The Singing Tree Trivia Quiz

"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was released by KT Tunstall as the lead single for her 2004 album "Eye to the Telescope". It reached number 28 on UK Singles charts, number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and seven for Canada Digital Song Sales. The song did not originally perform so well in the United States, until "American Idol" season five contestant Katherine McPhee chose the tune for Billboard charts night...

The song rose from 79 to 20 after the performance. Interestingly, when performing the song live, Tunstall goes solo; she uses a loop pedal to create layers and backing vocals.

"willow" debuted on top of the Billboard Hot 100, making it Taylor Swift's third number one debut, and seventh number one overall. It was found on her ninth album "evermore", which debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart. This made Taylor Swift the first act in history to debut on both album and singles charts in the same week.... TWICE. Both of these occasions happened in the same year, 2020; Taylor Swift previously released "cardigan" on the album "folklore" only months prior.

And yes, the titles from these two sister albums (written and recorded during the Covid-19 shut down) as well as the album name themselves are all stylized in lowercase.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was originally released in 1958 when Brenda Lee was just 13 years old! In 2023, however, the song broke many records. It was then that Brenda Lee released a music video, and pushed the song to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

This made Brenda Lee, at 78, the oldest person to hit the top spot on the chart, a record she broke within a week upon her 79th birthday. At this time, the song also broke the record for the longest time to reach number one after the initial release; 65 years! It is hard to imagine, but when the song was first released, it was not extremely popular, and did not really gain popularity until 1990 when it was used in the film "Home Alone".

Ed Sheeran released his sixth album "-" (called "Subtract") in 2023, the fifth and final mathematical album ("+", "x", "Divide" [though styled with the symbol unable to be used here], and "="). The lead single was "Eyes Closed", but during recording of the album Ed Sheeran and his wife, Cherry, got devastating news.

They learned of a tumor while she was pregnant with their second child, Jupiter. "Sycamore" was one of the last songs Sheeran wrote for the album, outlining their gut-wrenching experiences in a doctor's waiting room.

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" was a huge hit from Tony Orlando and Dawn's 1973 album "Tuneweaving" (called "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" in the UK) that gained popularity all over the world. The song is about a man who has completed his time in prison, and has written his girlfriend a letter telling her to tie a yellow ribbon around the oak tree in the front of the house if she would welcome him back. Scared to look himself, he asks the driver of the bus he's on if it's there, and the entire bus cheers as there are 100 ribbons affixed to the tree.

Though well known as a symbol of welcoming home a loved one in the military or jail in the 1970s, this practice may go back as far as the 19th century when women would wear yellow ribbons in their hair as a sign of devotion to their husbands in the U.S. Cavalry.

"Skeleton Tree" is the name of both song and album (2016) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. While recording the album, Nick Cave's son had an accidental fatal fall, and several lyrics were changed to feature death, loss, and grief throughout the album. The recordings had not been fully 'polished' as prior albums had been, but given the raw emotion of Cave's vocals and the underlying themes now present, it was determined that the album should remain, to that end, "unfinished".

The album was met with great reviews, praising the stripped-down quality and even comparing the emotion to Johnny Cash's epic cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt".

Zac Brown Band released "Mango Tree" on their 2015 album "Jekyll + Hyde". The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and Billboard Canadian albums. The album met with mixed reviews; as the songs within are strong country songs, but typical of Zac Brown's usual sound and did not "branch out" as much as some had hoped, given the double-sided assumption through the album's name.

"Lemon Tree" is a song written by William Holt in the 50s and based on a 1930s Brazilian folk song. Several acts covered the song, including Peter, Paul and Mary, who charted the song at number 35 on the US Hot 100 in 1962. Trini Lopez' 1965 version, however, was a more successful rendition. It reached 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, and seven on the Billboard Middle Road Singles chart. When being interviewed in 2013, William Holt remembered his meeting of Trini Lopez; calling him a sweet and charming guy, remembering his recording of "Lemon Tree" fondly.

Other artists who recorded "Lemon Tree" include the Kingston Trio, the Seekers, Sandie Shaw, and Bob Marley and the Wailers.

"Fake Plastic Trees" (like the cute little LEGO ones pictured) was released by Radiohead as the third single (in the UK; it was the first in the US) on the 1995 album "The Bends". Though the song only reached 20 on UK Singles charts and 65 on Billboard's US Radio Songs, "Rolling Stone" regarded it highly; it was listed 385 on the 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (as my personal favorite Radiohead song and of this entire quiz, I tend to rate it higher).

The song was not originally well liked by even the band themselves, however, and we have Jeff Buckley to thank for the final product. After attending a concert of his, Buckley gave Thom Yorke the confidence to sing in falsetto. They got back in the studio, and Yorke performed the song solo with an acoustic guitar. After three takes, he became overwhelmed with emotion and burst into tears. He originally did not wish to use these vulnerable takes for the final version of the song; but his bandmates convinced him otherwise.

The Andrews Sisters made "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)" famous during World War II, as the song was a love song pledging fidelity between the two while one was away at war. The original 1942 Glenn Miller recording reached number two on Billboard charts.

The Andrews Sisters sang the song in the film "Private Buckaroo", and the performance is regarded as the most memorable part of the film. Given the popularity, the Andrew Sisters released the song as their own single, which reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Nearly 30 years later, Patty Andrews during an interview said that this was, through their career, their most requested song.