Billy Joel, New York State of Mind
It was 9/11 when I really heard that song. I have heard it in passing but never listened. It made me cry and feel hopeful and just love New York even more. That song is the one song I remember from then.....it is on my Ipod and every time I hear it I think of 9/11 and how proud of New York I am and how much I admire the bravery seen and the recovery I have seen.
Laura
"Everybody Hurts" and "Sweetness Follows," R.E.M.
Both of these songs begin with images of despair - "Everybody Hurts" evokes images of loneliness and sadness, and "Sweetness Follows" considers the chasm left behind following death and departure. But by the time they're both done, they have such optimism and joy. With "Everybody Hurts," it ends with the repeated thought that "you are not alone," and with "Sweetness Follows," it's the more thoughtful incantation that you should "live your life filled with joy and wonder," and that no matter how horrifying things feel, that the feeling of sweetness that makes the world such a wonderful place will return. Great thoughts after such a horrific time. They helped me get through.
Dan Dunford
Bob Dylan
Dylan's 2001 disc LOVE AND THEFT was released that day on 9/11/01. Being a huge Dylan fan, I took the day off to get it. Got up that day turned on the news. I never made it.......Listening a day later - a day after - the lyrics were eerily prophetic and poignant:
Sky full of fire / pain pouring down /
...
all my powers of expression / my thoughts so sublime / could never do you justice / in reason or rhyme
Joe F
The Rising by Bruce Springsteen
Remembrance, Healing, and Hope
Andy N.
Verdi: Requiem Ire and Lacrimosa
The shock and horror as the strikes occurred are proclaimed in Verdi's Day of Judgment: the "Dies Irae." (Dies irae and Tuba mirum)
Our ensuing agony and weeping infuse the Requiem's "Lacrimosa."
Hopefully one day we will move on to the "Libera me."
[Submitted not for its religious content, but rather, for Verdi's astounding grasp and expression of the human experience.]
Anna
The Day the World Went Away, Nine Inch Nails; Holland, Sufjan Stevens; Hand Covers Bruise, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross; A Wolf at the Door, Radiohead; Something in the Way, Nirvana; Nobody's Fault But My Own, Beck; Ramshackle Day Parade, Joe Strummer; Likufanele, Zero 7; I won't back down, Tom Petty; New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, LCD Soundsystem; I Shall Be Released, Nina Simone; Satellite of Love, Lou Reed
As a resident of NYC back on 9/11/01 and to the present, there is a huge wound in my soul that will never be healed over the horrific events that took place that day. I turned to music back then as a coping and escape mechanism so I can't pick one particular song that adequately sums up how I felt on and after 9/11/01. The songs I selected have been a part of my internal-external soundtrack over the past 10 years. They tell my story of my sadness, fear, heartache, heart-break, disbelief, anger and ultimately, hope for a safer future.
Gayathri
The Gunner's Dream by Pink Floyd
Just a reminder of what decent, honorable life should be like...
Colin
pavane for a dead princess
Tragic, Moving, Glorius, Persevering.
pierre mclellan
Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question
I thought a lot about this - I have noted several times how thankful I was to the NPR show Hearts Of Space for introducing me to the choral piece "Deep Peace" in their post 9-11 show. So I wanted to dig a little more into the meaning of the whole event and I have one that is in my mind apropos in desolation and futility. Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question can be applied to the thoughts of the pitifully misguided fanatics who attempted to appease some fantasy silent deity, to the loved ones who agonized waiting for meaning in the chaos, and to the rest of us... seeing the structure crumble figuratively and literally, and then, finally, the answer to the question is... nothing. There can be no answer to such a question of meaning.
Ted In Atlanta
Grieg's Norwegian Suite, Beethoven's 3rd Symphony (Eroica)
I'd like the Norwegian Suite to be included, for two reasons:
1) Out of solidarity with the Norwegian people and as a gesture of respect for the way in which they've dealt with their own recent terrorist atrocity;
2) I've always found the music evocative of nature and uncommonly soothing.
I recommend the Eroica both musically (it's my favorite of LVB's symphonies) and historically. There's an ironic parallel, I think, between the withdrawal of the dedication to Napoleon when he became Emperor, and the loss of world sympathy we sustained in our wantonly aggressive response to 9/11. I told my oldest son when I learned he was alive, "I want to kill the people who did this to us. I do NOT want to kill their cousins."
Con Roche
"Hole In The Ground"
it's a great song written by a NYC singer-songwriter named Robin Greenstein. Philly DJ legend Gene Shay calls it one of the best songs he's heard about 9/11
Wendy Becker
SEPTEMBER 11 THE NARRATIVE
It is the most moving account of the events of 9/11 ever written.
A narrative written AT THE TIME (10 YRS. AGO).
You will LOVE it-it fits your MEASURING TIME perfectly.
(We hooked it up to a personal u-tube so we can send you the address) it is not on public u-tube yet.
Could you send me an e-mail address I can send it to?
R. Horner
Der Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part
I first heard this piece on the car radio at night, and stayed in the car until it finished--it impressed me as a sound of solemnity and reflection.
Jackie DeGroat
les nuit d'ete by Berloiz
Two pieces seem appropriate for September 11, Abcence and Au cimetière. They both speak to memory and loss, and have a beauty that is consoling
Dick Blumenthal
Out of the Deep from John Rutter's Requiem
This is a piece that produces feelings of anguish and hopefulness for me. I have sung it many times and plan to play it this weekend.
Margaret
Red Wagon
This song is dedicated to Firefighters and is taken from the point of a child looking to her father (a firefighter) as a hero. You can see the video and hear young Jaycie Ward (13 years old) sing it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vINQ5AHdFYQ
Paul Hickey
The Wall / Remember Me
I have a special attachment to this song because I wrote it, but despite that it was adopted as the official song of the Wall of Remembrance at Coney Island in Brooklyn (wwww.brooklynwall.org). The Brooklyn site is the only memorial dedicated to the First Responders who died at the WTC on 9/11. You can see the video and hear the song on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWr5BzCO3BY
Sincerely,
paul
Paul Hickey
Undivided - Bon Jovi
In moments like this we need to stay together!!
Claudia
Undivided, bon jovi
means that even in hard time the human being can pull out hard work and energy to try to fix things up, making things better for him and for others, help, ... and that's what we should remember from 9/11 - the ones that went away sadly and the ones that helped during that massive disaster - the force of a nation.
ana filipa
Keane - Somewhere Only We Go
I'm not sure what Keane had in mind when writing this song, but I'm sure it wasn't Ground Zero. The song takes me there every time I hear it though, as I wander around the Twin Towers in my mind. It will always be a special place for me - something no terrorist can take away.
"I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on..."
Lyssa Menard
