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Most everyone has music that ties to momentous events in our lives. This song here would definitely qualify although it was largely written before 9/11 (according to the know-it-alls on the Internet.) I think of two songs with 9/11. The first is Ryan Adams' "New York, New York" that came to represent 9/11 because the video was shot 4 days before and had pictures of the World Trade Center in the background. A lot of the lyrics sort of fit what happened: "The world won't wait, so I better shake that thing right out there through the door. Hell, I still love you, New York."
ReplyDeleteBut for me, the main song about 9/11 will always be "If This Is Goodbye" by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris. Knopfler explained it later: "“I happened to read a piece in the paper by Ian McEwan about the last phone calls that were made from the Twin Towers and the planes. And these phone calls constituted a kind of victory and that was a very encouraging thing to read. It was this triumph of this message of love over a barbaric and a backward act. I wrote ‘If This Is Goodbye’.”
Mention should also be made of the guitar solo at the end. Mark doesn't use a plastic pick. He uses his thumb bent back at quite an angle. The resulting sound on an electric is so expressive that this one solo is enough to put him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And of course Emmylou's voice is amazing too.