WTC Tragedy: Which Songwriter Can Do It Justice?

[Tretiak]

I think Paul Simon’s An American Tune, depsite being written in 1973, is already a pretty decnt tribute.

[HelloKitty]

*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky *
**As long as it ISN’T Neil Young. Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of his stuff, but take a look at the liner notes from his Decade album about the song, “Ohio”:

“It’s still hard to believe I had to write this song. It’s ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students…”

[sarcasm on] Oooooohhhh, so sorry to have bothered you, MISTER Young. Next time we kill some students, we’ll be SURE to do it in private. [sarcasm off]

Irony, you say? Nothing ironic about accepting those royalty checks, eh? **

Ummm, I think what he might have meant was that he was surprised that after having written/released the song, that it brought him critical acclaim. I think you are giving him a little of a bad wrap here. That’s what’s ironic about it, he wrote the song as a tribute or to say something about the tragedy, and as a result, the song brought him a side benefit that he didn’t necessarily expect.

“It’s hard to believe I had to write this song.” to me says it was hard to believe the event happened…if it had never happened he would not have been compelled to write the song.

[whatmove]

James Taylor

gets my vote. Not only is he one hell of a songwriter, but I’ve never heard a more humbly passionate, absolutely solid live performer.

[Folkie]

Someone mentioned Tom Paxton’s song. It’s called
“The Bravest” and it is a stunner. You can
find Garrison Keillor singing it at the Prairie
Home Companion website. Search for Paxton and
find the show from October that mentions his name.

[freesok]

does willie nelson occur to anybody?