#78: The Giving Tree 4

This song was written by request. Last week my friend Kallee asked for a duet with the Tree and the Boy's first Girl Friend. So I wrote the duet but then my main-go-to-girl for singing, Megan (from My Home the Stars), hurt her voice and has been out all week. I tried texting Emily Mover but her mom called to tell me that my text messages were coming to her phone and Emily was in NY now. I thought it was cute that her mom called. So then I had a few days of just walking around complaining about everything...and then Kallee, proving her determination to get this duet on tape, volunteered to sing the part! So here's Song #4 in the Giving Tree project. The idea here is that the Tree is in the forest mumbling about life and the boy, and knowing that the boy is about to meet a girl, she predicts that it won't work in the end. At the same time, in town, the Girl Friend is just starting to fall in love with the Boy and is innocently singing about her feelings. The song ends with the Tree and the Girl Friend, unified in their frustration and sadness, wondering if the Boy will ever really 'come home' with all the temptations of the world to distract him. I saw the Handsome Furs last night at the Horseshoe. Great show and really made some songs start to play in my head. I think I need at least a two song break from the Giving Tree...

Trees and boys and leaves and toys,
bumps and beds and swollen heads,
Lies and storms, the cold and warm,
Buds and roots, coats and boots.

Forest rain, the hills and plains,
Fields of grass, the days gone past,
Blocks and barns, cities and farms,
Quiet and noise, trees and boys.

Games and dreams and crowns of leaves,
Knives and hearts a few false starts,
Finding things we never knew,
Were always looking for us too.

He don't know what he's going through,
But I'm not gonna tell him to,
Drive this road in his own car,
Cause her love can't carry him that far

Suddenly, the boy in the red hat seems to notice me.
He can't take his eyes off of what he sees.
A girl with a red dress walkin' easily,
I take a few steps and look up partially.

Hoping to find that he's been watching me.
And waiting to say something awkwardly,
he really doesn't need a fancy pick up line,
If he says 'hello ' it'll do just fine.

The boy in the red hat seems to notice me.
He stopped spending all his time just climbing trees,
I think it payed off wishing on a star,
Cause our love is gonna take us real far.

but with all the pretty airplanes, with all the pretty countries, with all the pretty hotels, with all the pretty pictures, with all the pretty houses, with all the pretty front lawns, with all the pretty papers, with all the pretty stories, with all the pretty desk jobs, with all the pretty bottles, with all the pretty parties with all the pretty models, with all the pretty money...with all the pretty stories....I don't know if you'll come home.