A few days after 9/11, I went to see The Clarks at bar called the Crowbar in Penn State. At one point, the band played America the Beautiful in honor of those who’d lost their lives.
Now the Crow Bar is gone, and that particular version of America the Beautiful is gone, lost to the moment in a pre-smartphone world. I can’t add it to this Ultimate Playlist, but I remember standing in the Crowbar with tears streaming down my face. It’s hard to remember how uncertain those times felt. We didn’t know then that there wouldn’t be another full scale terrorist attack. We just knew we had each other.
After they played America the Beautiful, they played Penny On The Floor, which was always my favorite Clarks song. Now it takes on a whole new resonance. Now when I hear Penny On The Floor, I hear America the Beautiful, and I am once again in that bar, in that moment, on that day.