Olive Tree - Dar Williams: Song Lyrics, Music Videos & Concerts

Olive Tree

107

On Tour

Contemporary Singer/Songwriter

Olive Tree was released on September 12, 2025 by Righteous Babe Records as a part of the album Hummingbird Highway

Song Details

AlbumHummingbird Highway

Release DateSeptember 12, 2025

LabelRighteous Babe Records

LanguageEnglish

Melodicness

Acousticness

Valence

Danceability

Energy

BPM91

OVERVIEW

LYRICS

Music Video

Music Video

Credits

PERFORMING ARTISTS

Dar Williams

Acoustic Guitar

Clara Kennedy

Cello

Chris Morrisey

Bass Guitar

Mike Visceglia

Bass Guitar

Dan Rieser

Drums

Rich Hinman

Pedal Steel Guitar

Bryn Roberts

Piano

Ken Rich

Synthesizer

Andrew Sherman

Orchestra

COMPOSITION & LYRICS

Dar Williams

Songwriter

PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING

Ken Rich

Producer

Alan Douches

Mastering Engineer

Lyrics

Long ago in a Mediterranean land

There was a king, only one man

And his crookedest friends, that's where the story could end

You worked every day in a field full of stones

The bounty was laid at the feet of the thrones

That were mountains away, many days and mountains away

But out of the earth, that never gave you anything free

Came the fruit on the branch from the olive tree

There's oil for your lamps, you can see by their light

So I'll teach you to read, I'll teach you to write

Under an olive tree, under an olive tree

Aristotle walked away from the walls

Wandered from Plato's academy halls

He was putting his trust

In the total of all of us

Out on a peripatetical mission

Challenging all take a position

A logic of sorts, a way to learn in the back and the forth

And in the heart of the land

From near and from far, you could be one of them

You'd choose a black or white stone

Then go to the hill, there's a council to vote

Under an olive tree, under an olive tree

While the self-appointed tyrants try to tear it all apart

The olive tree grows in the light of a bright and constant star

We're printing our books, we're pressing the fruit

In the light of the sun and coming up from the roots

It's 10:45 and I'm thinking about

Civilization, the moon has come out

For these strangers and friends

A party of strangers and friends

All of these arguments everyone makes

Discussing the planet, discussing the state

Of the government

All of these strangers and friends

It's like we have returned to that hill

But there are more of us now, and the circle is widening still

In the back and the forth, it's like we're holding a trust

Like we know that we count, like something's counting on us

And I hear all these voices rise up like an offering

We're a part it all, when no one promised us anything

And this is my world, it's the air that I breathe

This most enlightened of groves, this most sacred of trees

California, back in 1913

Professors came up Berkeley

They'd studied the dirt

Planting olive trees in the earth

Collegial friends, hopeful and patient

No chemicals needed and no irrigation

They were planting their trust

In the future of all of us

As they watered each sapling tree

They'd stop and look up to see what their children would see

They'd come to the hill, the trees would be here

They'll continue to grow over one thousand years

And I need you here, under an olive tree

Under an olive tree, under an olive tree

Written by: Dar Williams

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