Giving Tree
©1998 Steve Schuch / Night Heron Music (ASCAP)

When I was a kid, I loved climbing trees and listening to the wind through their branches. One of my favorite trees was my Grandparents big old weeping willow. If you climbed even a little way up that tree, no one else could see you except the wind and sky. Years later, I found myself working on a theater adaptation of Shell Silverstein’s book, The Giving Tree. The chorus to this song came as a gift.

Song tracks: Trees of Life | Turn the World Around | The Forest is a Wonderful Place | If I Had Wings | Sap Time | Barges | Silent Huntress | Ibis the Whale | Two Different Worlds | The Animal Song | The Garden Round | Where Will We Go | The Little Prince | Zeno-ba-ba-da | Giving Tree | Activity Guide Home

Giving tree, giving shelter
Giving tree, friend I’ve known
Giving tree, growing ‘round us
Giving tree, lead us home

In the spring Sister Robin
Comes to you to build her nest
Weaving twigs and earth together
For the young ones coming next... Chorus

Brother Squirrel knows all your branches
And the time the acorns fall
Gather some to last the winter
Leave a few to grow tall... Chorus

In the cold and dark of winter
Fast asleep you wait for spring
And the warmth that draws you upward
Toward the sun and all it brings... Chorus

A Play
This song is ideal when adapting The Giving Tree as a school play or musical. The Tree can be played by an assembly of actors, with any number of children comprising the trunk, roots, branches, etc. The Boat and other “props” may also be played by actors. Sing the chorus or verses of this song as a bridge between the different sections of the story. The chorus works well again at the end as a final curtain call, with all the actors coming back on stage and singing with the audience.

New Verses or Mural
Do you have a favorite tree you like to sit under or climb? Or maybe a tree you helped plant? Write new song verses based on trees you’ve known and the critters who call trees home. You might create a class mural based on the song or book as well.

See additional notes and activities for “Trees of Life” and “Sap Time.” Also see “The Little Prince” activity, Listen to a Story.

If you are interested in having Steve Schuch work with students on a production of The Giving Tree, or having him write other original music, contact him about his Artist Residencies, Workshops and Commissioned Work.