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Screaming Trees — More or Less
Album: Sweet Oblivion
Avg rating:
6.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2209









Released: 1993
Length: 3:04
Plays (last 30 days): 2
Now that we've run this road so many times
Tonight it will not take us home
Gonna go to that deep river
Where the water's moving slow

Feels like there's nothing to explain
(Nothing left to hear)
One more or less it's all the same
Now that it's feeling so much colder
(Coming back again)
Just be glad that it's all over

Now that we've closed our eyes so many times
Tonight I cannot see a thing
Gonna go to that deep river
Where the water's moving slow

Feels like there's nothing to explain
(Nothing left to hear)
And now you know just who to blame
For why you're feeling so much colder
(Coming back again)
Just be glad that it's all over
Gonna go to that deep river
Comments (176)add comment
Roo Planes, Cockburn, Beatles, now Screaming Trees.
There's not a time I tune in that I don't consider donating MORE than my twice-a-year auto amount. Love the Paradise.
 SmackDaddy wrote:


great story!
RIP Van - 55 is just way too young an age to die.  I'm starting to like Screaming Trees a bit more, sorry it was too late for you and Mark.  LLRP
lanegan was always one of my favorite voices and  still is.  appreciate the amount of trees that rp plays.
 SmackDaddy wrote:
It's segue,  but I know what you mean.

RIP Mark Lanegan.
What an awesome song. RIP Lanegan.


The Russian soul is felt in the song: The night, the snow, the universal power inside requires realization, but there is nowhere to apply it. And the bear didn't come, you're drinking alone...

Isn´t it strange that most of the outstanding male voices within that last decades were related with Grunge/90s?... Lanegan, Staley/Cantrell, Vedder, Cornell, Wyndorf....
 scrubbrush wrote:

wanted to stay the night somewhere cheap, so we drove down a forest road for a bit.  the first flat pull off spot was in a clearcut, but we were dead tired, so we cuddled up in the back of the station wagon.  And laid there, listening to the trees.  They weren't screaming.  They were whispering about how much they hated the humans who had done this to them.   Unlike me, my girlfriend was no tree hugger, so I was surprised when she turned to me with fear in her eyes.  we were able to drive the rest of the night, powered by putting some distance between them and us.

Hearing Mark's voice makes me feel like I'm going to cry.
 DavidCarrico wrote:

ripoff of that 60's song "going to san francisco?"


18 years?
Must be one of the oldest posts extant
I am sorry t.hat this is the first I ever heard of them.
 Asmith wrote:

Thinking the same thing



Actually, the name came from the Screaming tree treble booster Lee used to have.
Screaming Trees! A not so known band with an even less known song. Not a single bad song on that album, so underrated. Thank you, RP!
Feels like there is nothing to explain....

hammer on iron - phenomenal!
Good Tune!!
Plodding.  Just plodding.

Love me some genuine rock, but I prefer some jangle and frantic energy rather the dark, heavy kind seen here...  

I bloody love Screaming Trees :¬D
I like to believe that they murmur……
Still what a great song, just wow!
 SmackDaddy wrote:
In addition to my story below, I got to see these guys play at the long disappeared Iguanas in Tijuana, MX. There they had a real stage to work with and the Conner boys would go to each end of it and then run toward each other and slamming behind Lanegan, all while playing and not missing a beat.
 

I seem to recall those boys rolling around on stage like beach balls.
I wish the wife wasn't home so I could crank the speakers loud enough to rattle the windows!
 westslope wrote:

In my experience trees will whine and moan during a nasty wind storm but otherwise they tend to whisper.  Most urban people would hear it too if they simply shut up long enough and listened.  
 

If you live in a remote cold climate, you'll hear trees crack so loud it echoes through the bush.  It's the sap freezing and expanding,
One of the many bands I wish I'd seen in concert during my youth. 
In addition to my story below, I got to see these guys play at the long disappeared Iguanas in Tijuana, MX. There they had a real stage to work with and the Conner boys would go to each end of it and then run toward each other and slamming behind Lanegan, all while playing and not missing a beat.
Saw Screaming Trees play a side gig at the Prince of Wales, St Kilda when they were in Australia for the Big Day Out sometime in 90's. Hands down the LOUDEST gig I've ever been to. Felt like I was being pounded by the proverbial wall of sound! 
 eyeball wrote:
If you're going to San Francisco 
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 
 



I love this song but i too hear that 
Every
single
time!
 eyeball wrote:
{#Guitarist}If you're going to San Francisco 
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair {#Bananajam}
 
NICE catch. Indeed. Except for this here too brief guitar break which is way more (Mike Campbell? Slash?...) then Scott McKenzie. 
If you're going to San Francisco 
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 
 hayduke2 wrote:
SmackDaddy writes Cool additions to RP's music, raising my shot glass man (schluuuurrp!)  ST rox

 
Thank you kindly sir. Cheers.
 On_The_Beach wrote:
If a tree screams in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

 
In my experience trees will whine and moan during a nasty wind storm but otherwise they tend to whisper.  Most urban people would hear it too if they simply shut up long enough and listened.  
 thewiseking wrote:
If this ain't Most Excellent then what is?
 
That's how I've rated it. 
If this ain't Most Excellent then what is?
Reminds me of Neil, in a good way:

https://bucket.rollingstone.com.ar/anexos/fotos/23/1467523.jpg
SmackDaddy writes Cool additions to RP's music, raising my shot glass man (schluuuurrp!)  ST rox
 Stephenater wrote:

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 
Thanks I left out some good parts.

"Wow, that's a real segway for me. I was just about to post about the times I've seen ST when I saw this post. First time was on their Uncle Anesthesia tour and they were opening for Drivin' n Cryin' at the smallest flippin' bar in Melbourne, Florida called the Wine Gallery (they had beer too). To this day I don't know how the brothers and Lanegan fit on the stage which couldn't have been bigger than 10' x 15'. Didn't really know ST at the time though had heard a few songs on the college radio (WFIT - best college radio ever at that time). This bar was about half the size of your typical 7-11. So ST does their set, I'm impressed, but really there to see DNC. Place is packed shoulder to shoulder, and DNC starts rocking out, I'm up front maybe 2 bodies back from Kevn's mike stand (BTW the stage is a whopping four inches high, so you're basically eye level with the band). Anyway, I'm trying to rockout and get some mild slamming going and this guy next to me nudges me and says "this crowd doesn't know how to rock out" I look over and it's one of the big brothers from ST. So I say something in agreement and he proceeds to slam into my shoulder and I back into his and that got the crowd moving. Fun times."

So after slamming around with the guy from ST for most of DNC's show, they come to the end of their set and we start clamoring for an encore and I take my empty beer mug and start banging it on one of the monitors (it's louder that way). Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam, I get tired of banging the bottom of the mug and in my semi drunk condition, I turn the mug on it's side with my hand through the handle. Bam Bam CRASH. The mug shatters, I see blood, look at my hand and my palm is cut decently just below the base of my thumb and bleeding profusely. Some guy that works there rushes in to help in full panic mode. Takes me back to their little kitchen, and I get a paper towel on it while he looks for anything resembling first aid - no luck, but he finds duct tape. So a folded paper towel for gauze and duct tape bandage it is. He's trying to help and very carefully and oh so SLOWLY is wrapping my hand. I grabbed it from him, a couple of quick wraps around the wrist and once over and around the thumb. Ripped the roll off, said thanks, rushed back to the stage for the encore. Great show, one the best of my life.

 


Perhaps it's just this song, but I hear Jon Dee Graham, who has his own 'big river' song...
Masterpiece album. Saw them open for Alice in Chains in 1993. Never got tired of ST.
   Master of Disguise longing for
    Some  Mickey Mouse advice.
 On_The_Beach wrote:
If a tree screams in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

 
Do beavers count?  Outfitted with parachutes?
  https://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/parachuting-beavers-idahos-wilderness-yes-it-really-happened
 SmackDaddy wrote:


Wow, that's a real segway for me. I was just about to post about the times I've seen ST when I saw this post. First time was on their Uncle Anesthesia tour and they were opening for Drivin' n Cryin' at the smallest flippin' bar in Melbourne, Florida called the Wine Gallery (they had beer too). To this day I don't know how the brothers and Lanegan fit on the stage which couldn't have been bigger than 10' x 15'. Didn't really know ST at the time though had heard a few songs on the college radio (WFIT - best college radio ever at that time). This bar was about half the size of your typical 7-11. So ST does their set, I'm impressed, but really there to see DNC. Place is packed shoulder to shoulder, and DNC starts rocking out, I'm up front maybe 2 bodies back from Kevn's mike stand (BTW the stage is a whopping four inches high, so you're basically eye level with the band). Anyway, I'm trying to rockout and get some mild slamming going and this guy next to me nudges me and says "this crowd doesn't know how to rock out" I look over and it's one of the big brothers from ST. So I say something in agreement and he proceeds to slam into my shoulder and I back into his and that got the crowd moving. Fun times.

 
Great story, thanks for sharing!

THIS IS WHAT ROCK SOUNDS LIKE 
If a tree screams in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
 scrubbrush wrote:

Does anyone else hear a resemblance to "If you're going to San Francisco (wear some flowers in your hair)"? It's in the chord progressions, not the style of the song itself.

 
Yes, it is a similar progression, (vi -  IV -  I - V) which is also used in many other songs.  It's funny how reminiscent it is in this tune though.  It also vaguely reminds me of "Sister Seagull" by Be Bop Deluxe - different chords though.
 citybiker wrote:

This is from that era when Rosanne Barr had a hit tv show and all the department stores sold black combat boots and flannel shirts for women. No need to revisit that time.



 
Rather than focusing on Roseanne, boots and flannel you could  have focused on the music. It was the last great rock and roll era.
An underappreciated Seattle band...This song is very Mother Love Bone...

 Foot wrote:
In my opinion not enough Screaming Trees played on RP...bring it on!

 
Agreed! How about some more cuts from this album? "Butterfly" is a great tune.
In my opinion not enough Screaming Trees played on RP...bring it on!
Wow, I like this. I really like this. Once again RP is going to cost me money. Thank you RP and I really mean that.
 spigolli wrote:

They're almost Drivin' N Cryin' underrated.


 

Wow, that's a real segway for me. I was just about to post about the times I've seen ST when I saw this post. First time was on their Uncle Anesthesia tour and they were opening for Drivin' n Cryin' at the smallest flippin' bar in Melbourne, Florida called the Wine Gallery (they had beer too). To this day I don't know how the brothers and Lanegan fit on the stage which couldn't have been bigger than 10' x 15'. Didn't really know ST at the time though had heard a few songs on the college radio (WFIT - best college radio ever at that time). This bar was about half the size of your typical 7-11. So ST does their set, I'm impressed, but really there to see DNC. Place is packed shoulder to shoulder, and DNC starts rocking out, I'm up front maybe 2 bodies back from Kevn's mike stand (BTW the stage is a whopping four inches high, so you're basically eye level with the band). Anyway, I'm trying to rockout and get some mild slamming going and this guy next to me nudges me and says "this crowd doesn't know how to rock out" I look over and it's one of the big brothers from ST. So I say something in agreement and he proceeds to slam into my shoulder and I back into his and that got the crowd moving. Fun times.
This is really good!  What else they got?
 Greyjoca wrote:
This was the first "Grunge" band I found and enjoyed. I had this cassette in my car until about 2009 when I finally got a car without a tape deck. I guess I rocket that one well past its expiration date but always enjoyed it!

 
My "first" was Mother Love Bone. A friend had a mixtape (from his older brother, natch) that he presented to us for consideration like a pearl in its shell, still dripping and covered in sea-bottom sand. We were speechless.
I'm hearing Drive By Truckers right out of the chute! Good Stuff solid 7.

 
Middleton wrote:

What he said.

 

Definitely what he said...!


Nice!
Love it, Mark Lanegan's voice is like butta!
Love that muscular Pacific Northwest thing they did, then.
 scrubbrush wrote:

Does anyone else hear a resemblance to "If you're going to San Francisco (wear some flowers in your hair)"? It's in the chord progressions, not the style of the song itself.



 
Good call!
This was the first "Grunge" band I found and enjoyed. I had this cassette in my car until about 2009 when I finally got a car without a tape deck. I guess I rocket that one well past its expiration date but always enjoyed it!

Does anyone else hear a resemblance to "If you're going to San Francisco (wear some flowers in your hair)"? It's in the chord progressions, not the style of the song itself.


 citybiker wrote:

This is from that era when Rosanne Barr had a hit tv show and all the department stores sold black combat boots and flannel shirts for women. No need to revisit that time.



 
Nothing hotter than a woman in flannel and combat boots. 
 
citybiker wrote:

This is from that era when Rosanne Barr had a hit tv show and all the department stores sold black combat boots and flannel shirts for women. No need to revisit that time.



 
This is from the era before you were born.  Go back to bed little guy. 
Really good tune.  Neil Young and Crazy Horse cross breeds with Smashing Pumpkins. 
 Photo-John wrote:
 * Fuck * Yeah *
 
What he said.

This is from that era when Rosanne Barr had a hit tv show and all the department stores sold black combat boots and flannel shirts for women. No need to revisit that time.


Ah, Mark Lanegan. What a voice, never really took notice of Screaming Trees back in the day i was more of an Alice fan for grunge.
Have all his solo work and cannot go wrong with any of them especially Whiskey for the Holy Ghost.
floors me everytime i hear it. damn.
 deepwoodskev wrote:
Man, I wish these guys would reunite for a tour. Never got to see them back in the day. Maybe a twin bill with a reunited Soundgarden?
 
wouldn't that be awesome...
oh, i miss them. mark lanegan...what a voice.
Very good chosen bandname...
Sounds very screaming!
fantastic powerful slow heavy lick of a song and they dont drag it out forever
 hippiechick wrote:
Every time this song starts, I always think it's a metal version of "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair."
 
LOL!  Yes, and I have to wonder if you and I are from the same age cohort.  
Boo Yah!
This didn't age well
Every time this song starts, I always think it's a metal version of "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair."
 flatpicker wrote:

Never really paid attention to the Screaming Trees before.
Sounds alright.
Parts of this song remind me of Neil Young's Heart of Gold... is it my imagination?


  

I wondered what was familiar in this song, then I read your post below.

I am sorry that I missed out picking up on them before; but much thanks to RP for giving me the chance to catch up at last.


Had never clearly heard the baseline before listening to it with Sony earbuds on the iPhone. Refreshing to discover new aspects in old favorites.
icebergish
 spigolli wrote:

They're almost Drivin' N Cryin' underrated.
 
I miss Drivin' N Cryin'.  A good friend of mine who's a big DNC fan calls them "Drinkin' N Drivin'" 
 
 Foot wrote:
Perhaps the best band of the late 80'/early 90's, certainly the most under rated. BG, keep mining the back catalog...many gems.
 
They're almost Drivin' N Cryin' underrated.

Solid Album all the way through.
 vandal wrote:

Gotta believe that these lyrics are H influenced:

Now that we've closed our eyes so many times
Tonight I cannot see a thing
Gonna go to that deep river
Where the water's moving slow


8

 

I only have one of their albums (Dust) and the lyrics to "All I Know" from that one seem similarly influenced: 

"Bite the thorn that pierce the skin
Come back down to earth again
The cold is creeping deep inside
Disconnect the telephone line"

 Not a rarity with Seattle rockers to get mixed up in this stuff — i.e. Layne Staley, Kurt Cobain.
 Photo-John wrote:


Hell yeah! There was a lot of great stuff to come out of Seattle besides the obvious. The Screaming Trees are one of my favorites as is Green River. Green River is arguably the original Seattle sound band. They date back to the mid-eighties. If I remember right, one of the guys in Pearl Jam was in Green River. Anyway, I'm always psyched to hear this song on RP :-)
 
Both Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were in Green River.  What about the band that Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of, Mother Love Bone?


 deepwoodskev wrote:
Man, I wish these guys would reunite for a tour. Never got to see them back in the day. Maybe a twin bill with a reunited Soundgarden?
  THAT would be sweet!  I'd definitely go.  I heard recent talk of Soundgarden reunion tour.  Here's hoping it won't be at Key Arena.... (horrible acoustics)   Loved the whole "Sweet Oblivion" album — somehow I've neglected to upgrade it from cassette...  I've still got the Singles soundtrack on CD though!

Where the hell was I when this was new?  Oh yeah...  languishing in a small down with one (non-country) shitty radio station where the programming director still worshiping at the alter of Aqua Net and thought Hair Metal was the end-all be-all of music.

I still have Bon Jovi nightmares.
 * Fuck * Yeah *
 Foot wrote:
Perhaps the best band of the late 80'/early 90's, certainly the most under rated. BG, keep mining the back catalog...many gems.
 

Hell yeah! There was a lot of great stuff to come out of Seattle besides the obvious. The Screaming Trees are one of my favorites as is Green River. Green River is arguably the original Seattle sound band. They date back to the mid-eighties. If I remember right, one of the guys in Pearl Jam was in Green River. Anyway, I'm always psyched to hear this song on RP :-)
 radiolicious wrote:
yep I totally hear the San Francisco "riff-erence"  ...  scream lil tree, scream!!!!
 
Thinking the same thing

Perhaps the best band of the late 80'/early 90's, certainly the most under rated. BG, keep mining the back catalog...many gems.

Never really paid attention to the Screaming Trees before.
Sounds alright.
Parts of this song remind me of Neil Young's Heart of Gold... is it my imagination?



{#High-five}


Gotta believe that these lyrics are H influenced:

Now that we've closed our eyes so many times
Tonight I cannot see a thing
Gonna go to that deep river
Where the water's moving slow


8

Man, I wish these guys would reunite for a tour. Never got to see them back in the day. Maybe a twin bill with a reunited Soundgarden?


 DoctorHooey wrote:
Never heard these guys before. Great singer!
 

Thatza Shame
 bknv wrote:
this gets even better when you crank it waaay up{#Bananajam}
 
. . . and quaff some fine Pacific Northwest IPAs. . .


a great rock and roll band

this gets even better when you crank it waaay up{#Bananajam}
yep I totally hear the San Francisco "riff-erence"  ...  scream lil tree, scream!!!!
 ojay~alcatraz wrote:


you have NO CLUE about music. you're auditorally retarded and psychologically infantile. comparing the ST's to Hootie is like comparing heroin to Tylenol PM...one kills the pain and takes you to another level of consciousness, while the other kills the pain and puts you to sleep. i challenge you to listen to Lanegan's solo albums "Whiskey For The Holy Ghost" and "The Winding Sheet", or the Screaming Trees albums "Invisible Lantern" and "Uncle Anesthesia", and still have the audacity to mention these artists in the same breath. if you can...you're not only clueless, you're a damn liar. 
 

Whoa - easy, tiger.  You may want to step out of the cell, walk around the island, breathe some of that bay salt air, and gaze at the Golden Gate bridge.  While these guys' voices and styles are pretty different, I'm not so sure they're so different that megisi's intellectual competence is at issue.

I'm going to go ahead and prescribe you one of these: {#Chillpill}

 
ojay~alcatraz wrote:


you have NO CLUE about music. you're auditorally retarded and psychologically infantile. comparing the ST's to Hootie is like comparing heroin to Tylenol PM...one kills the pain and takes you to another level of consciousness, while the other kills the pain and puts you to sleep. i challenge you to listen to Lanegan's solo albums "Whiskey For The Holy Ghost" and "The Winding Sheet", or the Screaming Trees albums "Invisible Lantern" and "Uncle Anesthesia", and still have the audacity to mention these artists in the same breath. if you can...you're not only clueless, you're a damn liar. 
 


 megisi wrote:
So that's what happened to Darius Rucker ...

 

you have NO CLUE about music. you're auditorally retarded and psychologically infantile. comparing the ST's to Hootie is like comparing heroin to Tylenol PM...one kills the pain and takes you to another level of consciousness, while the other kills the pain and puts you to sleep. i challenge you to listen to Lanegan's solo albums "Whiskey For The Holy Ghost" and "The Winding Sheet", or the Screaming Trees albums "Invisible Lantern" and "Uncle Anesthesia", and still have the audacity to mention these artists in the same breath. if you can...you're not only clueless, you're a damn liar. 
LANEGAN!
So that's what happened to Darius Rucker ...
Never heard these guys before. Great singer!
 lily34 wrote:
he's a part of an outfit with greg dulli from the afghan whigs. i heard good things.
 
Gutter Twins.  CD is Saturnalia.  Awesomeness in an understated Lanegan/Dulli way...

Sixteen years since this album was released and I still LOVE it, bravo boys!
BEST VOCALIST OF 90'S - 00'S

MARK IS AWESOME!
Please, Trees, come back! We've missed you so.
gosh...i just love this song. whole album. lanegan...he's awesome.
he's a part of an outfit with greg dulli from the afghan whigs. i heard good things.
 Nadine wrote:
still love the screaming trees...
...oh why can't they just reunite for one tour?

 
'cause they'd probably kill one another...

TFFT! A 7 after a string of 3s and below. I was nearly about to go walkies for the day...
Great set for election night, Bill!
Have we all voted yet?
If not, get off yer butt!!!{#Drummer}

Lanegan has a great voice, very distinctive.

Shame that he's such a primadonna. I went to a solo gig a couple of years ago, and he really let the audience know how annoyed he was that evening (with the location? something he ate? I'll never know). Anyway, after only 80 minutes or so he just left without a thank-you-and-goodbye and without any encores. The general feeling was that it was probably better for everybody that way, and that next time we'll just stay at home and listen to his CDs.


one of my favourite bands.

yeah...this is the stuff.

lanegan. yeah.
I keep hearing "galactic river".
Photo-John wrote:
I haven't really listened to these guys for years. I will have to rectalfy that situation.
Without knowing what you said, you said it.