There Are English Trees in Neil Finn’s Garden

A recent Guardian reader-curated playlist about trees includes songs from the Beach Boys, Esperanza Spalding, the Shamen and Crowded House.

“Since time immemorial trees have provided people with shelter, food, lumber and even medicine. They hold important places in mythology, and are sometimes even worshipped. In ancient times, evergreens were symbolic of eternal life and used to decorate living quarters,” George Boyland writes for the UK newspaper.

“English trees were planted in New Zealander Neil Finn’s garden. They were found to thrive, and their very foreignness reminded him of home. Away in England, he walks through Regent’s Park, among the same trees he knows from home. The irony is not lost on him, and he dwells on their deciduous nature adapting to seasons in reverse. Crowded House’s English Trees is also a song of forgiveness, and he finds it possible to rediscover lost feelings as he walks in a foreign park.”

English Trees featured on the band’s 2007 album, Time on Earth.

Original article by George Boyland, The Guardian, December 28, 2017.