Friday Five: Tree Songs

The very first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. So let’s pay tribute with a selection of classic country songs in which trees serve as an important part of the scenery. Not a fan of the classics? Then check out BR549′s “Tangled in the Pines,” Those Poor Bastards’ “Among the Pines,” Tom Russell’s “Joshua Tree” (a tribute to Gram Parsons), or Loretta Lynn’s 2004 song “Family Tree.”

• 5. “The Family Tree Musta Fell On Me” – Wayne Raney

  On this goofy song Raney looks around at his attractive family and reasons “I’m so doggone ugly, you see/The family tree musta fell on me.” It also turns out that his parents named him “You-gly” and he later gets mistaken for a clown at the circus. Therapy might not have been all the rage when this song was recorded in 1950, but if anyone needed it, it was You-gly.

• 4. “Whispering Pines” – Johnny Horton

  Poor Johnny Horton. His darlin’ is gone and he asks the pines for some help getting his girl back, or at least a little sympathy. Does he get it? Of course not. Instead he has to watch a pair of squirrels (whom Horton—either projecting or descending into insanity—has decided are blissfully in love with one another) frolic around the trees.

• 3. “Tall Tall Trees” – George Jones

  The Possum loves you so much, he’s gonna buy you some trees. No word on how he’s going to transport them, though. Maybe in that big limousine. Jones co-wrote this with Roger Miller and both put it on their own albums, but it wasn’t released as a single until Alan Jackson recorded it (and subsequently topped the charts with it) several decades later.

• 2. “The Hanging Tree” – Marty Robbins

  Robbins recorded this song for a movie of the same name (starring Gary Cooper, George C. Scott, and Karl Malden). The song’s much more upbeat than the title would suggest, as the hanging tree becomes “a tree of life…hope…[and] love.”

• 1. “In The Pines” – Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Bo

  Love, trains, the occasional decapitation…what more do you need from a song? Nineteenth century folksong “In the Pines,” aka “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” aka “Black Girl” has been recorded by Lead Belly, Link Wray, the Louvin Brothers, and many other artists whose names don’t begin with “L.” This one’s a classic no matter what title it’s recorded under or who sings it, but I must admit that my favorite version of the song is the first one I heard: Nirvana’s version of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” on their 1993 MTV Unplugged special, if only because I wasn’t allowed to watch MTV. Contraband music is the best kind.