Remembering September 11th twice
Sep. 11th, 2007 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojFunny the things that reach out and grab you when you don't expect them. I was looking through videos and found two by Sting that relate to September 11.
The first is a webcast that he did on September 11, 2001, on the day that he was supposed to do a full concert but ended up performing only one song, as a tribute to the victims. It begins with:
We are performing the song "Fragile" as a prayer and as a mark of respect for those people who have died or are suffering as a result of this morning's tragedy. We are shutting down the webcast following this song.
Fragile
If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are
Link to YouTube
The second video is "They Dance Alone (Cueca Sola)," a song about the women who danced with pictures of their dead or missing fathers, brothers, husbands and sons as a form of silent protest against the government of Augusto Pinochet, who came into power in the military coup of September 11, 1973.
They Dance Alone
Why are there women here dancing on their own?
Why is there this sadness in their eyes?
Why are the soldiers here
Their faces fixed like stone?
I can't see what it is that they despise
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone
It's the only form of protest they're allowed
I've seen their silent faces scream so loud
If they were to speak these words they'd go missing too
Another woman on a torture table what else can they do
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance
Ellas danzan con los desaparecidos
Ellas danzan con los muertos
Ellas danzan con amores invisibles
Ellas danzan con silenciosa angustia
Danzan con sus pardres
Danzan con sus hijos
Danzan con sus esposos
Ellas danzan solas
Danzan solas
Hey Mr. Pinochet
You've sown a bitter crop
It's foreign money that supports you
One day the money's going to stop
No wages for your torturers
No budget for your guns
Can you think of your own mother
Dancin' with her invisible son
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone
Link to YouTube
The two events are inextricably linked in my mind, and not just because they happened on the same date. Every September 11 I'm reminded not just of the events of the day, but of a cartoon that appeared in a French newspaper in 2003 and was discussed on a board I was part of at the time. It showed an airplane crashing into a building, but the building was labelled "Chile," the airplane was "America," and the date was September 11, 1973. The implication being that America's involvement in the coup of 1973 was related in some way to what happened in 2001. The discussion that came out over the cartoon was frustrating, appalling, infuriating, nauseating - and also uplifting and reassuring. There was outrage, hatred, intolerance, and callousness, but there was also hurt, compassion, understanding, and willingness to hear and learn from one other.
I try to keep in mind the positive parts. It's not always easy.
The first is a webcast that he did on September 11, 2001, on the day that he was supposed to do a full concert but ended up performing only one song, as a tribute to the victims. It begins with:
We are performing the song "Fragile" as a prayer and as a mark of respect for those people who have died or are suffering as a result of this morning's tragedy. We are shutting down the webcast following this song.
If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are
Link to YouTube
The second video is "They Dance Alone (Cueca Sola)," a song about the women who danced with pictures of their dead or missing fathers, brothers, husbands and sons as a form of silent protest against the government of Augusto Pinochet, who came into power in the military coup of September 11, 1973.
Why are there women here dancing on their own?
Why is there this sadness in their eyes?
Why are the soldiers here
Their faces fixed like stone?
I can't see what it is that they despise
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone
It's the only form of protest they're allowed
I've seen their silent faces scream so loud
If they were to speak these words they'd go missing too
Another woman on a torture table what else can they do
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance
One day we'll dance on their graves
One day we'll sing our freedom
One day we'll laugh in our joy
And we'll dance
Ellas danzan con los desaparecidos
Ellas danzan con los muertos
Ellas danzan con amores invisibles
Ellas danzan con silenciosa angustia
Danzan con sus pardres
Danzan con sus hijos
Danzan con sus esposos
Ellas danzan solas
Danzan solas
Hey Mr. Pinochet
You've sown a bitter crop
It's foreign money that supports you
One day the money's going to stop
No wages for your torturers
No budget for your guns
Can you think of your own mother
Dancin' with her invisible son
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
Their anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone
Link to YouTube
The two events are inextricably linked in my mind, and not just because they happened on the same date. Every September 11 I'm reminded not just of the events of the day, but of a cartoon that appeared in a French newspaper in 2003 and was discussed on a board I was part of at the time. It showed an airplane crashing into a building, but the building was labelled "Chile," the airplane was "America," and the date was September 11, 1973. The implication being that America's involvement in the coup of 1973 was related in some way to what happened in 2001. The discussion that came out over the cartoon was frustrating, appalling, infuriating, nauseating - and also uplifting and reassuring. There was outrage, hatred, intolerance, and callousness, but there was also hurt, compassion, understanding, and willingness to hear and learn from one other.
I try to keep in mind the positive parts. It's not always easy.
