"Lemon Tree" is a song by German band Fool's Garden from their third album, Dish of the Day (1995). The band's lead vocalist, Peter Freudenthaler, said that he wrote the song on a Sunday afternoon when he was waiting for his girlfriend who did not come. It was released as a single in November 1995 by Intercord and Encore Records and became an international hit the following year, remaining at number one for four weeks in Germany and also topping the charts of Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. The band recorded a new version of the song for the 2009 compilation album High Times – The Best of Fools Garden.
Contents
Critical reception
Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "This song by the eclectic German quintet has reached number 10 in the GSA Major Market Airplay chart and with good reason. The track is a cross between a catchy circus tune and late '60s bubblegum pop with trademark harmonies, which should appeal to the broadest of radio audiences."
Personnel
All songs written by Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel
Vocals: Peter Freudenthaler
Bass: Thomas Mangold
Drums: Ralf Wochele
Guitar: Volker Hinkel
Keyboards: Roland Röhl
Breaking lamp sound: Jorick Bouw
Artwork: Müller & Steeneck Stuttgart
Bicchieri: Mattia Tugnoli
Immersive Mixing Engineer, Immersive Mastering Engineer: Brad Smalling
Covers and parodies
Dustin the Turkey recorded a Christmas-parody called "Christmas Tree". Taiwanese singer Tarcy Su released covers of the song (in both Mandarin and Cantonese) as did Korean singer Park Hye Kyung. Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter Joanna Wang made a cover of the song in 2011. Korean singer and composer, Hongjoong of the group Ateez, released a cover of the song on 4 May 2022.
Alle Farben and Fool's Garden version
On 8 January 2021, Alle Farben with Fool's Garden released a cover of "Lemon Tree".
From Tidal:
Lyricist and composer: Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel
Producer: Frans Zimmer and Junkx
Mastering Engineer: Dirk Duderstadt and Marco Duderstadt
Mixing: Junkx