David Adam Smith Lux Aeterna

I first heard the piece in 2009 at Holy Innocents Church in Manhattan on All Souls' Day. The liturgy of the Tridentine Mass, priests in black vestments, and the soothing Lux Aeterna written for the victims of 911, beautifully sung by the church choir and conducted by the composer left me extremely touched. A fitting tribute for all who perished on 911.

M Tam

Hymn to the Vanished by Mark Gustavson

I heard this piece premiered by S.O.N.Y.C. at Carnegie Hall in 2002 in memory of the victims of 9/11.

Pam

Try to remember the kind of September from "The Fantastiks"

Its a song of rememberance, nostalgia, dreams of better times in the past and is expressive of how healing comes from hurt.

Raouf Zaidan

Minstrel Boy (Cover) Joe Strummer

I had moved to NYC in early 2001. After the attacks we were all amiss. I worked downtown and we dily were at ground zero assisting the rescue crews.

Having always been a fan of the 101ers and The Clash, I had never gotten to seen Joe Strummer. I finally got the chance to see him before he died at Irving Plaza on October 10th 2001. The city was still a mess and they almost cancelled the show. He walked out on stage and said "This is for all of our friends in New York" They then proceeded to play the full 13 minute cover of Minstrel Boy.

It was truly a magical night that The City really needed.

Dan

Airport 5 "Total Exposure"

I came home after being stranded near the GW Bridge that day. I needed something to take my mind off of things. I had this album on my CD player and listened to it.
Years later, my son's subversive music teacher taught his students the chorus to this song: "LIsten to the way the children play/as the day slips away/and the light comes down/Total Exposure!" to me it has an uplift, a dreamy hope even as the evening settles in. There is nothing like the sound of children playing at dusk. It's a good sound.

Dan

"Before The Dawn" by Patrice Rushen

That day started as a normal September day as well as my birthday. I go to work at five in the morning-Before the Dawn. Later that day would never be the same for everybody. This song Before The Dawn is a beautiful, peaceful Jazz instrumental that always takes me back to that quiet,peaceful morning before the chaos.

Thomas Jones

Peter Garland's "Apple Blossom"

A simple, yet complex work most often performed on marimbas.......it's beauty is in the reflective feeling I get from it....thinking of all the people involved in that day, and how time passes in this work is quite beautiful.
One example is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0lXUEIPOFQ

Greg Secor

Bach, Goldberg Variations

My most vivid memory of that day was riding home on the bus from high school listening to what was then WQXR. While every other station was simulcasting television news, the QXR presenter, in that station's trademark calm and deep voice, gave the weather report for the next day and ended it by simply saying, "Tomorrow would have been a beautiful day." She then played a selection from the Goldberg Variations. It was a very meaningful and painful moment, even for a 13-year old boy.

Dan, Oradell, NJ

"Jesus, Etc." by Wilco

Two years ago, I moved to Hoboken to start law school in Manhattan, and back then, because of the ongoing construction, when the PATH train pulled into the World Trade Center stop, you could see into Ground Zero. On September 11 of that year, my train into Manhattan pulled to a stop, awaiting clearance to pull into the station. As the train stood still, I lifted my head up to found I was looking directly into Ground Zero. At that same moment "Jesus, Etc." by Wilco started playing on my iPod. It may have been written September 11, but that just seems to make it ghostly more powerful.

Everyone was silent for the few minutes we sat in waiting. I'm not sure what anyone else heard while we sat there; but I heard Wilco... or maybe it was ghosts.

My commute to school that morning turned out to be an eery, yet serendipitous moment of reflection. It is something I will never forget.

Joe Petro

The House I Live In and Ballad for Americans by Paul Robeson

I think both of these songs are very appropriate for September 11. I am a native New Yorker and I was here on September 11, 2001. I was not affected directly in that I did not lose a family member, but the entire world has indeed been affected by the actions of those 19 men on those planes. Some may say I have no right to criticize the reactions of people who lost relatives on that day, but many are forgetting what our country really is about. I have been disturbed by the protests of relatives of the victims over the mosque and Muslim cultural center proposed near Ground Zero, and the general lack of tolerance for anyone that disagrees with them and their ideas. More universally, the country has moved towards an insular,nationalistic, undemocratic and intolerant ideological mood that undermines what the United States truly represents. These two songs by Robeson, who was persecuted by our government for exercising his right to free speech, and blacklisted by Hollywood because of his Socialist beliefs, are two of the most patriotic songs I have ever heard. They are beautiful because our country and the sincere attempts to build a more perfect union by our pluralistic, multicultural and tolerant founding principles are beautiful.

Zeneida Disla

Musikalische Exequien by Heinrich Schuetz

This funeral mass exudes a transcendent sense of tranquillity and the continuity of life and death. It is also ethereally beautiful. It was made known to me at a time of special earnestness, when I was privileged to participate in a performance of it. The memory of the music has never left me.

Judith Sonntag

"Pick Yourself Up" From "Songs Spun of Gold," by Elli Fordyce

I resided 2 blocks from the WTC from '87-2007. The song I've requested is by me, was released in 2008 when I was 71 years old, and says it all about recovery.

I was home on the day of, evacuated and not permitted to return till 11 days later. I left with only my wallet, the clothes on my back and my Yorkie. Returning, we lived in a war zone for most of the next year, at one point not having any food available within a 45-minute walk, with no public transportation available, until the Red Cross began bringing snacks and water a few days after. One of my friends, coming back to sign up for Red Cross assistance, nearly fainted because he'd forgotten to eat before he left to come into the area and there was nothing to do about it. My roommate went for a run on 9/23 and brought back a can of coffee and a few basics from a deli he found somewhere. It was a crazy time for all of us, even after the horrific event itself. Personally, my income was dependant on freelancing for other residents, 99% of them only slowly returned over weeks and months. I was so lucky in that services were put in place to help and individual folks went beyond the call on the day of and immediately after for those of us who were refugees. What doesn't kill you makes your stronger, thus my choice: "Pick Yourself UP."

Elli Fordyce

Overcome by Live

The title explains it all in this poignant song.

shb

brass fanfare

There was an exquisite new fanfare that opened Morning Edition, or perhaps Weekend All Things Considered. I heard it 1 or 2 times and then it disappeared on 9/11. It was replaced by an equally beautiful, but heartbreaking dirge that became the musical theme as I listened day after day after day to WNYC.

I loved that brass fanfare. 1) for its beauty and 2) because it represents for me The Day Before. I would love if you could find it and prove that I'm not making this up. Thank you so much.

Ann T. Greene

The Bravest by Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton wrote this amazing tribute to the firefighters just weeks after 9/11 and gave it to Garrison Keillor to sing on Prairie Home Companion. I do not know how he wrote it so quickly, nor how GK was able to sing it just weeks after the events. I'm sure Tom has recorded it, but if there is any way to get Garrison's it is astonishing. I cannot even quote the line "they were pounding up the stairs while we were running down" without crying. Since 9/11 I always salute firetrucks when they pass by. This song will tell you why.

Joe Barna

Shalom Aleichem

Peace
the slow singing of this song was comforting to my mother, as she was in hospice care many years ago. The chaplain sung it to her. We requested it be played at her funeral service, and the funeral director balked at first. Then he agreed to have it played. When played slowly, it creates a mellow, serene mood. And, it means peace be unto youl

Eva

Ditto on some other suggestions

Looking through the suggestions already up here, I just wanted to second a few suggestions: Anything from Springsteen's "The Rising." Anything by Pete Seeger or Woodie Guthrie, with a special request for "This Land is Your Land." Patti Griffin's "Kite Song."

Liz

"The Only Way" by Marc Erelli on his album: Hope and Other Casualties (2006)

The chorus says it all:

So I'm gonna love
I'm gonna believe
I'm gonna dream
But I'm gonna roll up my sleeve
And give everything until there's nothing left to give
That's the only way that I know how to live

Liz

"Elevation" - Josh Levinson Sextet

This was written and performed (and recorded) by Josh Levinson, a native of Brooklyn, resident of Manhattan, and public school music teacher in the Bronx. He wrote this beautiful tune to commemorate the victims of September 11 and to express his hope for a better world.

M

Earl Klugh - I'll See You Again

It is a music of joy in the mist of sorrow the melody is happy and longing for a lost one but with the philosophical belief that we will see again when we all get back home to our Lord

Funso Akinyemi