Patty Griffin Kite Song
It's about acknowledging sadness, but knowing that goodness has more stamina than hatred. When I think of 9/11 I am not angry, I'm sad...a feeling which is fueled by love for those lost - people I've never even met. THAT is powerful.
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The Sunday after there was laughter in the air
Everybody had a kite
They were flying everywhere
And all the trouble went away
And it wasn't just a dream
All the trouble went away
And it wasn't just a dream
In the middle of the night
We try and try with all our mights
To light a little light down here
In the middle of the night
We dream of a million kites
Flying high above
The sadness and the fear
Little sister just remember
As you wander through the blue
The little kite that you sent flying
On a sunny afternoon
Made of something light as nothing
Made of joy that matters too
How the little dreams we dream
Are all we can really do
In the middle of the night
The world turns with all of it's might
A little diamond colored blue
In the middle of the night
We keep sending little kites
Until a little light gets through
Sarah
"It's My Life," Bon Jovi
Hearing Bon Jovi perform "It's My Life" at the Concert for New York touched me in a significant and still measurable way. That song elicited such emotion and empathy for the firefighers, police officers, and other workers who demonstrated such bravery and valor on 9/11 and in the days and weeks following.
Jessa Forsythe-Crane
Creeper Lagoon's "Here We Are"
What I remember from here, so many miles from NYC, was the empty sky. And I remember listening to this song. It's not a sad song, just a song of acceptance and of the belief that love is really the only thing that matters. Every time I hear it I am brought inevitably back to that time.
"So long to the life you always knew
Was never meant to be
Throw out a kiss and relax
You're growing away from me"
Amy
There Will Be Rest by Frank Ticheli
After my high school choir took a trip to NYC this became the most appropriate piece, in my mind, to commemorate the lives lost during 9/11. We sang this piece as well as Jonathan Adams' The Plans I Have For You in Saint Paul's Chapel, the text of both pieces pushed the memory of September 11 to the forefront of our minds, to forever be remembered with the performance of these choral works.
Katy Featherston
flaming lips - do you realize
life and death is really just a part of the journey. enjoy it.
Charlotte Boyd
MOMENT AWAY - DANA FUCHS - (LONELY FOR A LIFETIME ALBUM)
A poignant reflection on the sudden and foreverness of the loss of a loved one on 9/11. It still moves my heart to listen to it.
Dana Fuchs wrote this specifically in response to the profound emotion felt of this day
DORIS BUXBAUM
The Color Guard - "En Why"
This is my own band's demo recording for the Village Voice's 9/11 compilation call-for-entries.
http://suziblade.com/thecolorguard/aud/TheColorGuard.NY.mp3
It's about the complicated feelings of a New Yorker who has moved from somewhere else and made the city home: you belong there; yet in times of crisis, having nostalgia for the comfort of middle-America.
Lalena
"The Music of Healing," Tommy Sands and Pete Seeger
I heard this song first on NPR during a piece about musicians who lent their time teaching songs to juvenile prisoners. I believe it was the first time I cried listening to a song.
In trying times, I always come back to this song's beautiful call for reconciliation, peace, community, and forgiveness.
Ron
Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?"
Alan Jackson wrote this song shortly after 9/11 and I remember listening to it over and over. I still find it both heartbreaking, because it brings back memories of tragedies; and inspiring & hopeful, because it focuses on what's most important in life.
Barbara Gillette
Sacred Harp song - Poland
http://www.amazon.com/Poland-Awake-My-Soul/dp/B001F8CB5S
We sang it in honor of the brother of a friend who died in the towers. He had been named after an uncle in Israel who died in a terrorist attack also.
Tune: Timothy Swan, 1785
Words: Isaac Watts, 1719
God of my life, look gently down,
Behold the pains I feel;
But I am dumb before Thy throne,
Nor dare dispute Thy will.
I’m but a sojourner below,
As all my fathers were;
May I be well prepared to go
When I the summons hear.
But if my life be spared awhile,
Before my last remove,
Thy praise shall be my bus’ness still
And I’ll declare Thy love.
Linda Griggs
J S Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze"
This piece reflects the theme of peace on earth.
Angelo Dispenzieri
In the Light by Led Zeppelin (from Physical Graffiti)
I listened to this in 7th and 8th grade in the early 80's before anyone heard of Al Qaeda, it's a particularly redeeming song, especially the keyboards -- which doesn't hurt on the 9/11 anniversary.
Special Monkey
"Anthem" from the London/Broadway musical, Chess
It's just a very well written, inspiring song about one person's feelings for his nation. It deserves a wider audience. Look at this lyric; it's very germane to 9/11:
No man, no madness
Through their sad power may prevail
PS: I think it's important that you don't play bagpipe music on 9/11/11.
Bob Krumm
Arvo Pårt: Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
The tolling of the bell and the cascading strings are grief and redemption at the same time to me... truly incarnational and stunning. (Cut appears on ECM's _Tabula Rasa_ Arvo Pårt album).
Thanks for asking us to suggest music for this day of remembrance.
Deborah Griffin Bly
America, the Beautiful, a full rendition of all the verses
I heard many but not all of the verses sung when the dented WTC Plaza bronze globe was being rededicated in Battery Park. As I walked by the globe daily to and from the ferry since there was not PATH, my heart was ached from seeing all the mementos left of loved ones who perished. I feel that the verses speak of the struggle and of best of the American ideals on which our country was created. Those struggles and ideals remain constant whether recalling 9/11 or in the wars today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful
Terry Wright
"Anthrax (powerballad version)," by Kimya Dawson (on album, Hidden Vagenda)
It's extremely moving, somewhat sad, and actually deals directly, lyrically, with some of the serious NYC and national aftermath of 9/11.
Jonathan Aubrey
BIBO NO AOZORA, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jaques More
This piece was the musical linchpin for the film, BABEL.
Human weakness, & our struggle for control, & for our humanity.
All of our tragedy & sorrow, re-living 9/11
Blown to dust…
& falling to the ground in a rushing powder blast ~
Vic
New York, New York
Every time I hear this song it brings a huge smile to face and a deep sense of warmth I feel for the city. I moved to New York in 1995 at the young age of 19 from England and consider NewYork to be my home town.
For the rest of life I will forever remember that day every time I step outside and am greeted by first crisp sunny day of fall.
Sebastian Clarke
There is a world inside the world - Rhett Miller
To me it captures the disbelief, and spirit of awareness, or lack thereof, that I hope America can grasp.
Y Spitek
So Long, It's Been Good to Know You (Dusty Old Dust) by Woody Guthrie
The dust cloud affected everyone around the towers literally, some died from the dust they inhaled. Some were sickened for life.
But we all lost a way of life when the towers fell. The world we knew changed over night. The weeks before "New York" magazine featured jet skiers on the Hudson then suddenly, we were at war. We needed a passport to get below Houston. I was cleaning houses to support myself as a painter. I could see the change in dust and grit that wiped off my clients furniture. Some moved away after that. I sang this song a lot.
A dust storm hit, an' it hit like thunder;
It dusted us over, an' it covered us under;
Blocked out the traffic an' blocked out the sun,
Straight for home all the people did run,
Singin':
So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh.
This dusty old dust is a-gettin' my home,
And I got to be driftin' along.
We talked of the end of the world, and then
We'd sing a song an' then sing it again.
We'd sit for an hour an' not say a word,
And then these words would be heard:
So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh.
This dusty old dust is a-gettin' my home,
And I got to be driftin' along.
Linda Griggs
