B-side "Circumstances" Format 7" | Released 1978 Length 4:42 | |
Genre Heavy metal, progressive rock Writer(s) Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson | ||
"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."