Lemon Tree
The singer in this version of the “Lemon Tree” is Trini Lopez, who was born on May 15, 1937 in Dallas, Texas and is 73 years old today. Happy Birthday, Trini!
His biggest hit was “If I had a Hammer (1963),” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Lemon Tree” was written by Will Holt and first performed by him and Dolly Jonah in 1961. The Kingston Trio covered it in the same year with Peter, Paul and Mary releasing their version the following year. Trini’s version reached No. 20 on the U.S. charts in 1965.
Here is a picture of a very cool birthday cake which was one of 4 at Mr. Lopez’s 71st birthday celebration 2 years ago.
We’re sure he’s getting a cake just as good this year, but we wanted to show this one because Trini designed guitars. Trini Lopez was also one of The Dirty Dozen (1967), about a U.S. Army Major (Lee Marvin) assigned to train a dozen convicted murderers and lead them on a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II. Others in the all-star cast included Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson and John Cassavetes.
This youtube is inspiring me to grow some lemons on the patio. Here are the lyrics to “Lemon Tree”
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.
Beneath the lemon tree one day, my love and I did lie,
A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the stars rose in the sky.
We passed the 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 this song for you.
Just to show how influence can span the ages, literature buffs will surely recognize the first half of the last line of the “Lemon Tree” song from the end of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:
“A sadder but wiser man
He rose the morrow morn.”
