Basically after sept 11th i found that i couldn't even put any music on to play for myself. It wasnt until something like a week later that i finally decided to turn the tv and radio news off and drew breath...
... what music could i play that would mean something any more?

I just couldn't play any of the strident funky agiprop tunes that I have collected though my youth, as with all the nerve endings exposed i'd go A1 cardiac before the first four bars had finished. I needed some form of "Aural balm for the soul".

I chose Bjork's Love Is all Around.

So my request of you is just mail me back and let me know what was the first tune you managed to play or have you even managed that yet?

Dont know what i would do with the list of songs but i like the idea of some kind of "organic compilation of laying on of hands" Perhaps burn a cd... perhaps make a list on the site, and if i get time i might add a form so you can pump them straight in. But for now i hand the thought over to you to do with it as you will.

Blessings and a tip of the imaginary hat,
~Rahid.

From: Kathryn G. [Seattle]

For me, it was Opera. In particular, the Flower Duet from Lakme (otherwise known as the British Airways theme...no correlation whatsoever). I find it ethereal in its beauty. I'm not an opera buff at all, I just have one "opera's greatest hits" kind of CD that I absolutely love. I hadn't thought about it at the time, but I think I wanted to hear this aria because it helped remind me of the beauty mankind is capable of creating --- a much needed contrast to what I'd been inundated with by the news.

From: ~LaDea~ [dc - stuff *]

Drive
Kryptonite
Drops of Jupiter

From: Shelly S. [dc - stuff]

i think this is very cool.

i too couldn't bear to listen to my own music - as for the past few months i've been in a daze of electronic and dance tunes to keep myself up and studying at nite. :)

the first song i found myself playing was mazzy star's "fade into you." it was special to me, because it was special to my memory of my first love, best friend and exboyfriend, all in one, who i feared for hours was working in the wtc on the top floors of a company that lost nearly all of its employees. i didn't realize that his consulting assignment had been moved to another company that was near by a few short weeks before, after a year and half there, but thankfully not in the wtc.

dutifully, though we realize there so much political, national, propaganda and insane bullshit that's caused everything to happen on all sides of the issue, my friends and i a week after, when we could finally clear our thoughts a bit and try to discuss what happened over a few drinks at a local bar, played imagine, over and over again on the jukebox. cheesy, lame, whatever - but that's what we wanted. one of my friends in minneapolis, the night of, got the entire bar to stand up and sing the song with him in a drunken stupor. :)

just a note - i know this isn't on the list - it's interesting in times square in nyc, i noticed the billboards - someone(s) bought a couple, and have quotes from 'imagine' on them - it was ironic to see in the city that suffered so much (when i went to see my friends this weekend and the bjork show - fabulous!) - a few short blocks away the number of police dutifully guarding the area....

i've found since then, radiohead's b side release, 'fog' to be a good peaceful song for me...that and a depressing liz phair album are about all i can take right now...

good luck compiling the list - sorry to give u a bit more than the song only. i'm interested to see what you compile.

From: Woodchuck [dc - stuff]

Consider the "Italian Concerto" by J. S. Bach, despite its name, it is a piece for solo harpsichord. It was written by Bach (in his words) "For music lovers, to refresh their spirits". (Bach, like his contemporaries, were conscious believers that music could control emotions.)

If you would like to feel that maybe humanity has some redeeming characteristics, I also recommend G. F. Handel's "Concerto for Harp". The beating of angels' wings, full of wit. Exquisite.

For more "martial" music, try Handel's "Xerxes".

> I chose on Bjork's Love Is all Around. (on constant loop for the day)
> After that, duly fortified, i did manage to play Iggy Pop's Girls of NY as
> a kind of prayer for the city.
>
> So my request of you is what it was the FIRST tune you managed to play or
> have you even managed that yet?

Have not played music. I deny myself most music, as a penance. I can no longer play it and have no stereo, save for a wretched tape thing.

What I would like to lay paw on is some oudh+voice+drum stuff. I've heard a few pieces from Bahrein that are stunning. The oudh rules, but the lute reigns.

From: oh thou cynic [dc-stuff]

If I remember correctly it was either; Nine Inch Nails "Perfect Drug", the last movement of the 1812 Overture, or Garbage's "Milk". I can't remember which was the first tune that I listened to, or the second, or the third, its a fuzzy haze, but it would have been one of those three.

Wasn't a matter of conscious choice, I was so stressed out that I needed to listen to something, so I fired up winamp and just threw in a mixed list of tunes.

That day my running play list were the above three, a few songs from Portished [Portishead], the soundtrack for blade runner and the soundtrack for Fight Club.

I started looking for my Quwwali mp3s [Qawwali] but I found my self to be in no mood to listen to clarified butter fattened mustachios banging on accordions, I also found myself unable to listen to Bach or Wagner, but the 1812 Overture seemed listenable to.

From: Justin L. [Canada]

Reading your e-mail really hit a chord with me. I went through exactly the same withdrawal from music as you did and for about exactly the same length of time. I don't know about you but I listen to music all the time; at home, at work, in the car, on my walkman etc. and was pretty freaked out when I had no interest in it in the days after September 11. When I finally got around to listening again I went for Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On". I don't think it was an entirely deliberate choice, it's just that I've always found comfort in his music, or more specifically his voice, and probably because the title seemed to encapsulate what the world appeared to be asking. So that's my contribution. I hope you get a lot of responses to this as it would make for a very interesting compilation I'm sure.

From: Mind Booster [nagnagnag list *]

Suicide is Painless - Marilyn Manson
I'll explain my choice...
The song says that if you're inducted to suicide, it will not cost you. As talibans did. I can't blame those 6 year old kids to shoot and die. They don't have fault. They grow learning (brain wash?) that suicide is painless. Suicide is the reason why they boarn. Just it. Truth is painfull... Suicide is painless.

From: Cometman [dc -stuff list]

John Fahey (http://imusic.artistdirect.com/showcase/contemporary/johnfahey.html)
Stravinsky "Soldier's Story"
Pharoah Sanders "Karma"

From: Denny [dc-stuff list]

I didn't have trouble listening to anything, but my chick found a floyd song that seemed to make us feel better. Then we tried to explain why we thought Pink Floyd has the vibe that it does (unique), and it was fun. Tempers almost flared tho... that wasn't. Communication can be so tricky sometimes.

Especially with some chicks. (;

Ahhh life. Ain't it grand?

From: "ßobÇat" [dc-stuff list]

Goodbye Blue Sky - The Wall - Pink Floyd

From: Alistair A. [England]

Funny you should say that. I used to have music non-stop but have been finding it very difficult to play anything at all and didn't really understand why. All Tomorrow's Parties (Japan version) was the probably my first tune.

From: Lisa [England]

I think i put on Stevie Wonder 'Don't you worry bout a thing'.
Not for any ironic or defensive (against any perceived threat) strategy, but purely because the song takes me to another place and there are some lines in it which always make the mundane and ordinary quite extraordinary. Felt it appropriate after thoroughly immersing myself in news....