Upon reading ‘Mockingjay’ (the third book from the trilogy by Suzanne Collins) Melanie Brennan was struck by the lyrics of the folk song mentioned in the book. She decided to put the lyrics to music and this is the result.
Years later, James Newton Howard composed a different melody which was sung by Jennifer Lawrence in the movie ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’.
And some more years later, Melanie and I decided to record her version of The Hanging Tree. She sang and played guitar. I recorded the piano and other arrangements, and edited the song. We filmed the video outside Melbourne, and I did the camera work and editing.
You can listen to the original song here:
