Now, what is a tree? Does anybody know?

Just what they are and just how they grow?

What do they need? And what do they do?

And what are they used for? And by whom?

Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out.

I went down to the forest and took a look about. I saw that trees are alive.

They sprout, and they live, and they die.

Trees are big plants

that bend when the wind makes them them dance.

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Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out.

I went down to the library and took a book out. I read that trees start as seeds.

They grow in the soil if they get what they need.

Yes, with minerals, water and sun,

Trees grow year after year before they’re done

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Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out.

I went down to the building site and heard the carpenter shout,

I use trees that have been cut down, but the lumber I use can’t be round

so the sawmill makes the edges square

so I can build houses or schools anywhere.

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Who, oh, oh, I tried to find out.

I went to the forest and heard the birdies sing out.

I use trees for my home, from one to another I roam.

And in the trees I build my nest

because that’s where my babies are protected the best

Everyday people say what difference can I make,
what deeds can I do, what action can I take?
Well now is the time for you and me
to find a spot, dig a hole and plant a young tree.

These trees releasing sweet oxygen,
these trees the monkeys and the birds are living in.
These trees limbs stretching up towards the sky
these trees absorbing carbon dioxide.
Big trees, green leaves, deep roots in the ground
the branches grow up, as the bark grows around.
And the flowers turn into fruit which falls to the ground
the seeds sprout and take root.

Tree grows, sap flows, young tree grows big and old
Tree grows, sap flows, young tree grows big and old
Everyday people say what difference can I make,
what deeds can I do, what action can I take?
Well now is the time for you and me
to find a spot, dig a hole and plant a young tree.

These trees releasing sweet oxygen,
these trees the monkeys and the birds are living in.
These trees limbs stretching up towards the sky
these trees absorbing all the carbon dioxide.

So plant the tree that you prefer
the deciduous or the conifer.
Dig a hole deep, keep the roots straight,
put that tree in the ground, water it and wait.
Water and wait, water and wait
Water and wait, water and wait.

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.

Well I get myself dressed, get my shoes on
cause I’m gonna go where I belong
I’m gonna go to the door and open it wide
let my family know I’m heading outside

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Outside with all the living things
Outside to hear the birdies sing
Outside for discovery
Outside for my own curiosity

jump down look around
there’s bees feeding on the flowers
new finds all the time
stay outside for hours and hours
Well, I hit the trail the sun does shine
the sky is blue and I’m feeling fine
my legs are moving I’ve caught my stride
the air is clean and I’m outside

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When spring breaks winters back in two

With days in the 40s and nights below 32

if the sun shines the sap will run

the time is right if you want to get some

so get off your cushion

let’s go sugar bushing

cause something’s pushing the sap

up the tree, well it’s a mystery

don’t worry about it

just grab your pail and tap

and if you’re able to find a sugar maple

put the real stuff on your table

if you boil it down

the sap I mean

and keep it clean

unless you don’t mind your syrup dark brown

now everybody loves syrup

that comes from the maple tree

through the tap

flows the sap

so sweet and naturally

so sweet ( so sweet ) so sweet ( so sweet )

so sweet and naturally

Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up!
The days are longer.
Wake up! Wake up!
The days are longer.

Wake up! It’s Spring!
Wake up! It’s Spring!
Feel the warmth we blow
seep deep inside
so your sap can flow!
Cause when your your sap starts flowin’,
you’ll again start growin’.
Look!! See what I mean?
Now your buds are showin’,
and it’s all because we warm winds are blowin’.
So Wake Up! Wake Up!!!
the days are longer

Have you ever smelled a flower
with nectar like perfume?
There’s no honey in the flowers,
and every flower blooms.

Flowers might need the wind
Flowers might need the bees
to carry the pollen to the flower
so that flower can make seeds.
Pollen growing to the ovary,
yes that flower will make seeds
if pollen grows to the ovary.

Most green plants have flowers,
flowers to make seeds.
Some flowers are beautiful
and some are hard to see.

Flowers might need the wind
Flowers might need the bees
to carry the pollen to the flower
so that flower can make seeds.
Pollen growing to the ovary,
yes that flower will make seeds
if pollen grows to the ovary.

My roots run deep - yes, deep into the ground

They grow towards water, soak it up when it’s found

Yes, my roots run deep - oh, deep into the ground.

They give me water and keep me from falling down.

Now, my roots have hairs, it’s them that keep me fed

with the minerals and water; without them I’d be dead. UNGH !

My roots run deep - yes, deep into the ground

where minerals and water can be absorbed when they’re found.

Yes, my roots run deep - oh, deep into the ground.

Well, now They give me water and keep me from falling down.

down in the ground, they're growing down in the ground

Now, my roots have hairs, it’s them that keep me fed

with the minerals and water; without them I’d be dead. UNGH!

Unless Mycorrhizae, the fungus root, ooohhhh

Mycorrhizae, grows on my root shoots

and helps my roots as they run deep, yes, deep into the ground

where the minerals and water can be absorbed when they’re found.

my roots run deep - oh, so deep into the ground.

Well, now, they give me water and keep me from falling down.

down in the ground they're growing down in the ground

Well, the sun comes streaming out of the sky,
making everything grow and keeping us alive.
And our main connection to the sun are the green leaves.
( green leaves,green leaves,green leaves,green leaves)
Only they can make food with sunshine energy.

What keeps the leaves green and the sunlight stashed
are those chlorophyll containers called chloroplasts.
There are millions of them in every leaf.
They get excited when the leaf gets lighted
and become the tree’s food factories. ( become the tree’s food factories. )

Oh, Photosynthesis, yes, photosynthesis;
it’s a process that let’s life exist - that photosynthesis.
You know it’s true, we’d all be through
without the rock and roll of Photosynthesis.
oh yeah, yeah yeahee yeah yeah

Oh, minerals and water coming up from the ground,
which is where the rain falls and the roots are found.
They travel just beneath the bark up into the leaves.
Leaves use what they need to make food for the tree,
and the rest is vaporized as it’s released.
uh huh

Now, where the vapor slips out, carbon dioxide slips in
just as the leaf releases water’s oxygen
it makes it free for you and me
it’s the living example of harmony
so next time you think everything’s all wrong
go breathe amongst the leaves you’re gonna know you belong
( go breathe amongst the leaves you’re gonna know you belong )

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Now when the leaves get sunshine and water, too;
and carbon dioxide from me and you;
they make that mighty sugar people call Glucose.
It becomes other sugars in the bark and is stored as starch.
Yes, food flowing where and when the tree needs it most.

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In the forest,
a young tree grows
so small and so alive.
It sings a song, if you want to know
just how hard it tries.

Now listen! It’s singing in the wind
and the song is making the big trees grin.
“Hey, you big guys, let me have some sun.
Yeh, the sun is for everyone.
What’s the matter? You act like you can’t hear!
Oh, forget it, I’ll grow over here,
grow over here . . . ”

It’s sunshine energy!!

Spring brings flowers
out of my branches and my limbs
they open slowly
and dangle pollen in the wind
to make seeds for growing trees
making seeds for growing trees

now my open flowers
bend and sway with each windy gust
and pollen falls free
so tiny and green, just wind borne dust
to make seeds for growing trees
making seeds for growing trees

my pollen is carried
to all the flowers touched by the wind
my pollen grows in
the flower that's ready to begin
to make seeds for growing trees
making seeds for growing trees

We are the winds of summertime
swirling around you
The sun is shinin’ stronger than ever,
and your green leaves are the busiest part of you.

Yes, they’re making that sugar, (that's glucose)
that special kind of tree food;
so you can store it in your roots 'til springtime,
because most of your growin’ for this year is through.

And when the sun shines into your green leaves,
and water from your roots is risin’
your leaves are making sugar from the sun.
Yeh, they are Pho-to-syn-the-sizing !

We are the winds of summertime,
swirling around you.
The sun is shinin’ stronger than ever,
and your green leaves are the busiest part of you.

But I know they won’t be busy,
it they become droopy and dry.
But, at least when they’re droopy,
they won’t sweat so much
misty water into the sky.

But everything’s all right now.
You’ve got great, big, beautiful leaves,
and they are makin’ sugar like crazy
flutterin’ in my sunny breeze.. my beautiful breeze.

We are the winds of summertime,
swirling around you.
The sun is shinin’ stronger than ever,
and your green leaves are the busiest part of you.

Yes, they’re making that sugar, (that's glucose)
that special kind of tree food;
so you can store it in your roots 'til springtime,
because most of your growin’ for this year is through.

And when the sun shines into your green leaves,
and water from your roots is risin’
your leaves are making sugar from the sun.
Yeh, they are Pho-to-syn-the-sizing !

Oh, Yummy, Yummy, Yummy;
It’s awfully sunny.
I can eat all that I want;
I can eat all that I want.

My leaves need the sun
to make food for all of me.
They can only do it with
Sunshine energy! Sunshine energy!

Now, the water comes up
from the roots into the leaves.
They use what they need,
and the rest they sweat from their underneath.
With the sun and the water,
the leaf makes food then lets it go
down through the limb into the trunk;
so the tree can grow!!

Here comes the wind
to blow my babies away.
Oh, it seems like so long ago, since I started that way.
Blow away, baby; Blow away, baby.

You’ll be caught in the wind because you’re built that way.
And whether you grow depends on where you’re laid
down on the ground. And, since you’re a seed,
warm sun and water and earth is what you need
to grow!!

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In the fall , Trees like me
make the squirrels run and hop
because the nuts on my branches
begin to drop
I’m dropping acorns all over the ground
and they’ll sit there and rot unless their found
by busy squirrels who will bury them away
and if their memory fails ( ah duh )
there will be a tree there one day

because winter freezes
the ground around the nut
the nut cracks the spring thaws
the ground around the seed
the seed sprouts and grows in
the ground around the roots
now a young tree grows in
the ground around the squirrel
( hey, how did that tree get there? )

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Red oak acorn
contains a lot of fat
The squirrel says, “it taste bad,
so I’ll just bury that”
in winter the squirrel knows
the fat will keep him warm
so he digs up and eats
the bitter fat acorn

Chorus

Many nut trees
grow around the world
from nuts planted
by many kinds of squirrels
The squirrels bury
nuts all about
and when they forget
the buried nuts sprout

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It’s Autumn. It’s Autumn.
There’s a little more night and a little less sun.
It’s Autumn. It’s Autumn.

The Summer has ended, and it’s time to prepare
for the coming of Winter. Can you feel my cool air?
The green life in your leaves is fading today,
leaving the colors that will soon blow away.

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Whether your seeds are in fruit, nuts or wings,
let them go now so they’ll be planted for Spring.
Your big leaves are falling, yet your new buds have formed.
They will stay small and sleepy until Spring makes them warm.

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It might have been lightning or maybe disease.
It might have old age, root rot; any one or more than these
that caused the the death of, the death of the live tree.
But don’t be sad if the tree’s growth is gone,
because in a dead tree all sorts of living goes on.
Yes, it’s the life of, the life of the dead tree.

When a tree dies, the living things come to dwell
in the many nooks and crannies of the dead tree hotel.
Right under the bark, bark beetles roam around,
wood bores dig deeper, ants and termites abound,
and they all take cover when the woodpecker pounds.

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Owls might nest, raccoons could, too.
A hollow center shows what fungus can do.
All the parasites can turn a tree into a shell,
leaving space for homes even if the tree fell.
But then you’d have to call it Dead Tree Motel. TIMBER

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As a motel, there might be snakes or chipmunks,
maybe mice or squirrels, fox or skunks .
Brown and white rot will break the dead tree down
into crumbly stuff, becoming part of the ground,
making rich soil and green growth abound.

That's the life of, life of the dead tree.

Down in the southeast the loblolly pine grows
out in the swamps cypress show their knees
each trunk and each branch where moss and the vine grows
is where you’re gonna find bio diversity

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it’s a tree farming family with every branch on the family tree
It’s a tree farming family on this land they’ll always be
a tree farming family living with the critters wild and free
and the forest will remain and the harvest will sustain
this Tree farming family

up in the north, come every autumn
the green growth of summer each day retires
colors revealed some color created
the maples look so brilliant they seem like they’re on fire

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Fly , fly across the USA
looking down all along the way
see, see the forest where that life all lives
smile, smile and think
how much the forest gives, and gives,
and gives,gives gives gives gives

out in the west in heat of the summer
sweet smells come from the ponderosa pines
you got your skinny lodge poll and your great big doug firs
but it’s the Sequoia that really blows your mind!

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