The Trees (Rush song)

"The Trees"
Single by Rush
from the album Hemispheres
B-side	"Circumstances"
Released	1978
Format	7"
Genre	Heavy metal, 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."

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."

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Wikipedia