The Trees (Pulp song)

"The Trees" is a song by British rock band Pulp, from their 2001 album We Love Life. It was released as a double-A side with "Sunrise" on 8 October 2001 ahead of the album, charting at number 23 in the UK Singles Chart.

"The Trees"
Single by Pulp
from the album We Love Life
A-side	"Sunrise"
Released	8 October 2001
Genre	Britpop, alternative rock
Length	4:51
Label	Island
Producer(s)	Scott Walker
Pulp singles chronology
"Party Hard" (1998) "Sunrise" / "The Trees" (2001) "Bad Cover Version" (2002)

Background

"The Trees" samples the string arrangement from "Tell Her You Love Her," written by Stanley Myers and Hal Shaper. The song had appeared in the film Otley, which Cocker had sought to use in a song since 1999.[1] Earlier songs that were attempted with the string arrangement included "Cockroach Conversation" and "Otley" before being reworked into "The Trees" at the tail end of the We Love Life sessions. Cocker recalled:

The idea of the lyrics in that song is the trees being there and all the kind of human dramas that could happen in a forest, people meeting for an illicit love affair or whatever, but the trees are impassive to that, and the way that people will carve their name on the bark of tree, thinking that's some kind of mark of permanence in a relationship, but then you go back a year or two later and try and read it, it'll be all twisted.[1]

Bassist Steve Mackey of the song stated that the track "encapsulates" We Love Life, pointing to the fact that it was "the last song we wrote, and by that point we were starting to understand what kind of record we were making".[1]

Release

"The Trees" was released as a double-A side with "Sunrise" at the insistence of the record company. Island Records' Nigel Coxon explained, "We all thought ['Sunrise'] was brilliant and it should be a single... but the record company, being very timid possibly, thought, 'Sunrise', six minutes, two-minute outro, no chance. 'Trees', that's more obvious'."[1] As a compromise, the two songs were released as a double-A side, which meant, according to Coxon, that "that single got slightly diluted". The single reached number 23 in the UK, a relative disappointment for the band.

Track listings

CD one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sunrise"	Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Mark Webber, Peter Mansell	5:53
2.	"The Trees"	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber	4:51
3.	"Sunrise" (Fat Truckers/Scott Free Mix)	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell	4:07

CD two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Trees"	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber	4:51
2.	"Sunrise"	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell	5:53
3.	"The Trees" (Felled by I Monster)	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber	5:27

12"

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sunrise" (All Seeing I - Middle of the Road Mix)	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell	6:08
2.	"The Trees" (Felled by I Monster)	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber	5:27
3.	"The Trees" (Lovejoy the No Jazz Mix)	Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber	4:47

References

1. Sturdy, Mark (2009). Truth And Beauty: The Story Of Pulp. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-103-5.

• "Sunrise/The Trees" at Discogs (list of releases)