Tree

This song happened at a rough spot in my life, probably sometime in the fall of 1986. I had somehow survived a really traumatic breakup, been kicked out of a previous roommate situation as the other guy couldn't abide that I left the front door unlocked twice (garage apartment, nothing to steal, two guys, one seriously armed (him)). Anyway, I'm living with the sorriest roommates I ever had, two schmucks named Robert & Murray. It was a neat house but the railroad tracks were way too close so one had to take 'train breaks' when recording and those losers would have the teevee blasting when anything in a football uniform came on screen. Told 'em I was a smoker when they took me in but then discovered they were as anti-tobacco as they come.

So anyway, I'm in hell, and on some Saturday I go on a lousy date. She's too young (26) and kind of odd but at one point we talked about her tree house experiences when she was a kid and she tells me how her mother brought her lunch.

Next morning I wake up with this song in my head. First I write down the lyrics then w/a click on the old four track I cut the bass part then two tracks of vocals (w/some Mk III echoplex) & presto, we're done. Years later I laid down a keyboard part then a decade later I did a MIDI version then another decade later I discovered that this version, the original, is the right one and so now, here it is. The gap at the end of "there is no death" is due to physical damage on the master tape.

"Do we have to come down" - no, this song is about being in a tree, right? It has nothing to do with getting high, right? "But the might & strength of youth will keep us safe forever", can't you taste the irony in spades? Decades later I'm still surprised by the "yes, forever" outro, it's by far the most positive thing I have (or will) ever commit to tape. Enjoy...

Tree