Imagine by John Lennon

It means that honoring this day should be about honoring humanity, not a misguided sense of nationalism. All people suffer, and we don't recognize the tens of thousands we have lost following 9/11 and our national response to it.

Guido Sanchez

Bon Jovi - Undivided

Uplifting and unifying, after the tragedy, by one of the world's best bands.

Tahra

Gravel Pit by WTC from the album "The W" (Dubya)

Analyze the lyrics. Don't shoot the messenger. Citizens of the United States of America please stop giving your power, your rights, your money, and your future away to members of satanic death cults such as Skull & Bones (aka Bonesmen, The Brotherhood of Death, Deatheaters). Members of these secret societies are infected with power and death. Stop the killing. Peace.

Harry

Elegy for String Quartet: Elliott Carter

Written in 1943, this short piece, like Barber's Adagio for Strings, is of a tender and moving simplicity. Elliott Carter, now nearing 103 years of age and still composing, was born in NYC and has lived there in the same apartment for around 65 years. Aged 92, he actually witnessed the planes flying into WTC from a window in his apartment.

Alistair Hinton

"Far Away" by Sleater-Kinney

I think this was one of the better songs written about 9/11 -- it written from the point of view of a new mother witnessing the attacks on her television, thousands of miles away from New York and Washington. Also, the song really rocks. Hard.

Josh Silverman

"Cantique" of Arvo Part, Adagio from David Diamond's Violin Concerto No. 2, David Diamond's Rounds for Orchestra, "Field of the Dead" from Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky", "Talin" for Clarinet and Orchestra of Hovhaness, Donald Wilson's "Dedication"

I hope this music offers solace and catharsis in these coming days. Undeniably beautiful work by masters.

Eileen T.

Towers Of Light by Robert Wendel

It's just beautiful. I found it on iTunes and I wish everyone could hear it.

Zach

Ballard for Americans by Paul Robeson

Ballad for Americans is all about this
country and Paul Robeson expresses this
very well indeed.

Albert Eisler

Grand Central Station, by Mary Chapin Carpenter

I never go in GC Station without hearing this song in my head. It's got the perfect tone, the perfect attitude.
I'm so grateful to her for writing this, and many of your listeners haven't heard it yet.

Phyllis Alden

"Self Evident" - Ani Difranco

I was 16 and living right across the river with my whole life in front of me when 9/11/2001 changed all the potential my life had. My peers lost parents, I feared losing half the men of my generation in a war, and over the next 10 years I watched things get worst and worst by our own making. Suddenly it seemed like the betterment of our own country was completely eclipsed by the importance of retribution. And out of all the overly patriotic things I was forced to listen to in the aftermath I cringed with the thought of demonizing anyone who looked like they could be Middle Eastern, and invading a country when it was a small group of people that attacked us.
Ani Difranco has always been politically driven, and her poem/song "Self Evident" encompassed many things I was feeling but felt I could never say for fear of being attacked as insensitive or un-patriotic.

“On the day that America
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please……
And I'll tell you what; while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
You can keep the propaganda
keep each and every TV
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution “

Kat M

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem

I was living in Charlotte, NC on 9/11/01. Despite having family menbers who lived in the New York Tri-State area, it was equally felt in the Carloinas. I remember listening to news reports on the radio (I didn't have a TV at time because it was broken-which was an omen)on an intense level. The only music on the radio on that day and many days after was predominantly classical. It was a time where nothing made sense and everything that I believed in was irrelevant.

Fast forward to a year later, I was attending a Charlotte Symphony concert, there was some mention of 9/11/01 from the conductor; which I found annoying because I had udergone mourning and started to moved on with my life. He introduced Britten's "War Requiem" to summarize his feelings on 9/11 and in the impending war in Iraq. As the music played, all of my pent up emotions were released and I knew that I was truly ready to move forward.

Adrian DeVore

DJ Tiesto's "Forever Today"

It's a very deep and emotionally moving piece that reaches into the depths of the human heart to remind us of the fragility of life. The title fits and Tiesto never fails to add power to his music and that power transfers to the American people who feel the power of their country. Goes well along with the 9-11 statement we all use 'We will Always Remember' To always and "forever" remember "today." Hence the title "Forever Today."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEx9jF3mqis&feature=related

Michael

Music for Lamentation by Raul Quines

The composer Raul and I were composition classmates at MSM in the early 90s; our sources of inspiration were the expression of pre9/11 NYC. This is his tribute for 9/11

Anna Maria Manalo

Walk On - U2

My father was killed on the 101st floor of the South tower during the attacks. I was only eight years old when this happened. Everything was so confusing, I didn't really know what to think. Instead of everything hitting me all at once on 9/11, I suffered through a gradual understanding of what had happened that changed my family forever. But now, looking back, as horrible a tragedy as 9/11 was, so many positive things have come out of the situation. Because of 9/11, my relationship with God over the past years has grown increasingly stronger and much more sincere. Knowing that not only God but also my father are always with me makes me more confident and sure of the person that I am. 9/11 was ten years in the past: it's over, it doesn't exist. The only thing that matters is what is happening right now, the present moment. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that we cannot get caught up in things that simply no longer exist. We've got to Walk On.

Nick Berger

Miles Davis' Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)--From the Sketches of Spain

There is something about this piece that is both somber and hopeful. If music on 9/11, it should honor the dead and salve the hurt of the living. This "classical" Davis does both for me each time I play it.

James

Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon

I was torn between “Imagine” or “Give Peace A Chance” by fellow New Yorker John Lennon. Why those songs? The answer lies in Lennon, who said in 1980: “It's not a new message: ‘Give Peace a Chance’ -- we're not being unreasonable, just saying, ‘Give it a chance.’ With ‘Imagine,’ we're saying, ‘Can you imagine a world without countries or religions?’ It's the same message over and over. And it's positive.” Yes, positive--that’s why I like those songs. They’re well-crafted, but they’re also positive. 9/11 was a terrible event. It's hard to choose a suitable piece of music in relation to it consequently. Because Give Peace A Chance is a bit more upbeat, I went with Give Peace A Chance over Imagine. John Lennon, you must remember, died on the streets of New York by an equally reprehensible act of violence. Am I saying the murder of those on 9/11 is equal to Lennon’s, or the life of one equal to the lives of thousands? No, I’m only equating the wrongness of both acts. Both events were and are wrong and sad. They simply should not have happened, despite having happened. I understand that there are those out there who don’t like or appreciate John Lennon or what he stood for, those who don’t consider him a New Yorker. Despite this, he had a message which was positive and meaningful. It’s a message I’d like others to think about and reflect on 9/11. Give Peace A Chance not just on 9/11 but every single day of your life.

Jeremy Owen Warneke

In A New York Minute

This song completely changed for me after September 11th. I think one of the news programs played it with a montage of images. It's absolute relevance--"in a New York minute everything can change"--has been with me since. It's the song that makes me cry just to think of it.

Virginia

Our New Reality by The Radical Thought Resistance

The song captures a moment when the US, especially New Yorkers, were very vulnerable and uncertain. It is both a tribute to the victims and comment on the world we live in. Plus it's a really good tune and was released in 2002, very soon after the event and when many artists had yet to touch the topic. The song can be heard at -http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/1675526

andy

Strauss- Four Last Songs

I live "upstate," (Cooperstown) and shared in that day worrying about relatives and friends who I knew were in Manhattan. These songs provide for me, tranquility but yet depict the transience of life. In the days immediately after 9/11 I remember the sunny, warm days with beautiful blue sky and the quietness with no planes flying over our area.

Chris Bulson

Landslide (Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac)

Beautiful song about life, growing older, and death.

Wiley Saichek