Lemon Tree Very Pretty

The latest English assignment is sing this song in English. Yari is 12 years old and in her first year of Secondary School. I don't believe she has to memorize it, just sing it. Lyrics are easy to find but the video qualities vary a lot.  Peter Paul and Mary was not real clear and Trini Lopez made it a whole other thing. There were a couple copies of this Brothers Four song on YouTube so I downloaded it and put it on my IPhone for her.

This would have been an extremely difficult assignment for me at that age .... even though Spanish is a much more musical language compared to non rhythmic English, IMO. Her mom was over last night and was writing down words phonetically while I read them but that became a lot of work and we didn't know the value. I'll read to Yari and see what works for her. I think I'll skip an explanation of "But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat" because I don't understand it except it's not sweet. Odd choice for a simile but it's just a song.

Lemon Tree by the Brothers Four

When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,
"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.
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
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