The Wood Wide Web
Liner Notes & Lyrics
We Acknowledge The Land
Chorus:
We acknowledge the land not just cause we can
We acknowledge the land to reflect on where we stand
We acknowledge the land to honour and to mend
We acknowledge the land cause the land’s our friend
Haudenosaunee
Wendat
Anishnaabe
Confederacies
Mississauguas
Of the Credit
Seneca Peoples
Nations of this land
Chorus
The land is a dish
We share the spoon
And at the table
There are no knives
Treaties drawn
Treaties broken
Land was stolen
Still yet to be returned
Chorus
Many years before
Settlers sailed into these lakes
Indigenous people knew trees could communicate
They knew that trees joined the seems to every living thing
And only now are scientists observin’ the very same things
Chorus
2. Which Kind Of Tree Are You?
Do you bend and stretch like a willow tree?
Is your skin real soft like a mighty beech?
Do you shake and shine like an aspen leaf?
Do you twirl like a maple key?
Do you..
Do you live in the clouds like a giant oak?
Or do you love the water like a tupelo?
Do you stick to the shade like a hemlock should?
Or do you bask like a cottonwood?
Chorus:
Oh which kind of tree are you? Doo-doo
How like a tree do you do?
Do you…
Do you grow real fast like a dogwood shrub?
Do you take a little time like a butternut?
Do you change with the seasons like a hickory?
Or are you more of an evergreen?
Chorus
A forest of one
Is as good as done
Trees that stand together will grow strong
Let’s all sing along!
Do you bend and stretch like a willow tree?
Yes I bend and stretch like a willow tree
Do you shake and shine like an aspen leaf?
Yes I shake and shine like an aspen leaf
Do you like to sit in mud like a tamarack?
Yes I like to sit in mud like a tamarack
Can you be a bit of a sassafras?
Yes I can be a bit of a sassafras
Chorus
3. The Forest
Chorus:
I like to walk in the forest it helps me feel OK
When I walk through the forest my worries melt away
Homework due? I’m smellin’ a spruce
Kids being mean? I’m jumpin’ in leaves
Rules too strict? There’s sap to lick!
Bored of sports? Meet me in the tree fort
Chorus
Test too hard? I’m feelin’ some bark
Best friend busy? That chipmunk’s pretty!
When the sun hits the leaves and I hear the singing wren
I forget that earlier I lost my favourite gel pen
Chorus
Hey Pete Moss it’s super hot!
Perhaps in the shady woods it’s not?
Hey Pete Moss we’re here what’s next?
Shall we try a super deep breath?
Chorus
We like to walk in the forest it helps us feel OK
When we walk through the forest our worries melt away
4. Willow
Hey growing willow tree
Hear my song
I placed you by the water
So you’ll grow strong
I put up a fence to keep the deers away
Hey growing willow tree
Look at you thrive
You started as a branch
Now you’re half my size
I cut back the vines so you could drink the light
The days go by
The birds return
I count the leaves
That you unfurl
Oh growing willow tree how I care for you
Hey growing willow tree
What’s in store?
One branch two branches
Three branches four
I give you lots of water for you seem to love it so
Hey growing willow tree
Bigger than me
Your trunk has grown wide
And your leaves shine green
Will you grant me a branch so I can make a crown
I bend the branch
It doesn’t break
I tuck one end
A circle shape
Oh growing willow tree now you help me too
Hey growing willow tree
Look at you thrive
I still recall the days
You were half my size
I wander through the woods with a basket made from you
The days go by
The birds return
I bask in shade
That you unfurl
Oh growing willow tree how you care for me
5. Trees In Love (ft. Charlotte Cornfield)
Hey who's that tree across the way
I like the way it’s branches alternate
I do a quick scan of my network of friends
I see we have mutual connection
Hey what’s that I feel in my foot fungi
Did that handsome oak really just say hi?
Now I’m 98 am I ready to mingle?
I go out on a limb and reply to the signal
I get a ping back and we start off slow
Comparing recent takes on rain and snow
When we part ways I begin to wallow
Hoping that I didn’t come off as hollow
Chorus:
Trees fall everyday
But do they ever fall in romantic ways?
This the story of trees in love
The very next day I feel a buzz in my roots
It’s you and you say yesterday was a hoot
Is it me or did the day just get hotter?
I think I need an 18 litre drink of water
It's like a woodpecker’s tapping in my chest
When I ask you out to lunch and you say yes
I sheepishly admit sugar’s all I eat
You giggle and reply that’s cause you’re so sweet
Chorus
As the days warm and the grounds unfreeze
Our flowers say hi to the birds and the bees
A little dash of you a little spice of me
That’s one heck of a recipe
Hey who's that tree across the way
There’s somethin’ bout the way its branches alternate
It’s standing on its own in between you and me
I hope it doesn’t get blown away by the breeze
It’s been about a year since we started to mingle
And Somethin’ bout this tree makes us send it a signal
We hear back right away and nearly drop our leaves
The very first words from our baby tree
6. Evergreen Song
If you’re in the woods
Talkin’ with the breeze
No guidebook
Just you and the trees
Well here’s a tune
To tell an evergreen
From another evergreen
Chorus:
It goes:
Flat like a fir
Pines grow in groups
Hem’s makin’ stems
Square like a spruce
In the forest by your home
You can show your friends the way
All the trees with cones
Are not one in the same
Yeah here’s a tune
To tell an evergreen
From another evergreen
Chorus
Fir tree needles are flat and kind
Pines grow in bunches of two or five
Hems have stems from needle to twig
Spruces are sharp and four sided
If you’re in the woods
Talkin’ with the breeze
No guidebook
Just you and the trees
Well here’s a tune
To tell an evergreen
From another evergreen
Chorus
7. Big Oaks & Tall Grass
Here by the great Lakes
The soil is so great
How in the heck did it get so good?
Well big oaks and tall grass
Burned down then grew back
burned down and grew back and then burned some more
On the oak branches
Birdies all landed
And they pooped and they pooped and they pooped some more
Chorus:
Lightning strikes zap zap zap!
Leaves ignite and set the ground alight
And the big oaks and tall grass say burn burn burn
The fire simmers down and it feeds the earth
Hawks are a huntin’
Searchin for somethin’
Only found where the tall grass grows
Deers say at long last
“Big oaks and grass!”
A place where we can rest our bones
Chorus
Forest fires come in good and bad forms
The bad kind comes from liquid dinosaurs
Another fire burns deep in our souls
It’s the one that says I care about the world
I care about the world
From forest to prairie
To big estuaries
Long grass and shade
Is too hard to find
So grab all your seed bombs
Grow out your front laws
Let the trees grow old and the grass grow long
Chorus
8. Mulberry
Mulberry oh mulberry
What shape is your leaf?
This one’s like a baby bird
Squawking in the breeze
Darling darling baby bird
I’m comin’ to feed you worms
If worms are not what you seek
I’ll find what you prefer
Chorus:
A mulberry is a very strange tree
Its leaves take many forms
And whatever form you take today
Is a form I’ll try to adore
Mulberry oh mulberry
What shape is your leaf?
This one’s like a fire burning
All red and all angry
Darling darling fire burning
I’m right here by your side
If you crackle and if you spark
I promise I’ll be fine
Chorus
Mulberry oh mulberry
What shape is your leaf?
This one’s like a little child
Waiting to be squeezed
Darling darling little child
Come give me a hug
And when you’re out here on your own
May you still feel my love
Chorus
10. I Am Just Like A Tree (ft. Kat Burns)
What parts of a tree are its feet?
Could it be the taps that meet the creek?
What parts of a tree are its spine?
Could it be the wood way deep inside?
What parts of a tree are its eyes?
Could it be the flowers that bloom so bright?
What parts of a tree are its blood?
Could it be the sap that feeds the buds?
Chorus:
I am just like a tree
Arms like branches and hair for leaves
I am just like a tree
From my crown to my roots so deep
What parts of a tree are its heart?
Its pith or its taps or its inner bark?
Can trees yawn? Can trees speak?
Is that what they’re doing when they crackle and creek?
Chorus
When the earth was made
Humans and trees were one in the same
We used our thumbs and brains
To spread to their seeds all over the place
We climbed into their arms
They held us all night long
A tree is just like me
Bark like skin and knots for knees
A tree is just like me
Sharin’ this bounty
Chorus
11. I See The Trees In You
Step inside the forest
Feel your feet upon the ground
Stop and take a breathe
Take a look around
It’s not just the sweetest maple
It’s not just the tallest pine
It’s aster and it’s goldenrod
All growin’ side by side
Some may try to fool you
Some may try to say
We’re not in a forest
We’re runnin’ in a race
But deep inside our trunks
Written on our rings
Reads all for one and one for all
May we forever sing
Chorus:
I feel the trees in me
I see the trees in you
Helping one another
It’s what we’re meant to do
Mama trees help their young
And their neighbours birch and larch
Like know their forest homes
Are the sum of many parts
Every towering redwood
Every being that takes a breathe
Whether living or passed on
Is part of the wood wide web
Chorus
Our baby girl is two
She’s putting dolls to sleep
Adjusting their blankets
Patting them gently
Some may call this nothing
Or say it’s no big deal
But in every little pat
I see the care she feels
Chorus