B-side "The Mockingjay" Genre Indie folk, Americana Label Republic | Format CD
digital download Length 3:38 | |
Released December 9, 2014 (2014-12-09) | ||
"The Hanging Tree" is a song performed by composer James Newton Howard featuring vocals from American actress Jennifer Lawrence for the 2014 film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, in the third installment of The Hunger Games film series. The song did not appear on the original official soundtrack album for the film (although it does appear on the score album), but was added during the digital re-release of the official soundtrack for the film. The lyrics were written by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins and originally appeared in her novel Mockingjay. The music was composed by Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz of American indie folk band The Lumineers.
Contents
Following its release, "The Hanging Tree" debuted in the top 40 of the singles charts of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The song was released to American hot adult contemporary radio stations on December 15, 2014. A remixed version of the song by Rebel was released to contemporary hit radio stations on December 9, 2014.
Background
The songs lyrics were written by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins and originally appeared in her novel Mockingjay. The melody to the lyrics was composed by Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz of American indie folk band The Lumineers. The song did not appear on the original release of the film's song album (it does appear on the score album), but after the success of the song it was added during the digital re-release of the official soundtrack for the film, with "The Hanging Tree" as the fifteenth track. Six days later, "The Hanging Tree" was released as the second single from the album.
Protagonist Katniss Everdeen performs the song in the film, which is also heard over the closing credits. In the story's context, it is a song that Katniss learned from her father, and is used as a battlecry. Jennifer Lawrence stated in an interview that she was nervous about singing the song for the film as she finds it uncomfortable to sing in front of people. Lawrence reportedly suggested to producers of the film that the singer Lorde, already having been tasked with the film's theme song "Yellow Flicker Beat", should instead provide the vocals for the track in place of Lawrence, who would then have lip synced to it on film.
Lyrics and meaning
From the novel: the lyrics are: Are you, are you coming to the tree where they strung up a man they say who murdered three strange things did happen here no stranger would it be if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree. Are you, are you coming to the tree where the dead man called out for his love to flee strange things did happen here no stranger would it be if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree. Are you, are you coming to the tree where I told you to run, so we'd both be free strange things did happen here no stranger would it be if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree. Are you, are you coming to the tree wear a necklace of rope, side-by-side with me strange things did happen here no stranger would it be if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.
"... We didn't sing it anymore, my father and I, or even speak of it. After he died, it used to come back to me a lot. Being older, I began to understand the lyrics. At the beginning, it sounds like a guy is trying to get his girlfriend to secretly meet up with him at midnight. But it's an odd place for a tryst, a hanging tree, where a man was hung for murder. The murderer's lover must have had something to do with the killing, or maybe they were just going to punish her anyway, because his corpse called out for her to flee. That's weird obviously, the talking-corpse bit, but it's not until the third verse that 'The Hanging Tree' begins to get unnerving. You realize the singer of the song is the dead murderer. He's still in the hanging tree. And even though he told his lover to flee, he keeps asking if she's coming to meet him. The phrase 'Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free' is the most troubling because at first you think he's talking about when he told her to flee, presumably to safety. But then you wonder if he meant for her to run to him. To death. In the final stanza, it's clear that that's what he's waiting for. His lover, with her rope necklace, hanging dead next to him in the tree.
"...I used to think the murderer was the creepiest guy imaginable. Now, with a couple of trips to the Hunger Games under my belt, I decide not to judge him without knowing more details. Maybe his lover was already sentenced to death and he was trying to make it easier. To let her know he'd be waiting. Or maybe he thought the place he was leaving her was really worse than death..."
In the film, Plutarch Heavensbee uses the film of Katniss singing as anti-Capitol propaganda and changes the lyrics from "necklace of rope" to "necklace of hope" to take away some of the morbid undertones. Plutarch then uses the song as a rebel anthem.
Commercial performance
The song debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Digital Songs chart with first week sales of 200,000 copies, becoming the highest charting song from any of the soundtracks from The Hunger Games films. It also marks Howard's and Lawrence's first chart at the Hot 100. As of January 2015, the song has sold over a million digital copies.
Track listing
- "The Hanging Tree"
- "The Mockingjay"
- "The Hanging Tree" (Rebel Remix) – 2:27