Trini Lopez - “Lemon Tree”
I’m gonna get a little crazy here and postulate that Trini Lopez was the original Ramones: His first several records never deviated from the initial premise of one vocal, one rhythm guitar (with nary a lead in sight), a drummer and a bassist cranking out pop songs economically and with extreme contempt for dynamics. Eschewing the raucous, stripped-down rockabilly-throwback sounds favored by his contemporary, Johnny Rivers, our Trini came across as a mildly exotic crooner with a bone-simple, muscular backing. Easily digestible rock for the Rat Pack crowd - that was Trini’s scene.
His take on Will Holt’s oft-covered “Lemon Tree” was the most successful version for self-evident reasons: He cut out the pretty picking and harmonies and presented the song as is. A defiant repudiation of the precision and craft of those dinosaurs the Kingston Trio? Perhaps not. In fact, maybe Trini was nothing more than a gimmick and a paycheck, but I’ll be damned if he didn’t buy himself some smart suits.
