway with me ' as mentioned earlier

Good on you Puck and Rhiannon who is snowed in

the song is written from the tree's perpective, Its the tree talking.

'On a hillside dark and deep, as you close your eyes to sleep,

A lost soul there for the taking '


Great tune and middle 8, singable join inable last lines

I heard it by Brad Bradstock and booked him and then heard some more good songs.

Sung also now by Moses and the ref

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: quokka
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 05:20 PM

Hi guest topher, I started the thread for you about The Elm and the Ash and the Red (Black?) Oak Tree. As usual, Mudcatters have come up with some good stuff.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: peregrina
Date: 15 Jan 10 - 05:25 PM

Mike Tickell's CD Warksburn includes 'Rennie's song', written by Rennie Proudlock, about "the effects of blanket afforestation on an area."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: nickp
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 10:39 AM

Stve Knightley/Show of Hands "The Oak"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: nickp
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 10:40 AM

That, of course, should have been Steve Knightley...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about trees...
From: open mike
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 02:18 PM

I am not sure if these have been posted already..but..
Maple's Lament...by Laurie Lewis
Bristle Cone Pine...by Hugh Prestwood
Piney Wood Hills...Buffy St. Marie
Heart on a Hill...Kristina Olsen
Lemon Tree--Trini Lopez
Little bird that builds her nest in a white oak tree..
"where the bad boys cannot bother me"
(I'm as free a little bird as i can be...)
Bury Me Beneath the Willow...trad? Carter family?
FRUIT TREES...PAT WYNNE