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When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,
"Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree."
"Don't put your faith in love, my boy," my father said to me,
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."
[Chorus]
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
One day beneath the lemon tree, my love and I did lie,
A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the stars rose in the sky.
We passed that summer lost in love, beneath the lemon tree,
The music of her laughter hid my father's words from me.
[Chorus]
One day she left without a word, she took away the sun.
And in the dark she left behind, I knew what she had done.
She left me for another, it's a common tale but true,
A sadder man, but wiser now, I sing these words to you.
[Chorus]
"Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree."
"Don't put your faith in love, my boy," my father said to me,
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."
[Chorus]
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
One day beneath the lemon tree, my love and I did lie,
A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the stars rose in the sky.
We passed that summer lost in love, beneath the lemon tree,
The music of her laughter hid my father's words from me.
[Chorus]
One day she left without a word, she took away the sun.
And in the dark she left behind, I knew what she had done.
She left me for another, it's a common tale but true,
A sadder man, but wiser now, I sing these words to you.
[Chorus]
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I've seen alternate lyrics to the first verse that I think fix that problem, and actually make more sense metaphorically. (I think the Kingston Trio recorded it this way)
"My son it's most important," my father said to me "to put your faith in what you feel and not in what you see."
Better advice, I think, than "don't fall in love". Still, it doesn't quite work, because the guy in the song is clearly feeling plenty.
And that's why the father said not to put faith in love-so that the protagonist wouldn't get hurt the way he did.
When he speaks of the Lemon Tree, the Flowers and the Lemon, he seems to refer to a new love, the lemon tree or the relationship seems so large and beautiful, and the flower, so sweet and natural (dont know if this is a reference to women in general or maybe the reproductive organs as flowers easily resemble the fertility of a woman's vagina...But P,P&M are so innocent...hmm...) and then he continues with the lemon being impossible to eat, maybe referring to never actually being able to comprehend or really grasp the complexity of love, after when the girl is gone, and guy is left to ponder why did she leave? And the only thing he can think of is the Wise words from his father..."Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet, But the fruit of the poor lemon, is impossible to eat! "
My teacher made us all sit and memorize the words to this song.
He said to always keep them close by, that they are the only words that matter.
Man, he was a creeper.