Remembering

Every year on this date I listen to my custom compilation September 11, 2001: A Memorial Tribute. It's my own personal ritual in remembrance of the date. (Note: I didn't personally lose anyone to the events of that day nor do I know anyone who did, but how could anyone anywhere not have been deeply affected by what transpired?)

I created the CD within a couple months of that horrible day, so obviously all the songs included were written before the tragedies. A couple (Anne Murray's "A Little Good News" and Trisha Yearwood's "I Would've Loved You Anyway" which was already popular right at that time) sound uncannily as if they could have been written in direct response. Most simply highlight some small emotional aspect of the day. A few (Lee Ann Womack's "Stronger Than I Am" being the most notable example IMO) would seemingly have had one mundane meaning prior to 9/11/2001, but a whole different meaning (with even more emotional impact) when heard from the imagined perspective of a life altered by that fateful day.

The first half of the CD deals more with the emotional toll of death and sadness, but I didn't want the project to be an exercise in unrelenting bleakness either, so I tried to make the second half more hopeful and optimistic with an eye towards inspiration and moving on.

I'm sure others would have probably chosen different songs or might wonder why I would include certain others at all, but I was quite pleased with the overall result at the time and remain so. And since I was my own target audience that's good enough for me.


And now from 1984...
"A Little Good News" performed by Anne Murray
(written by Charlie Black, Rory Bourke, and Tommy Rocco)

I rolled out this morning, the kids had the morning news show on
Bryant Gumbel was talking 'bout the fighting in Lebanon
Some senator was squawking 'bout the bad economy
It's gonna get worse you see, we need a change in policy

There's a local paper rolled up in a rubber band
One more sad story's one more than I can stand
Just once how I'd like to see the headline say
Not much to print today, can't find nothing bad to say

Because...

Nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town
Nobody OD'd, nobody burned a single building down
Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain
We sure could use a little good news today

I'll come home this evening, I bet that the news will be the same
Somebody takes a hostage, somebody steals a plane
How I wanna hear the anchorman talk about a county fair
And how we cleaned up the air, how everybody learned to care

Whoa, tell me...

Nobody was assassinated in the whole third world today
And in the streets of Ireland all the children had to do was play
And everybody loves everybody in the good old USA
We sure could use a little good news today

Nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town
Nobody OD'd, nobody burned a single building down
Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain
We sure could use a little good news today