# Lemon Tree? What's it all about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675 "2000-10-20T17:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/1 "2000-10-20T17:21:45Z")
What exactly is the song Lemon Tree about? They play it every day on my work Musak, and I finally looked up the words. At first it seems to be just about being lonely, but why is all he can see just a lemon tree? Is there a hidden meaning? Lyrics: [http://www.bayou.com/~jebsr/lemontre.html](http://www.bayou.com/~jebsr/lemontre.html) Has he gone crazy from the isolation? Zette ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/2 "2000-10-20T17:24:31Z")
I always thought it was a metaphorical reference to a relationship with a beautiful woman that went bad ? ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/3 "2000-10-20T17:52:51Z")
Did’ja ever hear the one about “squeeze[ing] my lemon, till the juice ran down my leg”? Add 2 + 2 and you get rampant sexual frustration. The lemon is symbolic, you see. (That’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it.) ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/4 "2000-10-20T17:58:47Z")
:eek: I was thinking Trini Lopez “Lemon tree, very pretty” ya know. “nevermind” Emily Latille. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/5 "2000-10-20T18:03:33Z")
Me, too. I’m not at all familiar with this other one. Who wrote and/or sang it? ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/6 "2000-10-20T18:20:10Z")
Oops, sorry! Thought you meant _Lemon Tree_ by Peter, Paul & Mary. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/7 "2000-10-20T18:21:57Z")
_Damn_ you, **Zette**! :mad: I spent the better part of a year trying to forget that song… it played almost daily on the German MTV-style channel we got in St. Petersburg and grew to be a serious annoyance. _I-so-lay-shun Is no good for me… I-so-layyy-shun I don’t want to Sit on the lemon tree_ You will pay for this. Oh yes, you _will_ pay. I don’t remember the name of the artist or group that did it, but they were some twee British band, it seems. The lyrics were pretty simple, just about sitting around and being bored, the last verse about finding something new to hold his interest and the jealousy it might provoke. Sounds like a bad relationship song to me. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/8 "2000-10-20T18:25:39Z")
Of course, if you follow the link provided so graciously by **Zette** , whom I shall forevermore refer to as **Zette Who Fucks With My Mind** , we’ll see that this particular song is by _Fools Garden_. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/9 "2000-10-20T18:33:03Z")
Thanks. I thought “Fools Garden” was a subtitle. I mean, come on… trees, gardens… it makes a certain amount of sense. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/10 "2000-10-20T19:37:16Z")
And as for Led Zeppelin’s lemons, they stole the line from Robert Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/11 "2000-10-20T19:49:05Z")
I am glad to see I am not the only one who was thinking the other Lemon tree song. Lemon Tree, very pretty and the Lemon flower is sweet But the fruit of the poor lemon Is impossible to eat. HUGS! Ed Asner’s Nubby ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/12 "2000-10-20T23:30:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Olentzero \* > \*\*Of course, if you follow the link provided so graciously by **Zette** , whom I shall forevermore refer to as **Zette Who Fucks With My Mind** , we’ll see that this particular song is by _Fools Garden_. \*\* Olentzero, it’s just sad to see you beg like that. No matter how much you grovel, I’m still taken. Sorry! 🙂 How does THIS part grab ya’? I wonder how, I wonder why Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon tree I’m turning my head up and down I’m turning, turning, turning, turning, turning around And all that I can see is just another lemon tree ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2000, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/13 "2000-10-28T19:45:16Z")
Is it possible that Zette’s song is referring to the PP&M song? The PP&M song was released in 1962 - perhaps the person who wrote the other song had grown up with it. In the PP&M song the lemon tree represents the inevitable pain and loss that comes from loving someone (as the author saw it). In the Fool’s Garden song, it sounds like he may have lost his lover, so maybe the interpretation is that he can’t see the happiness of love (blue sky) only the pain (lemon tree). ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemon-tree-whats-it-all-about/37675/14 "2000-10-28T22:52:50Z")
FWIW, I think **Fools Garden** are Germans. Hence, I wouldn’t look for too much symolicism (sp?) - zey wurr probablee djust trrrraaaaayink too rrrrime zee wurds 😉