The Hanging Tree (The Hunger Games song)

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"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.

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.

Video The Hanging Tree (The Hunger Games song)

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.

Maps The Hanging Tree (The Hunger Games song)

Plot significance

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.

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Live performances

The song was performed during the First Ever European Live Concert Tour "3 decades of music for Hollywood" of composer James Newton Howard in 2017 where he shared the stage with the Czech National Orchestra, Royal Academy of Music Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Cinematic Art Choir and Romania Oradea State Philharmony Choir . The tour included 15 concerts through Europe for example in the Royal Albert Hall London UK or the Jahrhundert Halle Frankfurt Germany. The song was surprisingly sung by his daughter Anouk in London, in Frankfurt it was performed by the German folk singer Hanne Kah .

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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.

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Track listing

• CD single (Germany)

1. "The Hanging Tree"
2. "The Mockingjay"

• Digital download - remix

1. "The Hanging Tree" (Rebel Remix) - 2:27

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Charts

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Certifications

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Release history

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia