Sep 11, 2008

Let It Be 9/11



In the lobby of 520 8th Avenue today, a choir gathered for a free musical program, and handed out lyric sheets for all lunch-breakers and passersby to join in on "Let It Be." I didn't live in NY in 2001, but this performance helped me share in a wee bit of horror and concomitant solidarity.



In all seriousness, the songs I turn to on this day are PJ Harvey's "Good Fortune," not precisely for its resonance with this day but as a generally New York-themed cheer-up song, at the center of which lies this heart-stopping line:
Things I once thought unbelievable
In my life have all taken place

And Leonard Cohen's "Anthem," with its hard-to-argue-with chorus:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

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