Bowie’s performance of “America” at the Concert for New York City, 2001

I have been thinking about writing a long, largely political post about the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, which brought down the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and and led passengers aboard another plane to fight back against the hijackers, preventing the plane from being used as a weapon, before it crashed in Pennsylvania. I’ve been thinking about writing such a post for a while, but now the time has arrived, and I haven’t pulled the words together, so, given that this is a Bowie blog, I am simply sharing his performance of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America” at the Concert for New York City, held to raise funds and provide moral support in the weeks after the attack.

Bowie lived in Manhattan, uncomfortably close to the site of the attacks. My sister worked there and saw, with her own eyes, the second plane hit the tower. I was in Buffalo at the time and heard about the first plane while driving to work. I imagined what I was hearing about was a small airplane that lost control or was piloted by someone who lost control. Shortly after arriving at work, it had become clear that something much worse was happening. My boss closed the office and sent us all home that day.

What I was going to write had to do with how much of what bad has happened since 9/11 was either a direct or indirect consequence of 9/11. It was not the singular cause of the current chaotic and dangerous state of the world today, but it surely was a massive contributor. I strongly suspect that others will write about this, and almost certainly many of them will do a better job than I would have done.

So, for now, I leave you with this beautiful performance by David Bowie, singing amazing resonant words by Simon and Garfunkel:

“I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why”