Over most of the last week I've been seeking comfort in the music I've chosen for listening. The first specific music I listened to after the attacks was Tomaso Albinoni's "Adagio in G minor." Its sorrowful dignity reflects my deep sense of sorrow over last Tuesday's incredibly senseless loss of life. It's also meaningful to me in a personal way, as it was the music my sister chose for the funeral of her infant son some thirty years ago.
I've also listened a number of times to two albums that feature the great jazz bassist Charlie Haden. One is "Beyond the Missouri Sky," a collection of shimmering, ethereal guitar-and-bass duets by Haden and Pat Metheny. The second is "Steal Away," a beautifully soulful album that consists of a number of spirituals, hymns, and folk songs as played by Haden and jazz/gospel pianist Hank Jones.
On Friday evening I drove my daughter and her 8th-grade buddies to a dance. On the way there a local radio station played Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," and I cranked up the volume quite a bit. I think Coco and her friends probably rolled their eyes a bit at her old man's antics. They didn't see the tears I was blinking back as we drove by all those who were lighting candles along the streets of Seattle.
The radio then played "America" by Simon and Garfunkel, followed by Simon's "American Tune." Although written in the early 1970s, many of the song's lyrics were eerily meaningful:
I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
But it's alright, it's alright
For we've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it I wonder what's gone wrong
Oh we come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sails the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hour
And sing an American Tune
But it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
We can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying, is to get some rest
As far as my own music-making goes, I've been playing a 12-bar blues-based medley of "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful."
And today I'm reminded of a song written more than thirty years ago by the Canadian/Native American songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie, called "Universal Soldier:"
He's five foot two--and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen
Been a soldier for a thousand years
He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jane
A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
And he know he shouldn't kill, and he knows he always will
Killing for me, my friend, and me for you
And he's fighting for democracy--he's fighting for the Reds
He says it's for the peace of all
He's the one who must decide who's to live and who's to die
And he never sees the writing on the wall
A thousand thanks to the Blue Ear community for all the heartfelt and thoughtful commentary over the last week.