When I read this news article just after Christmas about the fate of the White House's historic Magnolia tree, it felt like the cosmos was making up its own metaphors and a song needed to be written...
Andrew Jackson was one president who liked to speak his mindHe was a man of the people, but only his own kindWhen his loving wife she up and died he had no time to mournBut he took a shoot from Tennessee soil and he set it in the White House lawn
CHORUSMagnolia blossom on a summer breezeIt's a long way to Washington from TennesseeBut maybe not so far as the 'Jim Crow' fliesDon't the truth get weary chasing all these lies?Don't the truth get weary chasing all these lies?
If you plant a tree from a bitter rootDon't be surprised when it bears bad fruitNow there's a heart of darkness behind white wallsAnd a well of hate enough to poison us all
...CHORUS
Your preachers say it was a garden and a different kind of treePut the sins of the fathers on the likes of you and meBetween the preacher and the sinner there isn't much to chooseIf you go walking in the swamp you'll get mud on your shoesDon't go down in the delta if you can't sing the blues
...CHORUS