Billy B. Sings About Trees Lyrics Sheet

What Is A Tree? These Trees

Now, what is a tree? Does anybody know Everyday people say what difference can I make, just what they are and just how they grow? what deeds can I do, what action can I take? What do they need? And what do they do? Well now is the time for you and me to ﬁnd And what are they used for? And by whom? a spot, dig a hole and plant a young tree.

Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out. I went down to the CHORUS forest and took a look about. I saw that trees are alive. They sprout, These trees releasing sweet oxygen, and they live, and they die. these trees the monkeys and the birds are living in. Trees are big plants that bend These trees limbs stretching up towards the sky, when the wind makes them them dance. oh, these trees absorbing all the carbon dioxide. Big trees, green leaves, deep roots in the ground Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out. I went down to the the branches grow up, as the bark grows around. library and took a book out. And the flowers turn into fruit I read that trees start as seeds. They grow in the which falls to the ground, soil if they get what they need. the seeds sprout and take root. Yes, with minerals, water and sun, Trees grow Tree grows, sap flows, young tree grows big and old year after year before they’re done Tree grows, sap flows, young tree grows big and old Everyday people say what difference can I make, Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out. I went down to the what deeds can I do, what action can I take? building site. and heard the carpenter shout, Well now is the time for you and me to find I use trees that have been cut down, but the a spot, dig a hole and plant a young tree. lumber I use can’t be round so the sawmill makes the edges square so I can CHORUS build houses or schools anywhere. So plant your tree that you prefer Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out. I went to the forest the deciduous or the conifer. and heard the birdies sing out. Dig a hole deep, keep the roots straight, I use trees for my home, put that tree in the ground, water it and wait. from one to another I roam. Water and wait, water and wait, And in the trees I build my nest because that’s water and wait, water and wait. where my babies are protected the best. And as that tree grows give it care, so it will thrive and grow when you’re not there yes as that tree grows tall and strong you can watch it grow all your life long yes as that tree grows tall and strong you can watch it grow all your life long

Outside Cont. (Sugar Bushing)

Well I get myself dressed, get my shoes on cause something’s pushing the sap cause I’m gonna go where I belong up the tree , well it’s a mystery I’m gonna go to the door and open it wide don’t worry about it let my family know I’m heading outside just grab your pail and tap Outside with all the living things and if you’re able to find a sugar maple Outside to hear the birdies sing put the real stuff on your table Outside for discovery if you boil it down Outside for my own curiosity the sap I mean and keep it clean jump down look around unless you don’t mind your syrup dark brown there’s bees feeding on the flowers everybody loves syrup new finds all the time that comes from the maple tree stay outside for hours and hours through the tap Well, I hit the trail the sun does shine flows the sap the sky is blue and I’m feeling fine so sweet and naturally my legs are moving I’ve caught my stride the air is clean and I’m outside Wake Up! Outside with all the living things Outside to hear the birdies sing Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Outside for discovery The days are longer. Outside for my own curiosity Wake up! Wake up! Outside with all the living things The days are longer. Outside to hear the birdies sing Wake up! It’s Spring! Outside for discovery Wake up! It’s Spring! Outside for my own curiosity Feel the warmth we blow seep deep inside so your sap can flow! Sugar Bushing Cause when your your sap starts flowin’, you’ll again start growin’. Look!! See what I mean? When spring breaks winters back in two Now your buds are showin’, and it’s all because with days in the 40s and nights below 32 we warm winds are blowin’. if the sun shines the sap will run So Wake Up! Wake Up!!! the time is right if you want to get some the days are longer so get off your cushion let’s go sugar bushing

Open Flower Cont. (My Roots Run Deep)

Have you ever smelled a flower can be absorbed with nectar like perfume? when they’re found. There’s no honey in the flowers, and every flower blooms. Yes, my roots run deep- oh, deep into the ground. Flowers might need the wind They give me water Flowers might need the bees and keep me from falling down. to carry the pollen to the flower Now, my roots have hairs so that flower can make seeds. it’s them that keep me fed Pollen growing to the ovary, with the minerals and water; yes that flower will make seeds without them I’d be dead. if pollen grows to the ovary. Most green plants have flowers, unless, mycorrhizae, the fungus root, flowers to make seeds. mycorrhizae grows on my root shoots Some flowers are beautiful and helps my roots as they run deep, and some are hard to see. yes, deep into the ground where the minerals and water can be absorbed when they’re found. Yippee Hooray my roots run deep, whoa so deep into the ground. well now , They give me water keep me from falling Wet ground! down in the ground, they’re growing down in the ground Warm sun! My life as a tree. Has just begun. The Rock and Roll of Photosynthesis I’m so sure; I nave no doubts, Well, now the sun comes streaming out of the sky, because my shell has cracked, making everything grow and keeping us alive. and I have a sprout! And our main connection to the sun are the green leaves. It’s growing up, and growing out, Only they can make food with sunshine energy. it’s growing up, and growing out! Now What keeps the leaves green Yippee, Hooray! I am a sprout! and the sunlight stashed are those chlorophyll containers called chloroplasts. There are millions of them in every leaf. My Roots Run Deep yeah now They all get excited when the leaf gets lighted and become the leave’s food factories. My roots run deep- ( become the leaves’ food factories ) yes, deep into the ground. so minerals and water (continued next page) ©2016 Billy B Productions [email protected] 202-409-8659 billybproductions.com Billy B. Sings About Trees Lyrics Sheet

Cont. (The Rock and Roll of Photosynthesis) Song of the Young Tree

Oh, Photosynthesis, yes, photosynthesis; In the forest, it’s a process that let’s life exist a young tree grows – that photosynthesis. so small and so alive. You know it’s true, we’d all be through It sings a song, if you want to know without the rock and roll of Photosynthesis. just how hard it tries.

Well now, the minerals and water coming up Now listen! It’s singing in the wind from the ground, which is where the and the song is making the big trees grin. rain falls and the roots are found. “Hey, you big guys, let me have some sun. They travel just beneath the bark Yeh, the sun is for everyone. up into the leaves. What’s the matter? You act like you can’t hear! Leaves use what they need Oh, forget it, I’ll grow over here, to make food for the plant, grow over here . . . ” and the rest is vaporized as it’s released. It’s sunshine energy!!

Oh yeah, the vapor slips out, carbon dioxide slips in just as the leaf releases water’s oxygen This Bark On Me it makes it free for you and me it’s the living example of harmony This bark on me is my skin. so next time you think everything’s all wrong It keeps diseases out go breathe among the leaves and tree juices in you’re gonna know you belong and protects me go breathe among the leaves from bugs, dust, and wind. you’re gonna know you belong Even though sometimes Oh, Photosynthesis, yes, photosynthesis; the bugs get in. it’s a process that let’s us exist So the woodpeckers come – that photosynthesis. and they make their marks, You know it’s true, we’d all be through saying, “Knock, knock, knock!! without the rock and roll of Photosynthesis. We’re hungry and there’s bugs in your bark” But, if the bark breaks, Now when the leaves get sunshine disease may set in, killing me, and water, too; and carbon dioxide from me and just because of broken skin, you; they make that mighty sugar just because of broken skin, people call Glucose. just because! It becomes other sugars in the bark, stored as starch. (continued next page) food flowing where and when the tree needs it most. ©2016 Billy B Productions [email protected] 202-409-8659 billybproductions.com Billy B. Sings About Trees Lyrics Sheet

Cont. (This Bark On Me) Cont. (Making That Sugar)

Now leaves make food that The sun is shinin’ travels through the bark stronger than ever, down to the roots the food goes ( Flow -low- em ) and your green leaves While minerals and water rise through sap wood are the busiest part at you. up to the leaves they flow ( Xy – high – lem ) and in between the bark and the sap wood Yes, they’re making that sugar, each spring a new tree ring grows ( cambium ) that special kind at tree food; so if the bark is broken in a ring around the tree so you can store it in your the food stops, the tree dies OHHHH roots until springtime, NOOOOOOOO yes! because most of your growin’ for this year is through.

Making Seeds And when the sun shines into your green leaves, Spring brings flowers out of and water from your my branches and my limbs. roots is risin’ They open slowly, and dangle pollen in the wind your leaves are making sugar to make seeds for growing trees, from the sun. making seeds for growing trees. Yeh, they are Now my open flower bend and Pho-to-syn-the-sizing ! sway with each windy gust (repeat – then repeat 1.) and pollen falls free so tiny and green just wind borne dust But I know they won’t be busy, to make seeds for growing trees, it they become droopy and dry. making seeds for growing trees. But, at least when they’re droopy, my pollen is carried to all the they won’t sweat so much flowers touched by the wind misty water into the sky. my pollen grows in the flower But everything’s all right now. that’s ready to begin You’ve got great, big, to make seeds for growing trees, beautiful leaves, making seeds for growing trees. and they are makin’ sugar like crazy flutterin’ in my sunny breeze.. Making That Sugar my beautiful breeze.

Yummy Yummy The Nut Story

Oh, Yummy, Yummy, Yummy; In the fall , Trees like me make the It’s awfully sunny. squirrels run and hop I can eat all that I want; because the nuts on my branches begin to drop I can eat all that I want. I’m dropping acorns all over the ground My leaves need the sun they’ll sit there and rot unless their found to make food for all of me. by busy squirrels who will bury them away They can only do it with and if their memory fails ( ah duh ) Sunshine energy! Sunshine energy! they’ll be a tree there one day Now, the water comes up because winter freezes the ground around the nut from the roots into the leaves. the nut cracks the spring They use what they need, thaws the ground around the seed and the rest they sweat the seed sprouts and grows from their underneath. in the ground around the roots With the sun and the water, now a young tree grows the leaf makes food then lets it go in the ground around the squirrel down through the limb ( hey, how did that tree get there ) into the trunk; Red oak acorn contains a lot of fat so the tree can grow!! The squirrel says, “it taste bad, so I’ll just bury that” in winter the squirrel knows the fat will keep him warm Blow Away Baby so the squirrel digs up and eats the bitter fat acorn All kinds of nut trees grow all around the world Here comes the wind from nuts planted by many kinds of squirrels to blow my babies away. squirrels store and bury nuts all about Oh, it seems like so long ago, and when they forget new trees sprout since I started that way. Blow away, baby; Blow away, baby. It’s Autumn You’ll be caught in the wind because you’re built that way. It’s Autumn. It’s Autumn. And whether you grow There’s a little more night and a little less sun. depends on where your laid It’s Autumn. It’s Autumn. down on the ground. The Summer has ended, and it’s time to prepare And, since you’re a seed, for the coming of Winter. Can you feel my cool air? warm sun and water and earth The green life in your leaves is fading today, is what you need to grow!! leaving the colors that will soon blow away. It’s Autumn! (continued next page) ©2016 Billy B Productions [email protected] 202-409-8659 billybproductions.com Billy B. Sings About Trees Lyrics Sheet

Cont. (It’s Autumn) Cont. (Life of the Dead Tree)

Whether your seeds are in fruit, nuts or wings, into cubes or stringy matter, let them go now so they’ll be planted for Spring. becoming part of the ground Your big leaves are falling, making rich soil and the green growth abound yet your new buds have formed. They will stay small and sleepy until Spring makes them warm. Tree Farming Family It’s Autumn! Down in the southeast the loblolly pine grows out in the swamps cypress show their knees Life of the Dead Tree each trunk and each branch where moss and the vine grows Listen with Lyrics18. Life of the Dead Tree is where you’re gonna find bio diversity It might have been lightning or maybe disease tree farming family with e It might have been old age, root rot, any one or very branch on the family tree more than these that caused the death of, the It’s a tree farming family death of the live tree. on this land there’ll always be But don’t be sad if the tree’s growth is gone a tree farming family living because in a dead tree with the critters wild and free all sorts of living goes on. and the forest will remain Yes, it’s the life of, and the harvest will sustain the life of the dead tree this Tree farming family up in the north, come every autumn When a tree dies the living things come to dwell the green growth of summer each day retires in the many nooks and crannies colors revealed some color created of the dead-tree hotel. the maples look so brilliant Right under the bark, bark beetles roam around, they seem like they’re on fire wood bores dig deeper, ants and termites abound and they all take cover Fly , fly across the USA when the woodpecker pounds. looking down at the trees all along the way see,see the forest where that life all lives Owls might nest, raccoons could, too. smile, smile and think A hollow center shows what fungus can do. how much the forest gives, and gives, and All the parasites can turn a tree into a shell, gives,gives gives gives gives leaving space for homes even if the tree fell. out in the west in heat of the summer But then you’d have to call it Dead Tree Motel. sweet smells come from the ponderosa pines As a motel, there might be fox or skunks, you got your skinny lodge poll maybe mice or squirrel’s, snakes or chipmunks. and your great big doug firs Brown or white rot will break the dead tree down but it’s the Sequoia that really blows your mind ©2016 Billy B Productions [email protected] 202-409-8659 billybproductions.com