Your 9/11 playlist

Cafe Society
1

On my way to work today, I was jumping around on my ipod, trying to pick out 9/11 (and its aftermath) songs:

Team America soundtrack - America, Fuck Yeah – need I say more?

Pearl Jam - I Am Mine – the band wrote this song right after 9/11, and the lyrics reflect their feelings about it

They Might Be Giants - The Shadow Government – not about 9/11 specifically but about the patriot act and other post-9/11 bullshit the government started pulling, done TMBG style

Neil Young - Let’s Impeach the President – he’s not singing about Clinton!

South Park - The Ladder to Heaven – a spoof of 9/11ish country songs, the entire third verse is ‘9/11 9/11 9/11’ over and over.

What’s on your 9/11 playlist?

2

“Holiday,” Green Day - A critique of Dubya and misplaced patriotism.

“Adagio for Strings,” Samuel Barber - A very sad song that reminds me of the losses of 9-11.

“Semper Fidelis,” John Philip Sousa - A stirring patriotic march.

“Rhapsody in Blue,” George Gershwin - Always says “New York City” to me - a tribute to a great city bloodied but unbowed by tragedy.

“The Star-Spangled Banner,” lyrics by Francis Scott Key - For obvious reasons.

3

Try to Remember (the kind of Setember) from The Fantasticks (Jerry Orbach, of course)

The Rising (then entire cd) by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

(it was a) Beautiful Day by U2

American Tune Simon and Garfunkel

4

I started with “Winterborn” by Cruxshadows, then just played “The Rising” from beginning to end.

5

***“Capitol G” and “Zero Sum” from Nine Inch Nails’ “Year Zero”

***“Long, Long Way To Go” from Def Leppard’s “X”

And like Elendil’s Heir, “Rhapsody In Blue”

6

And on a sadder note, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”

The Rising has already been mentioned (twice)–good choice.

7

“War On War”, “Jesus Etc.” and “Ashes of American Flags” from Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”. Funny thing is, as appropriate as those songs seem, they were actually recorded before the 9-11 attacks.

8

“I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. He performed it on the America: A Tribute To Heroes telethon.

“My City of Ruins” by Bruce Springsteen. Although it was written about Asbury Park, pre-9/11, he also performed it on the telethon.

“Imagine” performed by Neil Young on the “Heroes” telethon.

“Let’s Roll” by Neil Young, written as a tribute to Todd Beemer and the other passengers of United 93.

9

Another vote for The Rising, beginning to end. Those are the only songs of any kind that make me cry.

10

Rock you Like A Hurricane?

11

Particularly “Empty Sky.”

Pat Metheny’s “Song for the Boys” is another to add. It’s quite powerful.

12

“Love is Stronger Than Death” and “Slow Emotion Replay” by The The.

On a droller note, “My Favorite Buildings” by Robyn Hitchcock.

13

On the way home from work on 9/11, the radio station played “Teach Your Children Well” by Crosby, Stills & Nash.* The song still evokes strong emotion in me and I get choked up by the time they sing “And you, of tender years, can’t know the fears that your elders grew by”. Mainly because it’s a damned shame that each generation gets a new set of fears.
*Don’t recall if it was with or without Young at that point.

14

**Wake Up ** by Rage Against The Machine.

15

“Makeshift Patriot” by Sage Francis
“We Need A War” by Fischerspooner

16

Another vote for The Rising.

The old Irish ballad “The Foggy Dew” seemed to perfectly capture the fealing of NYC and much of the nation in the weeks after.

17

America by Marcy Playground

Really, anything but that god awful Lee Greenwood. scowl

18

“New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel.
“Shattered” by the Rolling Stones.

19

A bunch of stuff by Einstürzende Neubauten

20

The song Devils and Dust by Bruce Springsteen:

“What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear’s a dangerous thing
It can turn your heart black you can trust
It’ll take your God filled soul
Fill it with devils and dust”

:shivver:

Billy Joel’s performance of “New York State of Mind” during the post-911 fund-raising concert was very moving, IMO. He played it exactly like any other performance of his song, except he had a FDNY firefighter’s helmet on his piano. An early step toward normalcy in the post-911 days.