Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon opens across the country today, and if you don’t have the time for the three-and-a-half-hour film you can get the same story from the new Charley Crockett single of the same name.
Also released on Friday, “Killers of the Flower Moon” chronicles the same saga of the Osage Native Americans compiled by David Grann for his 2017 best-seller Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. The meticulously researched history of the Osage tribe of northern Oklahoma recounts what became known as the “reign of terror” when dozens (possibly hundreds) of Osage were murdered as the result of an inherently flawed government policy that placed their vast oil fortunes in the hands of white “guardians.”
Crockett co-wrote the song with famed producer T. Bone Burnett, and it appears they did their homework. Historical figures including Mollie Burkhart, William Hale, and Charles Whitehorn show up in what at times feels like a book report set to a driving Western rhythm. After laying out the facts of the case, Crockett offers his own haunting reflection, “If you come around here with pretty flowers to sow / You might stop and notice nobody’s very old / Grass grows so high it covers up the graves / But listen for a while and it might start givin’ names.”
The new single is far from the only connection between The Killers of the Flower Moon and the world of country music. Scorsese cast alt-country stars Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell for minor roles, as well as brought aboard fellow Nashville heavy Jack White to try his hand at acting.
Related: Sturgill Simpson Releases New Song, Kind Of, For ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ [Listen]
Check out the new Charley Crockett single “Killers of the Flower Moon” below. The country revivalist recently announced a new run of tour dates across Australia in January and February. Head here for complete tour information and tickets.
Charley Crockett – “Killers Of The Flower Moon”
“Killers Of The Flower Moon” Lyrics
Gather round the fire boys a story I will tell
About a persecution I’m sure you don’t know well
An Oklahoma tale of trading land and gems
And goin’ down a river that you can’t come back up again
Anna Brown was killed in May of ‘21
They made it look like Anna was just having too much fun
Meanwhile in town they threw a big parade
There stood William Hale and the range war that he waged
Just across the county on that very day
In a pool of blood did Charles Whitehorn lay
Charles was Anna’s cousin, so was Henry Roan
Who died shortly after William Hale made him a loan
William Hale had him a nephew who’d married Mollie Kyle
Mollie was Anna’s sister and it sunk in after while
In cities across the country all the papers read
“Reign Of Terror Continues, Another Indian Dead”
Ol’ Hickory Andrew Jackson drove ‘em down through Tennessee
From Ohio came the Osage the mountains, Cherokee
They left ‘em there to wither on that southern Kansas soil
But this was before the man discovered oil
If you come around here with pretty flowers to sow
You might stop and notice nobody’s very old
Grass grows so high it covers up the graves
But listen for a while and it might start givin’ names
They called him the King of the Osage Hills
He went and got everybody killed
Now they talk about the weather like it’s judgment coming soon
For the Killers of the Flower Moon
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