There's a cement octopus sits in Sacramento, I think
Gets red tape to eat, gasoline taxes to drin
And it grows by day and it grows by night
And it rolls over everything 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 and wish it would go away
But the taxes keep coming, they have to be spent
On big bull dozers 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

Dear old 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
Lets 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