Ten years ago today, I had just boarded a morning flight in Baltimore when I heard the first report of a plane flying into the World Trade Center. Like so many others that day and in the days that followed, that flight never did take off, as air traffic was grounded – first on the East Coast and then throughout the entire U.S. – in the wake of the horrific attacks on our nation and liberty.
It’s surprising really that there haven’t been more blues songs written around the topic of 9/11 over the years, but here are the lyrics from one – an acoustic number from Louisiana Red – I thought worth sharing on the anniversary of this heinous act. Now, as much as then, may God bless America!
“Well, it was a gloomy day,
sun was shining bright in the sky.
Everybody doin’ their work and goin’ about their business,
then, by and by, hell came from up high.
Two airplanes hit the World Trade Center,
and the World Trade Center come tumblin’ down.
People runnin’ and cryin’ – I thought it was a movie film.
Looked down at the bottom of my TV set, it was CNN news then.
Lord, it was a terrible day
when the World Trade Centers start comin’ down.
Well, people was dyin’,
whoa, Lord, and people poured way from that town.
You know, two airplanes hit the building,
I thought it was a dream.
People runnin’ and cryin’ for their lives,
worse I ever seen.
September 11, when hell came right down from the sky.
Whoa, that’s when the – dreadful time in the U.S.A. –
World Trade Centers come tumblin’ down,
Lord, have mercy.”
– “September 11th Blues”, Iverson Minter (a.k.a. Louisiana Red)