The Trees (Rush song)

"The Trees"
File:The Treesrush.jpg
Single by Rush
from the album Hemispheres
B-side	"Circumstances"
Released	1978
Format	7"
Genre	Hard rock, progressive rock
Length	4:42
Writer(s)	Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson
Producer(s)	Rush & Terry Brown
Rush singles chronology
"Cinderella Man" (1977) "The Trees" (1978) "Circumstances" (1978)
Hemispheres track listing "Circumstances" (2) "The Trees" (3) "La Villa Strangiato" (4) Exit...Stage Left track listing "Broon's Bane" (8) "The Trees" (9) "Xanadu" (10)

The Trees is a song by Canadian rock band Rush, from their 1978 album Hemispheres. The song is also featured on many of Rush's compilation albums, and has long been a staple of the band's live performances. On the live album Exit...Stage Left, the song features an extended acoustic guitar introduction titled "Broon's Bane."

Lyrics

The lyrics relate a short story about a conflict between maple and oak trees in a forest. Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart was asked in the April/May 1980 issue of the magazine Modern Drummer if there was a message in the lyrics, to which he replied "No. It was just a flash. I was working on an entirely different thing when I saw a cartoon picture of these trees carrying on like fools. I thought, 'What if trees acted like people?' So I saw it as a cartoon really, and wrote it that way. I think that's the image that it conjures up to a listener or a reader. A very simple statement."

In other media

• The song is featured in an episode of King of the Hill titled "The Witches of East Arlen."

• The song is featured in the film SLC Punk.

• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered the song for their 2006 Christmas album Silent Nightclub.

• A vault edition of "The Trees" is a playable song in Rock Band 2 and also Rock Band Unplugged.

See also

• List of Rush songs

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• Discussion of the song's meaning @ http://www.last.fm/group/Rush/forum/222/_/410497/1