Witness Trees

I had never heard of the idea of witness trees before reading this story from earlier in August but I find it fascinating. I had heard of the infamous Shakespeare tree [stories here and here] but I didn't know they did the same thing with the Civil War.

The Move -- (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree
From The Best of the Move collection.

Radiohead -- Fake Plastic Trees
From The Bends album.

The Beach Boys -- A Day in the Life of a Tree
From the Sunflower/Surf's Up double CD.

Stereophonics -- A Thousand Trees
From the Live From the Dakota album.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly -- An Oak Tree
From The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager album.

Wolfmother -- Apple Tree
From the self-titled debut.

Robbers on High Street -- Beneath the Trees
From the Tree City album.

Mew -- Chinaberry Tree
From the And the Glass Handed Kites album.

Belle & Sebastian -- Family Tree
From the Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant album.

Ben Kweller -- Family Tree
From the Sha Sha album.

Loretta Lynn -- Family Tree
From the Van Lear Rose album.

Blue Cheer -- Feathers from Your Tree
From the Outsideinside album.

Belly -- Feed the Tree
From the Star album.

Counting Crows -- Hanging Tree
From the Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings album.

Pearl Jam -- In My Tree
This is on the No Code album.

Bright Eyes -- Lime Tree
From the Cassadaga album.

Ween -- Marble Tulip Juicy Tree
From the GodWeenSatan album.

Animal Collective -- Must Be Treeman
From the Grass EP.

The Clientele -- My Own Face Inside the Trees
From the Strange Geometry album.

Hootie & The Blowfish -- Not Even the Trees
From the Best of Hootie & the Blowfish collection.

U2 -- One Tree Hill
From The Joshua Tree album.

The Wailers -- Out of Our Tree
From the Nuggets collection.

Brenda Lee -- Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
From the Time-Life Treasury of Christmas collection.

Damien Rice -- Rootless Tree
From the 9 album.

Damien Rice -- Rootless Tree [Live]
From the Live at Fingerprints: Warts and All EP.

U2 -- Shadows and Tall Trees
From the Boy album.

Dave Matthews Band -- The Dreaming Tree
From the Before These Crowded Streets album.

Dashboard Confessional -- The Shade of Poison Trees
From the album of the same name.

Badly Drawn Boy -- The Treeclimber
From EP2.

Andrew Bird -- The Trees Were Mistaken
From the Soldier On EP.

Aretha Franklin -- Tree of Life
From the Rare & Unreleased Recordings collection.

The Federalists -- Tree Song
From their self-titled album.

Radiohead -- Treefingers
From the Kid A album.

Nada Surf -- Treehouse
From the High/Low album.

I'm From Barcelona -- Treehouse
From the Let Me Introduce My Friends album.

Bo Diddley Megapost

Bo Diddley passed away on Monday and a more influential musician they may never have been. While many people cannot name a Bo Diddley song outright, they have without a doubt heard the distinctive beat that Diddley created and that thousands "borrowed" afterward...some in tribute, some because the beat seeps into your brain never to escape...The Diddley Beat is possibly the archetypal rhythm that all of our ancestors at one time sang and drummed to around the fire in a primordial cave.

The best example of the Diddley Beat can be found in the song "Bo Diddley":

Bo Diddley -- Bo Diddley
From the Chess Box collection.

While listening to The Tony Kornheiser Show podcast this week, he did a great tribute to Diddley and played his songs throughout the show. He commented that if you had a Mount Rushmore of Rock, three of the four faces would be Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley. He added, you could throw Elvis up there if you wanted. I agree. Here are some of the people directly influenced by Bo and the Diddley Beat...as well as some of Diddley's greatest hits...

Greatest Hits [all these songs are from the Chess Box collection]:

Bo Diddley -- I'm a Man

Bo Diddley -- Who Do You Love?

Bo Diddley -- Mona (I Need You Baby)

Bo Diddley -- The Story of Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley -- Road Runner

Bo Diddley -- Bo Diddley 1969

Songs with the Diddley Beat:

Elvis Presley -- (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame
From the Elv1s 30 #1 Hits collection.

Bruce Springsteen -- She's the One [Live]
From the Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 double live album.

U2 -- Desire [Live]
From the Rattle and Hum live album.

Morrissey -- How Soon Is Now? [Live]
From the Live at Earls Court album.

George Michael -- Faith
From the album of the same name.

KT Tunstall -- Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
From the Eye to the Telescope album.

Primal Scream -- Movin' On Up
From the Screamadelica album.

David Bowie -- Panic in Detroit
From the Aladdin Sane album.

Wayne Fontana -- The Game of Love
From The Very Best of Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders collection.

The Strangeloves -- I Want Candy
From the Nuggets collection.

The White Stripes -- Screwdriver [Live]
From the Walking With a Ghost EP.

The Stooges -- 1969
From The Stooges album.

The Rolling Stones -- Not Fade Away
From the Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) collection.

Buddy Holly -- Not Fade Away
From The Buddy Holly Collection.

The Who -- Magic Bus
From The Who: The Ultimate Collection.

Bo Diddley Related Songs & Covers:

The Animals -- The Story of Bo Diddley
From The Complete Animals collection.

Warren Zevon -- Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger / Bo Diddley [Live]
From the Stand in the Fire live album.

George Thorogood -- Who Do You Love?
From the Live album.

The Zombies -- Road Runner
From the Begin Here album.

And last but not least, we should not forget this:

'08 Campaign Songs #1: Hillary Clinton

We here at YASR are interested in politics, music, and where those two wonderful vices come together...and what better example of that is there is political campaign songs? Until Election Day '08 we will examine the songs that the political campaigns from both party are using...

Let's start with Hillary Clinton and her ground breaking decision to allow her supporters (or not in some cases) to select her main campaign song for her. This is an astonishing bit of political theatre as a campaign giving up control of any aspect of their image is something rare.

The initial group included songs by The Temptations, Smash Mouth, U2, and the Dixie Chicks. When the votes were tabulated...the song that might sweep the first female American President into office is....a song by a Canadian. Celine Dion's "You and I," specifically.

The song itself is an unusual selection as it is not apart of Dion's standard cannon of greatest hits and I seriously doubt my sister (a devout Celine Dion fan who will serve as the standard by which I judge all Celine Dion songs) could sing this song. It is relatively new and appears only on a CD that honors her extended stay on the Las Vegas strip. Let's put it this way, this isn't "My Heart Will Go On."