What kind of tree would you be?
Posted March 10, 2010 by
Morning Show Crew 
Comments(68)
Comments(68) 
Even though it’s been weeks since the last, awful snowstorm, broken and battered trees are lying all over the place across the tri-state – making us think about the beauty of these objects that we so often take for granted. We pay tribute to the trees in today’s QOTD with some songs that feature the mighty oak, the spreading chestnut, and the towering pine!
Let’s get some more trees in our concrete jungle! Check out http://milliontreesnyc.org/html/home/home.shtml
Songs about Trees— ELLIS PAUL– The Speed of Trees
Regarding the tree-themed question of the day. How about Bruce Cockburn’s
“If a Tree Falls”?
My suggestion for you TREE theme this morning is anything by Michelle Branch.
I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but kind of fun.
I have a great song about trees. I only hope FUV has the album in it’s library
The song is by that candian trio of Geddy Lee,Neal Pert,and Alex Lifesen. Of which I could play all their albums start to finish and still be amazed by their sound.
The supergroup is RUSH the song Is “the trees” and it is off their album “Hemispheres”
This is really a true song about trees!
Give it a listen and you’ll see:)
How about one from one of my favorite bands* –
“The Tree” – *(Incredible String Band)
“Tree” – (Stevie Wonder)
“Tree” – (David Byrne)
“The Tree” – (Peggy Lee)
“Tree” – (Dana Lyons, from the ‘Forests Forever’)
How about Radioheads
Fake Plastic Trees
A shout out to my friends across the pond!
Or. Doherty
“New Love Grows on Trees” for all my new loves out there
“Good Ideas Grow On Trees” by Mike Viola
“Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando
All oldies of one variety or another for me! Remember these?
Willow Weep for Me – Chad and Jeremy
Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin (near and dear to me as I remember my now very adult son having his small fingers zip over the piano keyboard in his young piano lesson years!) – DOESN’T NEED ANY LYRICS!! SPEAKS LOUDLY ALL BY ITSELF
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree – Tony Orlando and Dawn
Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me – The Andrews Sisters
Autumn Leaves (by the great Johnny Mercer) – Nat King Cole or ………yes, of course you know I need no excuse to suggest Frank Sinatra!
It’s a good time to all re-read “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein – yes, it’s a child’s book but it reminds us how much trees can offer us.
Have a good day and hug your favorite tree.
“all the leaves are brown” California dreamin’-Mamas and Papas (live from Monterey Pop Festival)….”tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree”…..”what’s in your tree” (strawberry fields forever),,,,”they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”….
* Tanglewood Tree – Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer (It’s always a good time to play the late great Dave Carter) – Tanglewood Tree
* Birches – Bill Morrisey – Night Train
* The Memory of the Trees – Enya – The Memory of the Trees
I actually learned all these songs on WFUV. The first two are super favorites of mine. Dave died on my birthday. I had a friend visiting from Maryland staying with me. When we drove back to Maryland on Sunday we listened to the last interview Dave ever gave on John Platt’s Sunday Breakfast. It was recorded a few days before he died. That is burned in my memory.
“Century Plant” by Victoria Williams
“Tanglewood Tree” by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, which I just added to my iPhone last night
“Cactus Tree” by Joni Mitchell
And “Tree Hugger” by Kimya Dawson, which was probably obvious
The best tree song ever is Messages by Xavier Rudd.
This is a no brainer….
“The Trees” by Rush
Bare Trees by ? Can’t rember
Here are a few ideas:
Adam’s Tree – Sun 60
Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead
Cherry Tree – The National
Lime Tree – Bright Eyes
Feed the Tree – Belly
Walnut Tree – Keane
In Dark Trees – Brian Eno
I Am a Tree – Guided by Voices
The Chestnut Tree – Glenn Miller Orchestra
Please play “House in the Woods” by Tom Petty. It’s a great song that references Tall Pines – your comments made me think about it.
My suggestions for a tree song is Whispering Pines ( I think that’s the name) – Dar Williams’ Version.
Good morning!! Hope you like these suggestions:
1. “Family Tree” by Tom Chapin; not the green kind, but an important one!!
Rush belting out Trees from Hemispheres – there’s no better way to wake up!
I am a 20 year FUV Listener and l look forward to the next 30.
I have always liked John Gorkas “IBranchingout” from the I know album
You do a great Job. Thanks
I forgot to send my 2nd my second suggestion; “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree”-Tony Orlando (You probably got a bunch of people suggesting this one!)
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Live from Filmore East. “Billy was a mountain. Ethel was a tree growing off of his shoulder.
“Tree Hugger” – Kimya Dawson (from the Juno soundtrack – love it!)
“Family Tree” – TV on the Radio
“One Tree Hill” – U2
Rufus Wainwright’s “Peach Trees.”
How about Joan A’s Willow.
Or Bruce’s If I Should Fall Behind – though I love Dion’s doo-wop version…”Under the oak’s bough we will wed”
Fake Plastic Trees by:Radiohead
First one comes to mind is The Band’s Whispering Pines…
A great tree song is Branching Out by John Gorka (from the album “I Know”)
There is a song on the latest Todd Snider album called “Doll Face.” The “voice” in the song is a tree discussing his life from standing tall, to being ripped down, turned into a newspaper, and then ending up in a landfill. The story told only in a way Todd could do.
Belly “Feed the Tree” from the ‘Star’ record.
How about “Feed the Tree” by Belly/Tanya Donelly?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein#Songs
How about one from the list of songs identified in the above link?
Shel Silverstein is famously known for authoring “The Giving Tree.” It was/is a favorite of my wife and children (even in our old age).
It’s another beautiful day.
Get out and enjoy it.
My pick is Winterwood by Don McLean. This simply beautiful song always bring home to me the cycle of life that tress represent– there is always hope even on “dismal days.”
Day in the Life of a Tree – Beach Boys album Surf’s Up
Little Willow – Paul McCartney album Flaming Pie (Darren’s gotta have this one! Our Beatle freak!)
Thorn Tree in the Garden – Derek and the Dominos (fairly sad song)
Big Black Horse and The Cherry Tree – K. T. Tunstall
Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else but Me – Andrew Sisters ;-()
Great timing. They just broke concrete in front of our place to plant a tree! Please mention this great org http://www.milliontreesnyc.org/html/home/home.shtml that I called to make this happen.
Yes, there is something inspiring about buds – well – budding on trees and other plant life in the city.
Billie Holiday’s Willow Weep for Me comes to mind as does Peter Gabriel’s metaphorical Shaking the Tree.
Good morning!
“Black Horse and a Cherry Tree”- KT Tunstall
“Lone Pine Hill”- Justin Townes Earle
How about Gram Parsons Hickory Wind.
Rockin robin jackson 5
Deep elm. Blues Dead
Muhlenberg county jon denver
Kermit singing “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”
(Just read a great book called “Street Gang,” the story of Sesame Street. Apparently Kermit nailed this song on the first take, but the engineer failed to record it correctly, so they had to do another take. Everyone in the studio agreed that as good as his second take was, the first take was absolutely flawless. Great lyrics: is this a song about a few people being different or is it a song lamenting how everyone is force into conformity? The frog can be deep…)
Whispering Pines by Iris DeMent from the “Horse Whisperer” soundtrack — nice song.
I think that I will never see, a playlist, lovely as a tree.
From an old guy, a chellenge to your library–Tall Oak Tree by Dorsey Burnett, from the late fifties.
More recent– Whispering Pines by the Band.
After U2’s Joshua Tree, this was a challenging one.
Two come to mind, from the folk side of the equation:
- Tanglewood Tree, by Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer (title track of the cd of the same name). It would be great to hear Dave & Tracy!
- Wisteria, by Richard Shindell (off Somewhere near Paterson). The dictionary says a Wisteria tree is really a grafted collection of plants, but I think it works for the contest!
Great idea for a contest…
When you said, “trees”, 2 tracks from Dar Williams’ latest album, Promised Land, immediately came to mind:
Holly Tree
Go To the Woods (with Suzanne Vega)
The first one is gorgeous, but the second one is more format-friendly.
Have a great day!
Branching Out by John Gorka …. displays that Gorka earnestness combined with tongue in cheek humor.
another beautiful day ..and i am on vacation this week..and now songs about trees. when spring is in the air…we have been picking up branches this week as the snow melts and clean up has to be done.ok here we go
dont sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me,,andrew sisiter
knocks me off my feet stevie wonder..this is not a song abut trees but one of the sweetst lines…we lay beneath the stars under the lovers tree that seen thru the eyes of my mind
..that stevie can write lyrics like nobody..
the best is yet to come..frank. sinatra..again not a song about trees but the lyrics are very appropiate…from the tree of life i’ve picked me a plum…….(and spring is in the air so the best is yet to come everyone..we can put those shovel away)
Jack Johnson’s Do You Remember – they build a tree-house and then “I remember watching that old tree burn down/ I took a picture that I don’t like to look at.”
How about Cat Stevens’s “King of Trees”?
Are we allowed to listen to him again, yet?
Good mornin’! Could you please play Lemon Tree, Harry Belafonte’s version? That would be so tasty!
How about – “Two Silver Trees” by Calexico
Hollow log – Beck
How about “Willow Weep for Me” By Sinatra.
There’s nothing worse than seeing a tree cry.
Happy Spring! (Almost)
Feed the Tree by Belly
“Bare Trees” – Fleetwood Mac
“Birches” – Bill Morrissey
“Redwood Tree” – Van Morrison
in my tree pearl jam
have you played “Willow Weep for Me” yet this morning? It’s a beautiful but sad, sad song. There are so many renditions. I was trying to find one that wasn’t a complete downer, and found one by James Brown! If you want a vocal version, there are really great ones by the greats: Ella, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington.
How about…
“Sycamore” by Straight Jacket Fits (from the album “BLOW”)
{it was released on Arista in the early 90’s I think…}
Feed the tree- belly.
I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree
Joyce Kilmer
You bring me back to the days when poetry appreciation was taught in grammar and high schools. Being in that state of mind, I recommend “House At Pooh Corner” by Loggins and Messina – “I can’t seem to find my way back to the woods”
Have you already got this one? Van Morrison Cypress Avenue from Astral Weeks. A bit longish–6:50–but well worth the time.I love Rufus Wainwright’s “Peach Trees.” Thanks!
The Mamas and the Papas, Dream a Little Dream of me
“Birds singing in the sycamore tree…”
“Prettiest Tree on the Mountain”
Ben Sollee
It’s a really pretty song, and Ben’s a fantastic musician- very humble and like-able, and he does it all on the cello!
“The Trees” – Rush.
I know that we’re not likely to hear Rush on this station, but this song applies.
How about Redwood Tree by Van Morrison?
How about “Feed the Tree” by Belly
Love the show
If a Tree Falls (Bruce Cockburn)
That’s why need to grow industrial hemp so we don’t have to cut down are TREES.
Probably too late to get these to you, but here are some tree songs.
“High Flying Bird” by Jefferson Airplane
“Trees Still Bend” by Girlyman
“Family Tree” – Tom Chapin
Beautiful song about family but with major references to actual trees.