Lemon Tree

Words & Music:

Will Holt

 

1.  Version I learned at camp:

     D     A      D                     A       D

When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,

      D        A      G      D               A     F

"Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree.

      G        D        G                        D       Em

Don't put your faith in love, my boy," my father said to me.

   G           D         Em               C      D     G    G7

"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."

 

CHORUS:  [2x]

      C    F    C      F       C     F         G

Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet.

        G                                     C  [second time to A]

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 sun 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 to you:

 

CHORUS:

 

2.  The Seekers' version:

 

Some versions have the A#m as Abm...I'm not sure which is true.

 

E  F#m  A#m  A  E  B  E

 

     E     F#m   A#m    F#m     E      F#m     A#m

When I was but a little boy, my father said to me:

      E        F#m     A#m    A        E      B     E    E7

"Come here and learn a lesson from the lovely lemon tree."

    A         Bm   C#m  Bm        A      Bm      C#m

"My son, it's most important," my father said to me,

    A        Bm       C#m      D        A      E        A

"To put your trust in what you feel and not in what you see."

 

CHORUS:

A7    D                                         A

Lemon tree, very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet,

A                                    A7          D

But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

D                                               A

Lemon tree, very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet.

A                                    A7          D    B

But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

 

Beneath that lemon tree one day, my love and I did lie.

A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the sun rose in the sky.

We spent that summer lost in love beneath that lemon tree;

The magic 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 done left me for another man; it's a common tale but true.

A sadder man, but wiser now, I sing these words to you:

 

CHORUS:  [repeat and out]