[Verse]
A tree fell in the forest,
And it didn’t make a sound.
The other trees just sighed a bit
And moved their leaves around.
But one observant beetle
Crawled up out from underground,
And climbed up on the tree trunk
To inspect what it had found.
It said am I the only one
To chance upon this scene?
Well, don’t that seem like such a shame,
You were so nice and green.
Maybe you weren’t the tallest tree
That there has ever been,
But you were good as any here
And you should have been seen.
Now when you’re keeling over,
don’t expect they’ll hear you fall.
This is our modern curse:
the forest’s bigger than us all.
That bug, it spied a seedling
sprouting from the dirt.
It had the strangest feeling
It could spare it all the hurt.
It said I think you ought to know
That try hard as you might,
There’s billions of other trees
All clamouring for light.
But I believe in something
Even bigger than myself
I’ll stick with you the whole year through
And help you help yourself.
I’ll feed you and I’ll water you
And you’ll have grown and grown
And you will be the tallest tree
The world has ever known.
[Bridge]
Soon the touch of death
Reached out its icy hand,
And in one last gift, the beetle
Fertilized the land.
A hundred years went by,
And a million beetles flew,
But the tree still kept that sacrifice
With every gust that blew.
[Chorus]
Mr. Stern liked to golf,
So he bought 20 acres!
Undeveloped countryside,
No pestering the neighbors!
[Ending]
A tree fell in the forest
And you couldn’t hear the sound
Over heavy machinery
As the lumber hit the ground!