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I’ve always been skeptical of the observance of anniversaries of tragic events that occurred within living memory. The horror always seems hollowed out, replaced with (usually) patriotic platitudes. But I will admit that on the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, even I am moved to remember the awfulness of that day, the fear and grief and uncertainty of what would happen next… and the awfulness, fear, grief, and unfortunate certainty of everything that did come next.
I’ve also always been skeptical of topical songs that tackle the immediate issues of the day. It’s very easy to fall into knee-jerk cliches when writing from pure emotion, and my songwriting process is usually quite slow and deliberate, editing and tweaking every line a dozen times before I’ll show the lyrics to even my most trusted collaborators. None of that was in my mind on September 12th, 2001, when I sat down with my Tascam 4-track, in my high rise apartment overlooking an eerily abandoned Chicago Loop, and recorded two wordless, purely improvised instrumental tracks on my National Resonator guitar in the space of about 15 minutes.
I released this recording years ago on my Bandcamp page, but thought that today might be the day to share it with the wider world. “Never forget” is a knee-jerk cliche. “Remember your past” seems like something we all need to be reminded of, over and over and over.