On the 15th anniversary of the greatest tragedy to befall modern America, it’s worth remembering not just the heroes who responded that day, but the poets who tried to make sense out of the senselessness followed 9/11. Songwriters as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Alan Jackson, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Taylor Swift, and the Beastie Boys echoed our brightest and most despairing feelings, some in the immediate wake of the terrorist attacks and courageous response, others after ruminating for months or years. Here are 15 of the best musical responses to that day:
Bruce Springsteen: “The Rising”/“Empty Sky”
As the only major artist to make an entire album loosely themed around the post-9/11 zeitgeist, Springsteen makes it hard to pick a single anthem from The Rising to represent that non-glory day. It really comes down to a yin-yang tie between the despairing “Empty Sky” and almost gospel-like title track. “Empty Sky” could speak for anyone who’s recently lost a loved one to murder, mass or otherwise: “I want a kiss from your lips/I want an eye for an eye.” But “The Rising” found the barest of hard-fought hope in the dual imagery of rescuers and souls ascending. When it comes to speaking in song for these United States — the depressed America, and the aspirational America — nobody does it better.
Alan Jackson: “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)”
In the days immediately following the attacks, various existing songs were adopted as anthems, from Five for Fighting’s “Heroes” to U2’s “Walk On” to Springsteen’s eerily appropriate “My City of Ruins.” But when it came to literally addressing 9/11, it was a humble country star that was the first responder. Jackson jotted down this ballad of bewilderment in the middle of the night almost as if caught in the throes of a case of automatic writing, but what he seemed to be channeling were the stunned thoughts of nearly everyone in America (even those who did know the difference between Iran and Iraq). When he premiered the song less than two months after the tragedies, Jackson’s ability to tenderly speak to the emotions of urbanites that’d never heard of him on top of his own fan base made for one of country music’s proudest moments.
Beastie Boys: “An Open Letter to NYC”
You’ve got to fight for your right to… recover. Reacting to the terror attacks is only a part of this musical mash note, but it’s the cornerstone, noting that “since 9/11 we’re still livin’, and lovin’ life we’ve been given… Dear New York, I know a lot has changed/Two towers down but you’re still in the game.” There’ve been bigger songs of NYC civic pride since, like “Empire State of Mind,” but nothing with the sense of urgency in this rebound anthem from New York’s finest.
Taylor Swift: “Didn’t They”
You didn’t know that Swift had a 9/11 song? Don’t worry, neither do 98 percent of her fans. That’s because “Didn’t They” has never been officially released, although a leak of the demo became widely disseminated and is easily found. If you think that Swift, as a young teenager, was going to look for the sweeter side of those tragic events, think again. In verse after verse, she addresses the problem of theodicy… or, in less specifically theological terms, why God allows evil. “Didn’t they need you bad enough?” she asks the Supreme Being, after “it all came down.” “Where were you? And didn’t they pray, too?” All those songs she penned later about bad boyfriends had nothing on the one she wrote when she was angry with the Almighty.
Neil Young: “Let’s Roll”
Over time, the aftermath of 9/11 would inspire a lot of calls to military action, from the likes of Toby Keith and Darryl Worley. This list isn’t about those. But there was an action story with a bittersweet ending embedded in the day itself, in the form of Flight 93. Just as Todd Beamer was ready to rumble as he and a few other passengers took on the terrorists on that flight, so was Neil Young ready for his own rumble, in the form of a rocker memorializing the struggle that prevented yet another massive loss of life on the ground in D.C. “There’s no more of a legendary, heroic act than what those people did,” Young said later, “not even having a chance to think about it or plan it or do anything — just a gut reaction that was heroic and ultimately cost them all their lives.” Although his response to 9/11 wasn’t quite “Ohio”-quick, Young was nearly as fast on the draw as Alan Jackson, getting his tribute to the courageous fallen out to radio in November 2001.
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