The Hanging Tree is a western ballad from the 1959 movie The Hanging Tree. It was scored by Max Steiner and written by Mack David and Jerry Livingston who received nominations for the Laurel Awards and the Academy Awards in 1960. The text is a short reference to the film’s story. It was also released on the reissue of the album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959) by Marty Robbins who performed this song in the opening credits of this film. A known cover-version is by Frankie Laine who performed this song at the 32nd Academy Awards.
The Hanging Tree is a 1959 movie directed by Delmer Daves. Karl Malden took over directing duties for several days when Daves fell ill. The film stars Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, George C. Scott and Malden and is set in the gold fields of Montana during the gold rush of the 1860s and 1870s.
By Marty Robbins
The Hanging Tree Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKWH7dbmH9w
Lyrics
I came to town to search for gold
And I brought with me a memory
And I seem to hear the night wind cry,
“Go hang your dreams on the hangin’ tree Your dreams of love that could never be
Hang your faded dreams on the hangin’ tree!”
I searched tor gold and I found my gold
And I found a girl who loved just me
And I wished that I could love her too
But I’d left my heart on the hangin’ tree
I’d left my heart with a memory
And a faded dream on the hangin’ tree.
Now there were men who craved my gold And meant to take my gold from me
When a man is gone he needs no gold
So they carried me to the hangin’ tree
To join my dreams and a memory
Yes they carried me to the hangin’ tree.
To really live you must almost die
And it happened just that way with me
They took the gold and set me free
And I walked away from the hangin’ tree I walked away from the hangin’ tree
And my own true love, she walked with me!
That’s when I knew that the hangin’ tree Was a tree of life, new life for me
A tree of hope, new hope for me
A tree of love, new love tor me
The hangin’ tree, the hangin’ tree, the hangin’ tree!
