“Oak Tree Jumper” - a song about senescence
Senescence - the process of aging and deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms.
Story Pairing
Watching a thing age is such a complex part of existing. Somethings you’re agin alongside of, some others you are moving much quicker than, and others you see hit walls that you never would have imagined. It’s wild how we have these benchmarks that our brains create when we think of something. When it’s out of sight, the placeholder we have is a snapshot in time and loses accuracy almost immediately. With people and animals that accuracy margin is fast expanding.
This song comes from a prompt, the word “Squirrel”. Originally I thought I was going to try my hand at something funny, but as I sat with the word and a few recent instances of mortality, I started to think more about aging squirrel. How that age hit’s a lot harder when the focus is capable of doing amazing feats, but only for a certain window. The idea of one day not being able to complete a wonder that used to be second nature, that’s a song worthy concept, and one that’s been visited throughout time.
Is it an overdone concept? Possibly. That’s something I had been thinking about too, how there aren’t many original thoughts when it comes to music, it’s more about finding the original scenarios to share the concepts. That’s why music persists, otherwise we’d have written one love song and call it quits. Nuance and subtlety, relatable depictions, unique viewpoints, it’s why art will never end.
I hope this song reminds me (for a little while at least) to embrace and appreciate the amazing things that exist out there. A tree rat jumping from tree to tree isn’t that unique of an occurrence, but I think I could watch them do it all day.
There’s a bit of this song that feels personal as I watch heroes start to wane. It can be a sad thing, or it can be a thankful thing. Thankful that they added their brick to the wall, their brush stroke to the collective masterpiece?
There will be a day when I’m that old squirrel. When my voice sounds like gravel and my fingers are slow to dance around the guitar strings. I don’t fear that day, just curious how I will think back on the times when I could do more.
Song Structure
Verse: E / C#7 / F# / B7
Chorus: E / B7 / E / C#7 / A / Adim / E / C#7/ F# / B7 / E
Voice Memos
Notebook Page
June 2025
Lyrics
He’s an old oak tree jumper, can’t keep him down
The only reason he has left for any living now
Is the moment when he soars, when his feet are touching air
You turn to ask him how he does it, but he’s not sitting there
He’s an old oak tree jumper, won’t you send him up a little prayer
If you could have seen him in his hayday
You’d have thought he was a bird
No sky undiscovered
No cloud passing unstirred
Leaping with no thought of landing
Like he made a deal with gravity
Earth would never catch him
A force you could believe
How could he be anything less
He’s an old oak tree jumper, can’t keep him down
The only reason he has left for any living now
Is the moment when he soars, when his feet are touching air
You turn to ask him how he does it, but he’s not sitting there
He’s an old oak tree jumper, won’t you send him up a little prayer
The last day that we saw him
Where we all held our breath
The tree felt twice as high
As anything he’d jumped from yet
He promised us he’d be there
On the other side
Our hero never let us down
Our hero never lied
How could he be anything less
He’s an old oak tree jumper, can’t keep him down
The only reason he has left for any living now
Is the moment when he soars, when his feet are touching air
You turn to ask him how he does it, but it’s an empty chair
He’s an old oak tree jumper, he’s flying somewhere out there