Firehouse by Christine Lavin

This song totally captures my Manhattan "neighborhood" experience of 9/11. I never pass a firehouse now without thinking of the sacrifice those men made on that day. I can't even pull myself together enough to speak to the firemen to whom I bring a bouquet of flowers every year on 9/11 in their honor. This song captures all of those emotions.

Laura Pearson

Good Night, New York by Julie Gold

Poignant song about the things we associate with America and New York and the loss of innocence of a country, a city, and a culture through time. Set in the context of a daughter looking back on the aspirations of her immigrant mother sailing into the "harbor of hopes and of dreams." I believe Nancy Griffith sang this on The David Letterman Show on the second anniversary of 9/11. It was also on MIchael Moore's tribute CD to 9/11.

Laura Pearson

Stars and Stripes Forever

John Philip Sousa's original work was written at the height of patriotic fever in the Untied States. We were united as a nation after suffering division and war against each other over slavery and states rights. Over the years, America seemed to lose that unification and in a way 9-11 brought us together again. In a way it seemed to work against those who wish to destroy us. During and in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, We, and especially citizens of the New York/New Jersey demonstrated we are the "United" States and despite destruction to our buildings and the killing of the innocent,our Stars and Stripes are Forever. I am a first generation American. Proud and grateful for all this nation has done for me. I saw the destruction to a city I love and cry when I think about the parking lot filled with cars that had no owners pick them up in Ridge wood, NJ. I also cry with pride when i hear Stars and Stripes Forever because it is true.

Carl Schneide

Agnus Dei (Barber)

I am a paramedic. I will never forget driving home from work that night seeing all the people standing near the street holding candles lighting the way home.I found it somewhat comforting. This music is very peaceful and calming to me in it's sonority and beautifully reverent. I thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts and thank you for being there.

John Di Stefano

the song "Firehouse"

Suzanne Vega produced a 9/11 project called "Vigil" - "Firehouse," written in 2002 about Ladder 25 is on it. Last night I completed a video to go with the song to mark the 10th anniversary. Here's the youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl9u9GuBZrs

As far as I know that album never got much airplay or promotion so most of the songs remain unknown. There's a line in the song that I didn't think would resonate as much as it does: "Maybe next year the pain won't be as sharp as it is today/but it will never completely go away." Sort of an understatement now I guess.

C. Lavin

Moment Away by Dana Fuchs

Dana's performance keeps alive the memory on a loved one gone. She has such soul and emotion that an immediate feeling for the person is immediate. As sad as the the thought is, the memory of still being close is comforting.

Helene Tricarico Robinson

Fanfare for the Common Man

common people were lost in the most meaningless way, and common people made the most meaningful contributions on that awful day. I'm a volunteer on the retired FDNY Fireboat John J. Harvey, which was one of the rescue boats that pumped water for 3 days to fight the fires at the WTC. So many people from ordinary walks of life proved that day that there is much goodness to balance incomprehensible evil. The Fanfare for the Common Man is a small tribute to them.

Renee Stanley

nothing

I'd like silence actually, a relief from your endless media feed, a moment to return to the earth. Either that or the music that played on 911.

I think your asking what music to play for 911 is insulting. You should know better. Music has no gravity comparable to 911, just mindless tinkling. We don't need moments of awe replaced with mindless tinkling, seriously!

Phil

Moment Away by Dana Fuchs

It speaks to me about the fleeting nature of our existence and how it is constantly changing.

Pete

Symphony #3, Henryk Gorecki

i didn't realize there was a separate field for this request, and already wrote a paragraph under general "listener requests." but nothing could be as perfect for this saddest of days....a memorial for all holocausts, a prayer of peace for all people.

Mark Jacobson

A Unitarian Universalist hymn entitled "May Nothing Evil Pass Door"

This is a hymn/prayer that is the very first hymn in the UU Hymnals used in North America. It's words are written by Louis Untermeyer and I know you can find lyrics and even mp3 recordings on the Internet, but I doubt you'll be able to find a recording with good enough quality to play on air. Nevertheless, I bet that UU congregations all over the continent will be singing that particular hymn on Sunday, 9/11. My congregation meets in the beautiful Church of the Saviour on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. We, the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn, are the UU congregation in the closest proximity to "Ground Zero" and we welcome any who wish to join us that day.

M. Ascione

Moment Away by Dana Fuchs

Dana Fuchs wrote Moment Away specifically in reference to 911. It is beautiful and simple both in the writting and singing.

Laura Bell

'strange weather' marianne faithful and 'world is falling down' abbey lincoln

i can't really explain why, but that whole week these were the two songs that played in my head. it's the mood they evoke that seemed to match the events.

ira tanen

"Into The Mystic" by Van Morrison

"Let your soul and spirit fly…into the mystic."

Leo Sacks

Orbach and Armstrong

"Try to Remember the Kind of September" - Jerry Orbach's version. Heard this a few days after 9/11/2001 on WNYC, touching.

"Wake Me Up When September Ends" - Green Day.
'as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends'
also touched me.

A Caruso

"Blue Skies"

Monday, September 10 was a rainy, nasty day and I remember thinking that the summer's over. Then the early morning of September 11 rekindled hope as it was an absolutely gorgeous day. Not a cloud in the sky. I remember walking through my neighborhood singing "Blue Skies" to myself. Then when I got to work, my brother - who was living in Battery Park City, across from the Towers - called to tell me to turn on the TV and see if there was any news on an accidental plane crash into one of the buildings.
The rest is history. But the memory of that beautiful, crisp, late summer day - what Irving Berlin must have felt when he wrote the song - ended up serving as an ironic counterpoint to the events of the day. The beautiful version of "Blue Skies" by Dinah Washington is the one for me that truly captures the feeling of the day.

Marc Posnock

Samuel Barber, Seranade For Strings, (what else?)

Music is the avenue to the heart and
soul.

In this particular sad occasion, I
want to fill my heart and soul with
something great, something unbelievable
sad, to express my emotions and wring them out to heal.

Frances Apgar

We Can Be Kind by Dan Friedman

As an elementary music teacher, I have incorporated Nancy LaMott's haunting rendition of this song for years at the beginning of each school as part of an anti-bullying message. I was in the middle of playing this for a 5th grade class, when I received news about the Towers being hit. Ironic that we were talking about kindness, when the most unkindly of events occurred. This song is now officially part of my music curriculum every September.....

Bonnie Utzig

"Family Tree" by Tom Chapin from his CD, "Family Tree"

On 9/11, I was teaching 4 year olds at, "The Little Red School House" in Greenwich Village, NYC. The third floor windows in my classroom looked down toward the World Trade Center Towers. For years, this view had excited the children who could see the twin towers as they worked each day on their many activities. On September 9, 2001, a brand new group of 4s was in the process of a slow and careful orientation to their new school. We were going to introduce them to the playroof that day. The principal hovered outside my classroom as we met and talked about the playroof. She signal my associate teacher out of the room and told him to take over the meeting - She urgently need to talk to me. She said we shouldn't take the childrent to the playroof because a plane had just hit the World Trade Center and there was too much smoke. Naively, I said, thinking that she meant maybe a little helicopter had grazed the tower, that, no, the children wouldn't see the smoke. She urged me to the roof where, paralysed, I saw the billowing smoke and saw the second plane hit the remaining tower.
I choose this song, because, one, it is a children's song, and two, it is about how we are all a family and related to each other in hundreds of different ways.

Sandy Wolkenberg

Grateful Dead's Broke Down Palace

the lyrics could have been written for the towers.

Amy Selich