Sequoia
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I wrote this song while camping in the Sequoia National Forest in the California Sierras near some old groves of giant Sequoia trees. One I area I visited had been logged over one hundred years ago, and only black stumps remainedhuge charred sentinels from days gone, guarding a verdant meadow of new growth. Sequoias are among the oldest living things on Earth, and are the most massive life forms in existence. They have adapted to the harsh Sierra life of fire, ice and wind, but were ill-prepared for the woodsmens ax at the turn of the century. One famous stump is called the Chicago Stump, all thats left from the General Noble Tree. The cutting of this huge tree was commissioned for the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. Too big to transport, a section of the tree was cut into hundreds of smaller pieces and reassembled at the fair site. All for naughtFair visitors thought it was a hoax. No tree could be this big. The irony in our age of human conquest for financial gain is that Sequoia wood is virtually worthless. Relegated to fence posts and roofing shingles, it rotted away within ten years. Thisafter 3500 years of living glory. I wrote this song standing on a Sequoia stump with my guitar. I felt the old tree screaming silently of what he had seen and what he had survived. only to be felled for human pride. In the end, the only thing of any value that could be built from sequoia wood was a coffin. So I was pleased to give my tree the last laugh here. Thanks to my friend Julija Zonic for the passionate backing vocals, and to Jim Monahan for the great guitar and mandolin work.