Black Pear Tree

Lyrics

I dug a hole and filled it up with compost
Rested on the cool grass for a minute
I saw the future in a dream last night
There's nothing in it

I set the sapling in the hole
Started gently tamping down the dirt
I saw the future in a dream last night
Somebody's gonna get hurt, somebody's gonna get hurt
I hope it's not me
But I suspect it's going to have to be

I dug my heels in for the winter
And I waited for the snow
But something was stuck up in the clouds
Something was stuck up there
It couldn't let go

And when its time came I could see[1] it happen
Blossoms black and sweet as Texas crude
I saw the future flowering like a ruptured vessel
Somebody's gonna get screwed[2]
It won't be me
Someday I am going to walk out of here free

Banter

• I was in Sweden in, I think… you really lose track. I want to say 2004 but it could have been 2007. I was having chest pains. When you get chest pains on tour - even if they’re minor, even if you don’t have any history of heart disease or anything - it’s a hard feeling. The further from home you are, the stranger it’s going to be because your chest is sort of where- I don’t know how- I don’t know where your chakras are at but for me, like, if I have stomach pain, I assume I ate something funny. But if I have chest pain, I’m not used to that. And it felt alarming and it was a big hurt. I went to a hospital and I saw [inaudible]. Like, I went from the hospital, in a cab, to the show and it was scary. And in the nine years or so since then, my body - as will happen with many bodies - has betrayed me in a number of ways. I’ve earned this, I have no illusions about that. But beginning around 2009, a year or two after I wrote this song, I began to confront a number of chronic pain issues that continue to this day and it was nice to have a song that sort of predicted my feeling about it. You keep a good sense of humour if you can, but this is a song about the pains and the aches and gaps and small hurty spots that aren’t going to go away. (2017-09-16)

Live Performances

• 2021-08-06 The Orange Peel (recording - JD and Matt duo)
• 2023-10-11 The ELM (JD and Matt duo)
• 2023-10-29 The Heights Theater (JD and Matt duo)

Footnotes