Name: The Tallest Tree
Duration: P00H05M05S
Description: Originally recorded on The Fragile (2012)

The Tallest Tree

from Live at St George's by O'Hooley & Tidow

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

£1 GBP or more
Buy the Full Digital Album

about

Originally recorded on The Fragile (2012)

lyrics

The robin calls, the robin sees
The robin flies to the tallest tree
The tallest tree so far from earth
The robin watches from the highest perch
The highest perch, the longest view
The robin watches me and you
Me and you, them and them
Observer of maelstrom

She turns her head towards the brine
A lifeboat caught in the salty swell
The salty sweat of desperate souls
Lives preserved by hull and stern

A jouncing head, with begging eyes
Grasping hands that scrape the side
Despite more flesh than boat can bear
Of course they could not let him die

And in the night that closed that day, with beak in wing she dreams
Of Africa, desolation, thirsty, sun-scorched fields
Crops sent o’er to feed the fat whilst mother’s milk runs dry
This time in the lifeboat, the rescued shut their eyes

Her eyes fix on a distant cry
A hooded child with arm aloft
Alarms and sirens mask the crack
Cheers and smiles as brick hits glass
A swarm of bats with cloak and shield
A flock of magpies hoarding junk
The nest of things soon boarded up
And looting birds caged up

The second night, her sleep disturbed by visions of a street
Where crows in pinstripe uniform, gather to repeat
The systematic ruin of the commoner’s nest egg
To feast upon their bonuses and then freely fly onwards

credits

from Live at St George's, released September 14, 2020
O'Hooley/Tidow

license

about

O'Hooley & Tidow Huddersfield, UK

ENGLAND'S ANSWER TO THE MCGARRIGLES

* * * * *
GUARDIAN

shows

Aug 27

Glaramara Hotel

Keswick, UK

contact / help

Contact O'Hooley & Tidow

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

If you like O'Hooley & Tidow, you may also like:

Live Before Lockdown, Bootleg 2019
by Martin Simpson

supported by 7 fans who also own “The Tallest Tree”

Martin is one of the finest steel string finger style guitarists on the planet as well as a great singer. Simply beautiful heart felt music and I highly recommend exploring his vast catalogue. Dan Ferguson
go to album
Still As Your Sleeping
by Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan

supported by 7 fans who also own “The Tallest Tree”

Thanks for the beautiful music Karine and Dave. it's been a while since I've felt so emotional listening to a new album. Every lyric is so beautifully supported by the piano parts. Laura-Beth Salter
go to album
To The Awe
by Rachel Newton

supported by 7 fans who also own “The Tallest Tree”

Keening, yearning, captivating and lovely collection of songs, the sense of close performance all the more remarkable when you learn it was made during Covid lockdown in 2020. The ballads and poems set to music on this album might be hundreds of years old, and while they do have an air of immortal, ancient tradition about them, they sound utterly current. Badzie
go to album
Ys
by Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom's 2006 opus "Ys" and tons more Drag City vinyl and cassettes are now available on Bandcamp. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 5, 2018
go to album
Safe Passage
by Astralingua

Astralingua mixes otherwordly folk and augural classical music into their newest offering. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 13, 2019
go to album
Cold Sea
by Oisin Leech

Irish singer-songwriter Oisin Leech's acoustic folk music is characterized by its muted beauty and intimate, solitary quality. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 16, 2024
go to album
Fallow Ground
by Spiers & Boden

supported by 7 fans who also own “The Tallest Tree”
go to album