Recorded and mixed in Redwood City, CA in 2010 by Paul Fifield.
All instruments played by Paul Fifield except drums, which were generated in Band-In-A-Box, and electric guitar, which was played by Jordan Stone. Vocals by Paul Fifield.
(The chord progression for this song started from a Carol McComb class songwriting assignment but I don’t recall what the assignment was. No matter. The lyric idea started out as “I’m down on my knees, begging you please, leave me alone” but I had no idea how to build that into enough interesting lyrics for a full song, and besides, there are lots of songs like that. Then I was thinking one day of a conversation I’d had with a friend regarding the Headwaters old growth redwood forest in Northern California, and the fight between the lumber company and the environmentalists that led to Julia Butterfly Hill sitting in a redwood tree month after month, attempting to stop the forest from being logged. My friend said that the lumber company had the legal right to log that forest. And I replied that whereas that may be true as far as humans go, nobody asked the trees because they didn’t have a place at the table. When I played a near final version of this song in class, a classmate, who is a lawyer, said that it was interesting that I wrote the phrase, “Our standing won’t play in your discussions” because he said that standing is an important legal foundational concept. For instance, you can’t bring a lawsuit if you don’t have standing. So I was glad I stumbled into that one because it strengthens the point of view. But the main point of this song is that we humans make life and death decisions about other life forms without asking them how they feel about it. And as you may know, Julia Butterfly Hill and her supporters won that battle and that forest full of very old trees still stands. There’s that word again. - Paul Fifield)
We Are The Trees
© Paul Fifield 2009 All Rights Reserved
Over 2000 years, some of us here have been standing
Through rain, wind and fire, we never tire of the land
Now in a matter of hours 300 foot towers can come down
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
There were people of old, but they didn’t hold us beneath them
We existed as one, they lived among us as friends
Now you take us so fast we can’t possibly last very long
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
And it's oh... so... hard to take the destruction
And it's oh... so... hard losing our homes
You have all the say, our standing won’t play in your discussions
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
Oh we cannot flee, our lot is to be where we’re planted
And we freely give to the creatures who live in our stands
By your hand alone you’re destroying the homes that we’ve grown
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
Oh, you may not care we help make the air that you’re breathing?
If you live and let live, we’ll gladly give what you need
What a shame it would be if you woke up to see we were gone
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone
We are the trees, begging you please, leave us alone