gts114 “dendrish”
I know one way to shut that damn Lorax up.
01-01 Phil Harris – RCA Victor 20-2075 – Woodman Spare That Tree (1946)
— don’t own many 78s, but sure have this one! Can’t play the flipside on the radio in 2024.
01-02 Avis Armbrister & Almeda Campbell – The Bahamas: Islands of Song 08 – All In The Woods
— recursive memory game song, perfect for setting up Regina.
01-03 Regina Spektor – Home, Before And After 102 – Up The Mountain (2022)
01-04 Blue Effect A Hosté – Live 05 – Get Down From The Tree (Slez Dolu Ze Stromu) (2008)
— forced to change their name to Modry Effekt because “blues” was an unwholesome degenerate American music. Once the Cold War ended, they could be Blue Effekt once more.
01-05 Aretha Franklin – Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of Soul 206 – Tree Of Life (1972)
— recorded for her album “Hey Now Hey” but didn’t make the cut. Aretha credited as producer as well.
02-01 David McCallum – Three Bites Of The Apple OST 101 – In The Garden & Under The Tree (1967)
— yes, he voiced Batman’s butler Alfred in the animated movies. Probably most famous as Illya in Man From UNCLE, also played Ducky on NCIS for 20 years, if you watch that crap.
02-02 Eddie Albert & Bob Holt – The Lorax [excerpt] (1972)
— yes, “Green Acres” Eddie Albert, spraining his tongue on some Seuss.
02-03 The Smothers Brothers – Golden Hits Of The Smothers Brothers Vol2 202 – I Talk To The Trees [excerpt] (1966)
— the gag runs over 5 minutes in full.
02-04 Dar Williams – Promised Land 08 – Go To The Woods (2008)
02-05 Bo Diddley – Pye International 44031 101 – Bo’s A Lumberjack (1964)
— Bo knows Bunyan.
02-06 Monty Python – The Ant: An Introduction – Lumberjack Song (1969)
— the version from the series, not one of the innumberable re-recordings.
02-07 Frank Zappa – Make A Jazz Noise Here 106 – The Orange County Lumber Truck (1991)
— only a phrase of it, recorded live at The Ahoy 1988-05-03, not the tune from his album “Weasels Ripped My Flesh”.
02-08 Harry Belafonte – RCA 10059 – Jerry (This Timber Got to Roll) (1957)
— get out of that guy’s way.
03-01 Heart – Little Queen 103 – Sylvan Song (1977)
— on the album this flows right in as the prelude to “Dream Of The Archer”, but in this CD-cut it ends hard. I didn’t pad-and-fade because it goes into Rush pretty well even with the jarring end.
03-02 Rush – Hemispheres 103 – The Trees (1978)
— guess who The Oaks are?
03-03 Grand Drive – Being Alive (Loose Wheels And Latch Keys) 01 – Shake My Tree (2005)
— great pounder.
03-04 Peter Gabriel & Youssou N’Dour – Post Script 06 – Shakin’ The Tree (1997)
— extended version, believe it was released as a 12″ single but couldn’t find info to back the hunch. It’s about female empowerment in Africa, but nearly a perfect song for this moment in America.
04-01 Lyric Quartet – Victor 17778 – Down Among The Sheltering Palms (1915)
— vocals by Olive Kline, Harry Macdonough, Elsie Baker & Reinald Werrenrath, also appeared in the Marilyn Monroe film “Some Like It Hot”.
04-02 Napolean XIV – They’re Coming To Take Me Away Ha-Haaa! 204 – The Nuts On My Family Tree (1966)
— reunions must have been entertaining.
04-03 Strange Creek Singers – Strange Creek Singers 102 – In the Pines (1972)
— will always sieze the opportunity to play Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens. Mike Seeger in there too, Pete’s brother.
04-04 Mohawk & The Rednecks – Montel Michelle MX940 – Enchanted Forest (1965)
04-05 Argent – Ring Of Hands 104 – Lothlorien (1971)
— if you need to ask, Lothlorien is where Galadriel lives. If you still need to ask, shut up.
05-01 Ween – Axis: Bold As Boognish 203 – Opus 51 Fugue Trilogy in A (Take Me To The Tree) (1987)
— and it’s not a trilogy. A: Yurtle Swimming, B: The Tree, C: Bertha Gets The Mooshy Mooshy, D: The Kitty & The Squirrel. Heard this on the radio in 1987 and it spun my head about Ween, up to then seen only as a ‘novelty song’ band.
05-02 Screaming Trees – Asylum 201 – Take Them To The Tree (1987)
— years later, was watching an old movie and heard the quote used as a theme here. Can’t recall which movie!
06-01 fourwaycross – fourwaycross 202 – Driving Thru Trees (1988)
— no fooling, one of my favorite bands. For decades nobody knew who they were, but searching things for this show, apparently there’s been an explosion of interest in fourwaycross in the past couple years. Been waiting a long time for the rest of the world to catch up!
06-02 The Cure – Standing On A Beach 204 – A Forest (1980)
— not the album version, and not the 12″ single version either. Actually, not certain this version was recorded in 1980, but they did spend an entire 16-hour day in the studio working out this one tune.
06-03 Stereophonics – Word Gets Around 01 – A Thousand Trees (1997)
— only you can prevent… hooligans.
06-04 Lunar Drive – All Together Here 12 – Trees Wave Goodbye (1999)
— good surprises inside.
06-05 Joni Mitchell – Ladies Of The Canyon 204 – Big Yellow Taxi (1970)
— a dollar and a half sounds like a bargain today.
… and a bonus bit…
07-01 George Friederic Handel – Esther Act1 Sc1 02 – Pluck root and branch from out the land [excerpt] (1718)
— luckily didn’t have time for the full song (considered the first oratorio in English). Speaker is the King of Persia, but still… 300 years later, some of the other lyrics could be… taken in the wrong way.