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Movement III · Old Growth Records
One Tree Standing
Their last record. The closing movement is ninety seconds of one sustained chord and two words. Old Growth Records printed the lyrics in full; the band asked them not to. They compromised — the words are there, in a typeface you have to work to read.
- 01The Managed Wood6:30
The eleven percent figure appears in no document the archive has located.
The words
Every crown is cut to the same height now Every row is set to the same span There's a grid of it from here to the ridgeline And it was done exactly as we planned The managed wood It is working The managed wood It is working, and it's working well Nobody is in shadow. Nobody is cold. Nobody is competing for a thing. The yield is up eleven percent this season. The birds have not come back this spring. There was a report about the birds It was received and it was filed The finding was the birds are not a member And the matter was not tried I walk it every morning in the summer And it is even, and it's fair, and it is right And I have started walking early So that I am done before the light
- 02The Lowest Branch7:10
Roth has said this is the only Trees song written from a single fixed point of view and that he found it difficult to leave.
The words
I am the lowest branch on the oldest tree Have not seen direct sun since 'fifty-nine I have been told repeatedly this is temporary I have been told that a long time The lowest branch Still attached The lowest branch Still counted in the count When they take the census I am counted When they measure crown I'm not When they voted on the equal light I do not know what I got The tree above me is not cruel The tree above me does not know There is no malice in a canopy There is only what will grow I am not asking to be higher I would not know what to do I am asking to be mentioned In a paragraph. Or two.
- 03What the Rings Remember8:00
Direct sequel to "Rings" from the 1980 record. The band has never performed the two together.
The words
Five years on we cut a sample Standard practice, nothing more Took a core from one they'd planted In the spring of 'eighty-four What the rings remember Is not what we wrote down What the rings remember Is the year, and not the reason 'Eighty-two is wide and even 'Eighty-three the same again 'Eighty-five is thin and crowded And there's nothing there for when We had a vote. It is not in there. We had a law. It is not in there. We had eleven hours of speeches And the wood has got no ring for that It only knows the water and the light It only knows the season and the cold The rings do not record the argument They only count the years it took
- 04The Grove That Governed Itself9:40
The photograph referred to in the final verse is held by the archive. It shows a clearing. Nothing in it is identifiable.
The words
There was a grove up past the second creek Two hundred trees, no more They never joined the convening They never heard the law The grove that governed itself That is what the survey called it The grove that governed itself Which is a thing we made up after They did not have a bylaw or a body They did not have a clerk or any minutes When a tree came down the others took the light And nobody had ruled and no one minded Some got tall and some did not It was not fair by any reading It ran four hundred years that way Which is longer than our meeting I am not saying it was better. I want to be careful here. I am saying it was older. And I don't know what that means. The men came for it in 'eighty-one Same fire road, same paper, same three It took a week. There is a photograph. And in the photograph you cannot tell which grove it used to be
- 05The Canopy Authority6:50
Nine is the number the band used consistently. No document in the archive establishes a membership.
The words
The Authority was established in the fall To administer the light Nine members, all appointed All of them a certain height The Canopy Authority Acting in the interest of the wood The Canopy Authority And it is doing what it should There is an application process There's a form, and there's a fee The fee is paid in growing season Which is the only thing we have I applied in 'eighty-three for a variance On a west-side eastern lean There was a hearing and a finding And I have not heard since I do not think that they are wicked I have met two of the nine They are decent and they're tired And they are also doing fine
- 06Subsidiary5:20
The purchase is not fictional within the archive's timeline and is dated to 1985. The purchaser has never been named on any Trees release.
The words
I was purchased in the spring Along with everything around me I did not know that I was for sale I did not know that I was property Subsidiary Wholly owned Subsidiary And the name above the door is not one I have known The Authority still meets The bylaws are still read The bylaws are a schedule now In an appendix, at the end Nothing that we voted for was taken Every article is still in force They just bought the wood the articles apply to Which nobody had thought to write about There is no clause about the buyer. It is shorter than you'd think. There is no clause about the buyer. There is not one. There's no ink.
- 07One Tree Standing10:30
The words
The managed wood stands even now Every crown cut to the vow No shadow falls, no tree stands tall One grey canopy over all But the sky remembers what they leveled And the wind comes down uneven Rolling black across the even green The first storm they had never seen And the roots that ran their own way, deep, held the ground the vote could not keep One tree standing in the storm One that would not take the form Bend the forest, break the law — Still it stood, and would not fall Then the clouds drew back like a curtain drawn And a ladder of light came down at dawn Not on the canopy, even and wide — But on the one tree they could not decide One tree standing in the light One that kept its own slow height Every other bowed and same — This one still remembered its name Still standing. Still reaching. Still.
- 08I Can1:40
The words
I can I can