The Hanging Tree - from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

About this song

The song appears in the prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, where Lucy Gray Baird writes and composes it. It is later referenced in the third Hunger Games book, Mockingjay, and in the film Mockingjay Part 2.

What it's about

The song is inspired by the hanging of Arlo Chance, who set off a mine explosion in District 12 that killed three men. In it, Billy Taupe Clade begs Lucy Gray to run away with him, and when she refuses, he says he would rather hang beside him than be with someone else.

Summary written with AI, based on the song's page on Genius.

Fun facts

• Written by Suzanne Collins and Wesley Schultz.
• Produced by Dave Cobb.
• Recorded at Uniq Sound Studio (Wroclaw.