"The Trees" is a song by progressive rock band Rush

Rush (band)

Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...

 from their 1978 album Hemispheres

Hemispheres (Rush album)

Hemispheres is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1978. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and mixed at Trident Studios in London....

. The song is also featured on many of Rush's compilation albums and has been a perennial fan favorite of the band's live shows. On the live album Exit...Stage Left

Exit...Stage Left

Exit...Stage Left is a live album by Canadian band Rush, released in 1981. A video release with the same name, with slightly different content, was released in 1982 on VHS and later on Laserdisc, and in 2007 on DVD....

, the short instrumental "Broon's Bane" is performed as a short classical guitar introduction to the song.

Despite claims that the song addresses political

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 and socioeconomic

Socioeconomics

Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...

 issues, Neil Peart has remarked that there is no hidden meaning to the song, and that the inspiration for penning it simply came from a humorous comic strip he read which depicted trees arguing like people.

In other media

• The song is featured in an episode of King of the Hill
  King of the Hill
  King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
  
  titled, "The Witches of East Arlen."

• The song is featured in the film SLC Punk.

• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
  Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
  Mark Jonathan Davis , known by his stage name Richard Cheese, is an American musician and comedian. He was born in New York...
  
   covered the song for their 2006 Christmas
  Christmas
  Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
  
   album Silent Nightclub.

• A vault edition of "The Trees" is a playable song in Rock Band 2
  Rock Band 2
  Rock Band 2 is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments...
  
  and also Rock Band Unplugged
  Rock Band Unplugged
  Rock Band Unplugged is an expansion of the Rock Band series of music video games released for the PlayStation Portable. The game is developed by Backbone Entertainment in conjunction with Harmonix Music Systems and is distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts...
  
  .