Lopez made his name on the club circuit of the Southwestern United States before being 'discovered' in 1962 playing at the club PJ's in Hollywood, California, by record producer Don Costa. Costa was taken with Lopez's latinized versions of contemporary hits and signed him up to Frank Sinatra's record label, Reprise Records. His debut album, Trini Lopez Live at PJ's, was released in 1963. The album included a version of If I Had a Hammer, which reached number one in 36 countries (No. 3 in the United States) and was a radio favorite for many years. He also performed his own version of the traditional Mexican song La Bamba on the album; his recording of the tune was later re-issued as a single in 1966.
His popularity led the Gibson Guitar Corporation to ask him in 1964 to design a guitar for them. He ended up designing two: The Trini Lopez Standard, a rock and roll model based on the Gibson ES-335 semi-hollow body, and the Lopez Deluxe, a variation of a Gibson jazz guitar designed by Barney Kessel. Both of these guitars were in production from 1964 until 1971 and are now highly sought after amongst collectors. Some owners of the guitar include Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Noel Gallagher of Oasis.
He scored 13 chart singles through 1968, including "Lemon Tree" (1965), "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" (1966) and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl" (1968). On the adult contemporary chart, he ranked up 15 hits, including the Top 10 singles "Michael" (1964), "Gonna Get Along Without Ya' Now" (1967) and "The Bramble Bush" (1967). Beyond his success on record, he became one of the country's top nightclub performers of that era, regularly headlining in Las Vegas, Nevada.
During the 1960s and 1970s Lopez moved into acting, though his film career was not as successful as his music. His first film role was in Marriage on the Rocks (1965), in which he made a cameo appearance in a nightclub scene; Lopez's soundtrack song, "Sinner Man", became a hit single (No. 54 pop/No. 12 adult contemporary). He was one of The Dirty Dozen (1967) and starred in Antonio (1973). He made two appearances (playing different characters) on the television program, Adam 12. He continued his musical career with extensive tours of Europe and Latin America during this period; an attempt to break out by releasing a disco album in 1978 proved a flop.
Since then, Lopez has done charitable work and received honors such as being inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2003. He was still recording and appearing live in the early 2000s. Recently he took part in a benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
Lemon Tree
Trini Lopez Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree."
"Don't put your faith in love, my boy," my father said to me,
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."
[Chorus:]
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.
But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.
One day beneath the lemon tree, my love and I did lie,
A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the stars rose in the sky.
We passed that summer lost in love, beneath the lemon tree,
The music of her laughter hid my father's words from me.
[Chorus]
One day she left without a word, she took away the sun.
And in the dark she left behind, I knew what she had done.
She left me for another, it's a common tale but true,
A sadder man, but wiser now, I sing these words to you.
[Chorus]
The song 'Lemon Tree' by Trini Lopez traces the journey of a young boy as he grows up to become a broken-hearted man. The song starts with the boy's father warning him not to trust love and compares it to a lovely lemon tree whose fruit is impossible to eat, suggesting that love may look good from a distance, but the outcome may not be as sweet. The chorus, which repeats twice, highlights the beauty of the lemon tree and its flower but again reminds us how impossible it is to eat the fruit, mirroring the idea of the young boy's father's warning.
In the second verse, the boy has grown into a young man in love with a girl who's as sweet as lemon flower. The two spend their summer lost in love, but their happiness is short-lived as the girl leaves without a word, leaving the boy in darkness. The heartbroken man realizes that she left him for someone else, and although the situation is all too common, he has learned a valuable lesson about love. The song ends with the chorus one last time, and the sad and wiser man shares his story with whoever will listen.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,
As a child, I was taught by my father
"Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree."
I was asked to learn from the lemon tree
"Don't put your faith in love, my boy," my father said to me,
My father warned me against love
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."
My father believed that love is sweet like a lemon flower but the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat
[Chorus:]
The chorus of the song begins here
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
The lemon tree is beautiful and its flower is sweet
But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.
However, the fruit of the lemon tree is impossible to consume
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
The lemon tree is still beautiful and its flower is still sweet
But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.
But the fruit of the lemon tree remains inedible
One day beneath the lemon tree, my love and I did lie,
I once spent time lying beneath the lemon tree with my lover
A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the stars rose in the sky.
My lover was so lovely that even the stars in the sky were mesmerized by her smile
We passed that summer lost in love, beneath the lemon tree,
We spent the entire summer together beneath the mesmerizing lemon tree
The music of her laughter hid my father's words from me.
My lover’s joviality and laughter muffled my father’s warnings
[Chorus]
The chorus is repeated again
One day she left without a word, she took away the sun.
One day, my lover left me without any explanation, and she took away my sunshine
And in the dark she left behind, I knew what she had done.
In the darkness, I realized that my lover had left me
She left me for another, it's a common tale but true,
She left me for someone else, which is a true but commonly known occurrence
A sadder man, but wiser now, I sing these words to you.
I am a sadder man, but I have learned from my experience and share these words with you
[Chorus]
The chorus is repeated again
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: WILL HOLT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Priscilla Wilson
My dad was a doctor and sometimes when patients didn't have money to pay, he would take whatever they had to give. One man gave him a tape of Trini Lopez. I remember listening to this and his other songs on a tape player that you wound on yourself.
BeyondThePale
God bless him! and you!
Lucy Potato
Very cool!
Jane Grainger
I would have liked your Dadx
Debra Bader
My Father’s favorite❣️ He actually took my mom to a concert of Trini Lopez‘s, and they sat on the grass with a bunch of teenagers❣️ How wonderful🌹 Debra Bader
Kotoucak
RIP. He was one of those giants of music and his name and his songs will always be remembered.
JudgeJulieLit
Along with "Lemon Tree," "If I Had a Hammer" and "Pepino, O You Little Mouse (Why Don't You Go Away?) were especially special, contact vivacious.
Grandma Bessie Stafford
Agreed 👍🏾! I had no idea that he died...
thisisnotnews
No one sings Lemon Tree like Trini Lopez. Always loved his voice
Richard Beck
Live at PJ's has to be ranked as one of the greatest albums ever. My parents bought that album in '63. I was 8. I couldn't stop listening to it.