01 The Story
It was written on a grounded plane.
In the days after September 11, 2001, Nat J Holt was in the air over Lake Michigan when the order came down and her flight was put on the ground. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do but sit with what had happened.
What came out was not a statement and not an argument. It was an anthem — the only thing a songwriter knows how to do when there is nothing else to be done.
For years afterward she wondered whether a song written in that moment would still mean anything to anyone. She has settled the question. It means more now than it did then — because the walls we have built since are of our own making, and they can just as easily come down.
It is a song about peace. About what holds when very little else does — and about anyone who has needed somewhere to put the grief.
So she wrote.
- Written
- September 2001, on a grounded flight
- Recorded
- Live, with a full string orchestra
- Subject
- Freedom, faith, and family
