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Harvey Reid's 2001 Newsletter Essay: "A Musician Looks at Sept 11"
I have been asked regularly about whether or not the events of September 11
have inspired me to write new music, and I have heard several interviews of
other artists where they were asked the same question. My immediate impulse
for a reply has been "Well, no, it's too soon," or "How could
a song I write have any bearing on an issue that large?" (It is Nov. 12
as I write this...) A guitar piece or a love song seem like pretty small things
when put alongside the enormity of what happened. Like writing a song about
World War II. People might be able to write songs like that 30 years from now.
If we address the issue at all, we now have to be gentler now, and use allusions
and metaphors and oblique references to the darkness, while the wounds are so
fresh.
I suspect that people ask me about the relation between the disaster and my
art because they are hoping I will have some relief for them. Art can be a powerful
escape, and a reminder that humans create beauty as well as destruction. The
world can be lovely, and it can be an awful place. If you were to put all the
evils and sins of the human race on one side of a scale, what could you could
put on the other side to counterbalace the staggering weight? I suggest humankind's
works of art. All the poetry, dance, painting, cuisine, music, sculpture, needlepoint,
woodworking, pottery and everything else we have created, taken as a group,
makes a pretty powerful statement of redemption for the sins of our species.
To imagine a world without art and culture is a chilling thought. I recall a
quote that said that culture is what makes your country worth defending. Without
all of our cultural practices, foods and clothing and languages, we would not
be much more than animals squatting in mud huts.
Most of my life I have felt slightly guilty, that as a musician I was "playing"
while other people were working. Artists typically do not command the work-ethic
respect that other professions do, but in this world as a whole and in the aftermath
of tragedies, we musicians and artists in general have important work to do.
While the ship is sinking, people need lifeboats and warm clothing, and when
there is an earthquake we need fire and rescue and medical people, not music.
But once everyone is in the lifeboat, and time begins to pass, the need for
art appears quickly. We artists do not usually work in the first wave of recovery as first responders,
but once the victims are given first aid, medicine, blankets and food, and life-threatening
situations are dealt with, then people quickly start to need human and artistic
care. Our society tends to send grief counselors and psychologists to help victims
cope, but I suspect that songs and other works of art are as powerful and useful.
As an artist I tend to think they are even more useful, though the results cannot
be measured or billed by the hour.
I had a gig on Sept 15, and I was worried that it might be difficult. I ended
up having a profound experience, and felt very useful in taking people's thoughts
away from the tragedy, and reminding them that there is beauty in the world.
I found great relief and meaning playing lovely and intricate instrumental pieces,
and especially in singing old ballads about soldiers and sailors and their loved
ones at home. I was very glad at that time I was not a comedian, and was glad
to regain some ground lost to the comedians over the last few years. (They do
much shorter shows, don't haul equipment or tune instruments, and make better
money than musicians, and have been gaining popularity, especially during the
booming economic times.)
So don't expect a 3 minute song any time soon that will encapsulate all our
feelings about the Sept. 11 tragedy and its aftermath. Maybe Woody Guthrie could
write one if he were still alive. Instead, let us all look deeper into the art
and culture of our countries and our people, and look harder at the books and
music that was created during difficult times in the past. We songwriters always
write songs when our relationships break up; when the well runs dry. And artists
throughout history have expressed their feelings and sorrows in all sorts of
ways, and now that our American bubble of safety, prosperity and economic growth has
burst somewhat and we are experiencing some of what most of humanity has always
lived with, we can all find important new meaning and comfort in art. Perhaps
a good book or a powerful music performance will soothe us more than a trip
to the mall. We are not that different emotionally and physically from even
our most distant ancestors, and perhaps we all need to make some cave paintings
now to take us away from the harsh reality around us.
Go Back to Page 1 of Harvey Reid's 2001-2002 Newsletter
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