40 Songs for Arbor Day

Where would the world be, really, without trees? Shade, shelter, foliage and all around an integral part of the environment.

The very first Arbor Day — a day dedicated to encouraging the planting of trees – took place on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska, where as estimated one million trees were planted. (Globally, though, organized arbor-related festivals have been going on since the 1500s.)

From a poetic perspective, there’s something awfully symbolic about trees – branches that reach out toward the sun, roots that anchor them in place, cyclical seasons that seem buds grow and leaves fall. It stands to reason that many songwriters have incorporated trees and their allegories in their music.

In recognition of Arbor Day, we’ve gather up 40 songs that, while not necessarily about physical trees themselves, still honor their essence.

1. “Lemon Tree,” Peter, Paul and Mary
From: Peter, Paul and Mary (1962)

“When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me / ‘Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree’ / ‘Don’t put your faith in love, my boy’ my father said to me / ‘I fear you’ll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree.'”

2. “Under the Greenwood Tree,” Donovan
From: A Gift From a Flower to a Garden (1967)

“Under the greenwood tree / Who loves to lie with me / And tune his merry note / Unto the sweet bird’s throat.”

3. “The Trees,” Rush
From: Hemispheres (1978)

“There is unrest in the forest / Trouble with the trees / For the maples want more sunlight / And the oaks ignore their pleas.”

4. “Fake Plastic Trees,” Radiohead
From: The Bends (1995)

“Her green plastic watering can / For a fake Chinese rubber plant / In the fake plastic earth / That she bought from a rubber man / In a town full of rubber plans / To get rid of itself.”

5. “A Forest,” The Cure
From: Seventeen Seconds (1980)

“Come closer and see / See into the trees / Find the girl / While you can.”

6. “Redwood Tree,” Van Morrison
From: Saint Dominic’s Preview (1972)

“Oh redwood tree / Please let us under / When we were young we used to go / Under the redwood tree / And it smells like rain / Maybe even thunder / Won’t you keep us from all harm / Wonderful redwood tree.”

7. “A Day in the Life of a Tree,” The Beach Boys
From: Surf’s Up (1971)

“One day I was full of life / My sap was rich and I was strong / From seed to tree, I grew so tall / Through wind and rain, I could not fall.”

8. “English Trees,” Crowded House
From: Time on Earth (2007)

“English trees in my garden / They planted seeds in a faraway land / In between the palms and the succulent grow.”

9. “Little Willow,” Paul McCartney
From: Flaming Pie (1997)

“Bend, little willow / Wind’s going to blow you hard and cold tonight / Life, as it happens / Nobody warns you, willow, hold on tight.”

10. “Bare Trees,” Fleetwood Mac
From: Bare Trees (1972)

“Bare trees, gray light / Oh, yeah, it was a cold night / Bare trees, gray light.”

11. “Boys in the Trees,” Carly Simon
From: Boys in the Trees (1978)

“I’m home again in my old narrow bed / Where I grew tall and my feet hung over the end /The low beam room with the window looking out / On the soft summer garden / Where the boys grew in the trees.”

12. “Go Back to Your Woods,” Robbie Robertson
From: Storyville (1991)

“Keep jerking rabbits outta your hat / Now can ya pull a disappearing act / Go back go back to your woods.”

13. “No More Walks in the Wood,” Eagles
From: Long Road Out of Eden (2007)

“No more walks in the wood / The trees have all been cut down / And where once they stood / Not even a wagon rut / Appears along the path / Low brush is taking over / No more walks in the wood.”

14. “Shadows and Tall Trees,” U2
From: Boy (1980)

“Shadows and tall trees / Life through a window / Discolored pain / Mrs. Brown’s washing is always the same.”

15. “Cherry Tree Carol,” Sting
From: If on a Winter’s Night… (2009)

“So the cherry tree bowed low down, low down to the ground / And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood down.”

16. “Thorn Tree in the Garden,” Derek and the Dominos
From: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)

“There’s a thorn tree in the garden, if you know just what I mean / And I hate to hurt your feelings but its not the way it seems / ‘Cause I miss her.”

17. “Trees,” Paul Weller
From: Wake Up the Nation (2010)

“Someone take me back to the fields / Where I need to be / So once again I can stand tall and feel / Once more, a tree.”

18. “Weeping Willow,” The Verve
From: Urban Hymns (1997)

“Weeping willow / I got to learn to leave the pain / Walk through the door and kiss the rain beside me.”

19. “Hickory Wind,” The Byrds
From: Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

“In South Carolina / There’s many tall pines / I remember the oak tree / That we used to climb.”

20. “Fruit Tree,” Nick Drake
From: Five Leaves Left (1969)

“Fame is but a fruit tree, so very unsound / It can never flourish ’til its stalk is in the ground.”

21. “In My Tree,” Pearl Jam
From: No Code (1996)

“Up here in my tree, yeah / Newspapers matter not to me, yeah / No more crowbars to my head, yeah / I’m trading stories with the leaves instead, yeah.”

22. “Last Leaf,” Tom Waits
From: Bad as Me (2011)

“I’m the last leaf on the tree / The autumn took the rest / But they won’t take me / I’m the last leaf on the tree.”

23. “King of Trees,” Yusef / Cat Stevens
From: Buddha and the Chocolate Box (1974)

“He was the king of trees, keeper of the leaves / A deep green guard of young love-stained memory / We used to meet by him far from the hustling town / I loved you, now they’ve come to cut you down…down.”

24. “A Cry in the Forest,” Dan Fogelberg
From: Dan Fogelberg Live: Greetings From the West (1991)

“There’s a cry in the forest, it’s feathered and brown / And it echoes off of nothing as the trees come down / It’s the sound of a sparrow hittin’ the ground / It’s the sound of one eternity bound.”

25. “The Trees,” Pulp
From: We Love Life (2001)

“Yeah, the trees, those useless trees / Produce the air that I am breathing / Yeah, the trees, those useless trees / They never said that you were leaving.”

26. “Forest for the Trees,” Huey Lewis and the News
From: Fore! (1986)

“When you’re a young man, down and out / You really need someone to help you out / It looks like life or death is your only choice / It’s really hard to see / The forest for the trees.”

27. “Out of Our Tree,” The Wailers
From: 1965 Single

“Don’t know what we hear and see / Hey, we gotta be out of our tree.”

28. “Cedar Tree,” Indigo Girls
From: Rites of Passage (1992)

“You dug a well / You dug it deep / For every wife you buried / You planted a cedar tree.”

29. “Cactus Tree,” Joni Mitchell
From: Song to a Seagull (1968)

“He has missed her in the forest / While he showed her all the flowers / And the branches sang the chorus / As he climbed the scaly towers of a forest tree / While she was somewhere being free.”

30. “In Dark Trees,” Brian Eno
From: Another Green World (1975)

31. “Sugar Magnolia,” The Grateful Dead
From: American Beauty (1970)

“Sugar magnolia, blossoms blooming / Head’s all empty and I don’t care / Saw my baby down by the river / Knew she’d have to come up soon for air.”

32. “Magnolia,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
From: You’re Gonna Get It! (1978)

“Magnolia, I remember the smell of the wind through the suite / Magnolia, and I know that she’s out there somewhere in the world / She’s forgotten me, but I remember her, magnolia.”

33. “Bury Me in Willow,” Asia
From: XXX (2012)

“Give me no standard, no eulogy / No red, white and blue, no sceptre and no cloak / Just bury me in willow, not in oak.”

34. “Songs From the Wood,” Jethro Tull
From: Songs From the Wood (1977)

“Let me bring you songs from the wood / To make you feel much better than you could know / Dust you down from tip to toe / Show you how the garden grows.”

35. “Apple Blossom,” The White Stripes
From: De Stijl (2000)

“Hey little apple blossom / What seems to be the problem? / All the ones you tell your troubles to / They don’t really care for you.”

36. “Pussywillows, Cat-Tails,” Gordon Lightfoot
From: Did She Mention Your Name? (1968)

“Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses / Rain pools in the woodland, water to my knees / Shivering, quivering, the warm breath of spring / Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses.”

37. “Skeleton Tree,” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
From: Skeleton Tree (2016)

“Sunday morning, skeleton tree / Well, nothing is for free / In the window, a candle / Well, maybe you can see / Fallen leaves thrown across the sky / A jittery TV / Glowing white like fire / Nothing is for free.”

38. “The Dreaming Tree,” Dave Matthews Band
From: Before These Crowded Streets (1998)

“Standing here / The old man said to me / ‘Long before these crowded streets / Here stood my dreaming tree.'”

39. “Apple Suckling Tree,” Bob Dylan and the Band
From: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete (2014)

“Underneath that tree / There’s just gonna be you and me / Underneath that apple suckling tree, oh yeah.”

40. “Even the Trees Are Dancing,” The Waterboys
From: This Is the Sea (1985)