Lemon Tree

About Lemon Tree

"Lemon Tree" is a folk song written by Will Holt in the late 1950s. The tune is based on the Brazilian folk song Meu limão, meu limoeiro, arranged by José Carlos Burle in 1937 and made popular by Brazilian singer Wilson Simonal. The song compares love to a lemon tree: "Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat." The song has been recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, Chad & Jeremy, The Kingston Trio, The Seekers, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Sandie Shaw, and Roger Whittaker. In 1965, Trini Lopez recorded the most successful version of the song which hit number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Billboard Middle Road Singles chart. It was adapted as a jingle in the 1960s for Lemon Pledge. A reference is made to the song in the Seinfeld episode ‘The Phone Message' (Season 2, Episode 4, 17:38). Another television reference has the character Jefferson singing it during a dream sequence in the Married With Children episode ‘Lookin' for a Desk in All the Wrong Places'(Season 6, Episode 5, 17:00). more »