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Standing here
The old man said to me
Long before these crowded streets
Here stood my dreaming tree
Below it he would sit
For hours at a time
Now progress takes away
What forever took to find
Now he's falling hard
He feels the falling dark
How he longs to be
Beneath his dreaming tree
Conquered fear to climb
A moment froze in time
When the girl who first he kissed
Promised him she'd be his
Remembered mother's words
There beneath the tree
No matter what the world
You'll always be my baby
Mommy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
The air is growing thick
A fear he cannot hide
The dreaming tree has died
Oh, have you no pity
This thing I do
I do not deny it
All through this smile
As crooked as danger
I do not deny
I know in my mind
I would leave you now
If I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don't ask much
But won't you speak
Please
From the start
She knew she had it made
Easy up 'til then
For sure she'd make the grade
Adorers came in hordes
To lay down in her wake
She gave it all she had
But treasures slowly fade
Now she's falling hard
She feels the fall of dark
How did this fall apart
She drinks to fill it up
A smile of sweetest flowers
Wilted so and soured
Black tears stain the cheeks
That once were so admired
She thinks when she was small
There on her father's knee
How he had promised her
You'll always be my baby
Daddy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
I can't find my way home
There is no place to hide
The dreaming tree has died
Oh if I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don't ask much
But won't you speak
Please
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back
Save me please
The old man said to me
Long before these crowded streets
Here stood my dreaming tree
Below it he would sit
For hours at a time
Now progress takes away
What forever took to find
Now he's falling hard
He feels the falling dark
How he longs to be
Beneath his dreaming tree
Conquered fear to climb
A moment froze in time
When the girl who first he kissed
Promised him she'd be his
Remembered mother's words
There beneath the tree
No matter what the world
You'll always be my baby
Mommy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
The air is growing thick
A fear he cannot hide
The dreaming tree has died
Oh, have you no pity
This thing I do
I do not deny it
All through this smile
As crooked as danger
I do not deny
I know in my mind
I would leave you now
If I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don't ask much
But won't you speak
Please
From the start
She knew she had it made
Easy up 'til then
For sure she'd make the grade
Adorers came in hordes
To lay down in her wake
She gave it all she had
But treasures slowly fade
Now she's falling hard
She feels the fall of dark
How did this fall apart
She drinks to fill it up
A smile of sweetest flowers
Wilted so and soured
Black tears stain the cheeks
That once were so admired
She thinks when she was small
There on her father's knee
How he had promised her
You'll always be my baby
Daddy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
I can't find my way home
There is no place to hide
The dreaming tree has died
Oh if I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don't ask much
But won't you speak
Please
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back
Take me back
Save me please
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
Track duration: 08:48
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by AMVDM23 on 05-11-2007 @ 11:21:33 AM
When I first heard this song, I immediately thought of Bruce Chatwin's book Songlines. Which is a book about the Aboriginal people of Australia. I would not be surprised if this song (and possibly 'Dont drink the water' was inspired by that book) The aboriginals have a "dreaming" which is associated to each individual and clan, and which embodies an animal or object (sometimes it could be a tree)... natural elements. And this dreaming forms part of a song that connects the people and their land through certain pathways/ lines (hence songlines) and the line 'the dreaming tree has died.. I cant find my way home' points (for me) to these broken songlines that western progress has 'replaced'. Also references to the admirers (of aboriginal paintings?) and alcohol misuse point me to the Australian situation.
I dont know a lot about the native american indians, and i'm sure many americans will assume that the song is about the american situation...it depends on your position and your personal take on the lyrics.
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by ilive4dmb on 06-13-2007 @ 01:47:31 PM
I believe that this song could be a "green" song. Dave seems to be very conscerned about our environment and the effect that we have on it..(live at central park: "...remember two things: love new york city, and leave only your footprints...", meaning: DON'T LITTER) I think that this song is about how "before these crowded streets" things in nature like a "dreaming tree" were plentiful and no one thought of taking them down. Now, when all of the people arrive, the tree can no longer live there... it's "out of place". I love this song. It reminds me to think about the impact that i make on the world every day.
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by KACTenorQ9 on 09-05-2007 @ 02:14:23 AM
I feel this song is a bit more literal than others have interpreted. While we all tend to internalize things based on our own experiences, I think it may be pretty simple...still deep, just more simplistic...let me explain.
The song for me is about a couple who have come to the end of the man's life. He is conveying is feelings and remembering his past about his younger years of sharing time under a tree (no longer there due to some sort of progress). The second half is about his partner (soul mate) who is now faced with this situation and trying to deal with the realization of his passing (or near passing), then once he is gone she is left with her thoughts and the surrounding people who have showed to pay thier respects. Obviously there is more to the detail of the thoughts (for each of them), but the basic premise is fairly straight forward. Just my humble opinion as a musician who loves this bands musical compositions. The fact that it is in 7/8 time signature makes it very catchy and it is an ingenius way to use this rythmic pattern for such a catchy hook.
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by sikhmanbedi on 11-14-2007 @ 04:20:00 PM
i think a dreaming tree is a place where everything is happy and good. but then his girlfriend dies and the dreaming tree isn't there anymore because he is no longer happy. when it says "i would leave you now," he's talking about the boy forgetting about his girlfriend but he doesn't have the strenght to. when he asking "won't you speak please?" he's asking the girl ot come back to life. i don't think this song is just about the environment.
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by trustyleftpeg on 12-03-2007 @ 10:40:36 PM
This song is about Stefan's baby baby girl who, was born with some sort of disease and shortly after the birth she died. The lyrics clearly state it here."From the start
She knew she had it made
Easy up till then
For sure she'd make the grade
Adorers came in hordes
To lay down in her wake
Gave it all she had
But treasures slowly faded
Now she's falling hard
Feels the fall of dark
How did this fall apart?
She drinks to fill it up
A smile of sweetest flowers
Wilted so and soured
Black tears stain the cheeks
That once were so admired
She thinks when she was small
There on her father's knees
How he had promised her
You'll always be my baby
Daddy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
I can't find my way home
There is no place to hide
The dreaming tree has died"
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by KitScott on 12-23-2007 @ 12:52:36 AM
I always looked at this song as being pretty literally about two different people that just wish they had their younger days back, when they would just run to their folks and they'd say "you'll always be my baby" and everything would be alright but they're lost coz the world has changed so much and they can't bring back their happier days. And The Dreaming Tree as being simply their dreams of a good future they couldn't never achieve, so it died, so it's all about shattered dreams.
I have heard that the song was written for Stefan's daughter and if that's the case I could really think they could be her parents, who just had a treasure in their hands that was lost and they just don't seem to be able to come back to when they could dream about it. And maybe their feelings that they couldn't stay together after having lost a baby, and their sadness about the situation, and for themselves.
well, just some thoughts I had, really.
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by Me2 on 01-16-2008 @ 01:25:49 PM
the interpretation of this is complex with a message forgotten by man. the dreaming tree is the tree found in the bible. its the tree of life or another way of thinking about is jacobs ladder. it the pathway from heaven to earth.
the two passages in the son referr to a statement made by a father and a mother. both bringing a reflection to their child. to remind them that they are children in the flesh. to remind them of their existence of self. the bible states that we are all born in death with a future consequence of leaving the flesh to become a spirit.
the dreaming tree is a memory of the child who once remembered their fall down the tree connecting heaven and earth..as well as their pathway back to heaven. as it is the fate of all men. to return back to god via the "ladder of jacob"..ie., the tree of life found in the garden of eden.
the "dreaming tree has died" is the loss of innocence found in ignorance and the beginning of the degeneration in a life in the human flesh away from the memory of God and their past spirit existence in heaven.. always desiring to return as an innermost message left from the fall.
who do you think is saying that if i could i i would leave you up to your own devices. its dave desire to leave this fallen world but its gods inner strength within him to tell us that the dreaming tree still exists amd its gods strength to speak through man to remind himself...its a message from our creator calling us to remember the pathway.. the dreaming tree.. i said its complex...
"take me back" is mans constant attempt at asking God to invite them back up the tree. for it is Gods timing and power when each of us begins our journey back up the tree.
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by auzy07 on 04-25-2008 @ 01:36:39 AM
no, I'm sorry but everybody is wrong, except for trustyleftpeg. stephan helped write this song about his daughter that died as an infant. thats all there is too it, nothing about "green," or any biblical term. do some research and see for yourself.
ALPINE VALLEY '08 IS GUNNA BE AWESOME!!
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by Ziggy45 on 06-06-2008 @ 02:03:42 AM
It very well may be about Stefan's baby girl, but as Dave once said, take his songs as you want. Meaning, if one song means something to you and something else to someone else, that's fine. That's what the song is made for.
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by tylerbet on 09-07-2008 @ 01:38:06 AM
I believe its a song of lost innocence. The old man has lived his life, seen the environment change and lost love. "Remembered mother's words
There beneath the tree
No matter what the world
You'll always be my baby", paints an innocent picture underneath the tree which has died.
Runs parallel with the innocent beautiful girl where many men have come to lay with her, yet her beauty fades and she sulks in the past.
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Personally, I had a sort of weird interpersonal interpretation of this, but Trustyleftpeg's idea that it's about Fonzie's daughter fits well, I'll buy that.
I believe this song is about a couple, specifically a relationship that fell apart. The dreaming tree was his past life, the euphoric world that once surrounded him, being his past relationship and all of the joy that filtered through from it. This dreaming tree (relationship) was his world and what gave him reason to live. For some reason the relationship starts to grow weak and they break up, he thus says “progress takes away what forever took to find,” he has lost what he longed and worked hardest to find. The pressure heavily weighs down on him, he is floating in sorrow and all he longs for is to be with that person, for time to rewind and bring him back under the tree, his shelter. This woman he was in love with had promised him timeless love; perhaps dreams of remaining unified for eternity. Something went terribly wrong and both of their past dreams together are now shattered. He feels the need for consolation and goes to his mother, who will be there to tell him that everything will be okay, as she did when he was young. For some reason he is bitter at his partner for something she has done or said during the relationship, and this is perhaps why they have come to this resolve. He goes on to say that he would leave her if he could but he can’t seem to let go, possibly his love is too strong. She refuses to speak to him, perhaps the silent treatment, which is the worst form of torture, and he is begging for some form of communication. He seems to be saying in the last half of the song that the girl seemed to have everything made. Men came to line up at her door while he probably had to fight his way up that line to reach her. She had every opportunity at her fingertips but did not feel satisfied until she had met him, and now she feels her world collapsing without him. She cannot comprehend why their relationship has ended and drinks to fill the void. Black tears stain her cheeks- she is crying and her mascara paints a ravine down her porcelain cheek. They are both ultimately suffering and everything they had dreamed, the life together they had created is now but a distant memory in the past. No one else will ever be able to satiate or replace the love they had felt for each other. Their lives will proceed yet they will always hold a place in each other’s hearts, no one can replace your first and true love. So this song parallels my relationship, and it’s my favorite song!
The human spirit has a great capability to be resiliant. We can take getting fired from our job, having our house burn down, totalling our car, so on and so forth. But when it comes down to losing something related to our fondest memories (spouse, loved one, parent) that can really shake us to the core. I think this song is about totally being broken down where even after all our worldy possesions and pleasures are gone there's still something else that can be taken away, something more important, our dreaming tree. And once that's gone, well... I guess life is never the same.
What forever took to find"
What an awesome line. When I listen to this song, I think about all of things my friends and I used to do, and how I have completely forgotten how happy those things made me. When's the last time you ran down a hill at full speed without any worries in the world? It's pointless, lest the possibility of finding out just how fast you can run. The only consequence is the desire to do it again tomorrow. The song is incredible live. He played it at Starlake in Pittsburgh on June 9th.
" Conquered fear to climb
A moment froze in time
When the girl who first he kissed
Promised him she’d be his"
are about man destroying the Dreaming Tree or God for the sake of progress and then bieng betrayed by progress later in the song.
and the lines:
"Will you not talk?
Can you take pity?
I don’t ask much
But won’t you speak, please?
Take me back, take me back, take me back…
Save me please."
Seem to speak for themselves.