Song of the Week- 4 June 2007: SPEED OF TREES

[Sue Ellen]

Speed of Trees
from the album Ellis Paul Essentials
also from the album Speed of Trees

Sometimes
In my bed at night
I'm dreaming that I'm flying
At the speed of light
In two seconds
I'm brushing past
The face of the moon
8 seconds flat on
The surface of Mars
I'm kicking up
The red dust
Drinkin' in bars

I lean back and raise a
Toast to the stars tonight

Dreamin' at the speed of light

Somedays,
I'd just settle for
The speed of sound
I'd step off this porch
And blow a kiss to this goddamn town
I'd let off
One of them sonic booms
And break all the windows
In the living rooms
And blow off the hats
Of the boys
At the old fairgrounds

Laughin' at the speed of sound

And You say,
"Go."
Why don't you go then?
If you want to go
Why don't you decide?
Pick a road,
Decide

Is it a train
Or a plane
Or a bride
Decide
Decide
Decide


Your love makes me move at the
Speed of trees
I've laid down some roots
Grown a head full
Of make-believes
But up above me
Where the angels soar
They're rattlin' windows
Blowin' down doors

They look at me here
I'm planted square down
On my knees?

On my knees
On my knees
I'm asking for the speed of trees
The speed
of
trees


I just don't feel my brain is up to doing this song justice. The imagery and metaphor of movement through time and space used to illustrate the level and degree of commitment are genius. With the first verse, you can feel the thrill of speeding through life, fully embracing the joy and beauty of the ephemeral. With the second verse, you are brought back to the delights of earth, the delights of all the wonderfully ordinary elements. And then, full stop. The singer is so blown away by the experience and connection with another that he's willing to just stop, in place and time. And that's how love must feel, you must just want to freeze time and space, plant roots, knowing it's enough, that that connection is all that's required to fully experience everything this world has to offer.

[KarenZ]

Sue Ellen,

Thanks for your wonderful comments. You did a splendid job of catching a moonbeam in your hand.

I loved this song from the first instant. And I can't even begin to list my favorite lines. Or words. Or syllables. Or notes. They are all listed above. And I'm astounded over and over again when I hear Ellis describe how the song just came to him. I love hearing songwriters describe that phenomenon - having a song dropped in your lap. My absolute favorite comments on songwriting come from Merle Haggard. I've mentioned Haggard's comments before, but they seem even more appropriate in this thread since he begins by talking about flying. These comments are taken from an article that was in Performing Songwriter a few years ago.

Have you ever had that dream where you can fly? Writing a song is the conscious version of that same dream. Every time you write a song, there's a chance that maybe you can fly with this damn thing.

Later in the article Haggard says:

I don't know where songs come from. If there's a force of good and evil that's represented just out of our vision, maybe there's subject matter that needs to come across. Maybe they try to get it to me, or maybe they try to get it to Keith Richards. Or somebody else. Maybe it takes some time for them to find someone sensitive enough to realize it's there. Hank Cochran, who wrote "I Fall to Pieces" said, "If I hadn't wrote that, Harlan Howard would have wrote that the next night." There is no doubt that songs are gifts. I've read some of my own songs back and wept. People who don't believe in another dimension, a higher plane of existence, have never written a song.

Being on the other end - being able to hear these gifts from another dimension is pretty amazing too....especially with a song like "Speed of Trees"..... that somehow manages to transport ME to another plane of existence with each and every listen. So glad Ellis was the one open to receive the gift from out there....

KarenZ

[JennyLevE]

I noticed this on the lyrics web-page a while ago and was never quite sure what to make of it. In the liner notes for Speed of Trees the lyrics are written as “But if it weren’t for that face of yours” in the last verse instead of but above me where angles soar.

Aside—I love this song. I think that it is amazingly profound in its depiction of time and space. I also love the fact that the song encourages people to slow down. I often find that people move too fast to appreciate all that is surrounding them, be it the scenery, the people or the emotions. I think that it is a really important lesson to learn.
--Jen

[Sue Ellen]

Good eye, Jen.

In the liner notes for Speed of Trees the lyrics are written as “But if it weren’t for that face of yours” in the last verse instead of but above me where angles soar.

I've never heard the verse as it's written in the lyrics; I've only heard "But if it weren't for that face of yours."

[JennyLevE]

Same -- I've always wondered if I was the only one. lol.
--Jen

[Sue Ellen]

I love the images in this song. I'm particularly taken by:

And blow off the hats
Of the boys
At the old fairgrounds

For me, this image not only conjurs up images of the old coots in their john deer hats at the state fair, but the whole state fair itself, the sites, the sounds, the maple cotton candy...

I also really like this image:

I've laid down some roots
Grown a head full
Of make-believes

I love the homophone.

[wendy]

Ah yes, I also love those lines:

And blow off the hats
Of the boys
At the old fairgrounds

The image is just priceless.

Thanks for the reminder, Sue Ellen!

[KarenZ]

Wendy,

I always think of you when I hear the version of "speed of trees" on Ellis Paul Essentials - since it was recorded at the Boothbay Opera House!

KarenZ

[BillE]

Karen:

Why don't you share the story of how EP wrote this song? Which will tempt folks to go Here...

[Patti]

I had someone ask me once, "well what did he decide" ?? and I couldn't answer..

I think it is the line, "grow a head full of make believes," is what puts the doubt in my mind. Does that mean settling down and living happily ever after is make believer OR is it settle down and dream together?

They look at me here
I'm planted square down
On my knees? Why is there a ? here, , maybe the decision hasn't been made yet... decide, decide, decide??

I do know that Ellis said a friend fed him this line, but even better is at one point Ellis wasn't even going to include this on the album and then the it winds up being the title track.

[KarenZ]

Patti,

I never noticed the ? before. If you look at the lyrics on the website there's a strange character there....so I think it must be a typo.

KarenZ

[Sue Ellen]

I thought I should clarify the homophone comment. Homophones are words that sound alike, but have different spellings and meanings. I took make-be(lieves) as a homophone with leaves. I like the allusion to the tree imagery. Brilliant, that one.

Sue Ellen

[Richard + Jela]

This story doesn't have a happy ending but I'd like to share it anyway - recently we had the (world) famous Chelsea Flower Showin London which was on BBCTV twice and sometimes three times a day during the week it was on.

Each evening they showed a montage of scenes from the show and asked viewers to suggest music to go with the montage. I sent in a suggestion for 'Speed of Trees' as I thought that the title might be intriguing enough for someone to pick up on it. Sadly my request wasn't played but at least I tried - it would have been wonderful to have heard the song played and literally millions of people would have been exposed to the song.

One of the choices they played was a classical piece 'In paradisum' from Faure's Requiem and apparentely sales of it went through the roof after it had been featured.

I love 'Speed of Trees' - just the title itself is enough to make you sit back and think.......sometimes we should all just slow down now and again and take life at the 'speed of trees'.

Jela

[KarenZ]

Jela,

Great try! You definitely get an "A" for effort!

I remember that the Chelsea flower show was going on last May when Ellis was in England....there was quite a bit of TV coverage.

KarenZ