There's a cement octopus sits in Sacramento, I think Gets red tape to eat, gasoline taxes to drink And it grows by day and it grows by night And it rolls over ev'rything in sight Oh, stand by me and protect that tree From the freeway misery Who knows how the monster started to grow that way Its parents are frightened, they wish it would go away But the taxes keep coming, they have to be spent On the big bulldozers and tanks of cement Oh, stand by me and protect that tree From the freeway misery That octopus grows like a science-fiction blight The Bay and the Ferry Building are out of sight The trees that stood for a thousand years We watch them falling through our tears Oh, stand by me and protect that tree From the freeway misery Old John MacLaren won't take this lying down We can hear his spirit move in the sandy ground He built this Eden on the duney plain Now they're making it a concrete desert again Oh, stand by me and protect that tree From the freeway misery The men on the highways need those jobs, we know Let's put them to work planting new trees to grow Building new parks where kids can play Pushing that cement monster away Oh, stand by me and protect that tree From the freeway misery