Song of the Week: A Time For Tears

This song was written in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  I wrote a long word/poem/song the afternoon of the attacks (I’ll have to post that soon…). As the intinal shock of what happened wore off, the question of how we, as a country would respond.  As a pacifist, I hoped that we could find a peaceful solution for justice to be served, but the realist in me knew that a military response would occur.  The United States had a world of goodwill and sympathy for our losses.  Everyone was behind us. It was a chance to be a true compassionate example- to respond with peace, not hate and vengeance.  That chance was squandered in the coming years and wars.  Our place in world dropped since. Many more deaths would come.  A Time for Tears…
I finished the song and performed it at benefits honoring the 9/11 victims and leading up to the Iraq war. I recorded it at Brian Preston’s studio in January 2002 with Mark Reinhart and Brian P. helping out.  I really love Brian’s piano playing on the track.   It was the b-side of the Closure CD single. and was the second song on the “Late Bloomer” CD in 2003.  I still play it at all my shows, it has become to me a reminder of a  moment frozen in time when we had the choice to rise above oue baser insticts and move the world forward.  Maybe we will choose right the next time…