“My City Of Ruins” by Bruce Springsteen

"My City of Ruins" closes The Rising, Bruce Springsteen's 2002 album, but it was born before the towers fell. He wrote it as a lament for Asbury Park, New Jersey, a hymn-like plea for a broken town to pick itself up, and first sang it at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in December 2000. The tune borrows its melodic frame from Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready".

Then September 11 turned it into something bigger, a song of hope and rebirth for a whole country, and Springsteen played it on the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon 10 days after the attacks. On record, Brendan O'Brien produced and mixed it, Soozie Tyrell adds violin and backing vocals, and Jane Scarpantoni's cello deepens the ache. A New Zealand single release in 2011 took it to number 17.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.