p.m. eastern and then at 9:00 p.m. eastern. homeland security secretary john kelly will be here tomorrow. cnn's original series "soundtracks, music that defined history" starts now. i have no idea what's going on but our world will never be the same. >> i put a fireman's helmet on the piano. i might have just lost it. >> didn't matter what color you wore, what religion, you were all the same that day. >> the music that came out of 9/11 is bifurcated as the politics as the country were. aerica strikes back. now sing. ♪

>> it's the music that carries our history, that carries emotion. it's the music that transports us back. >> tear down this wall! >> this is how we remember history. this is how we put it into context. >> to look at history through the lens of music is a powerful way to see the world. >> 8:40 on this tuesday, september 11th. >> plenty of sunshine today. lower hidity than recently.

up to 78 with sunshine. >> we all had a fantastic week. suddenly this news came into the thing that planes had crashed into the twin towers and it just seemed so unlikely. >> crashed into one of the towers. >> two planes, one hitting each of the twin towers at the world trade center. >> and then we looked at the tv and there was this madness, like our world had suddenly just gone crazy. your most apocalyptic nightmare had come to pass, you know? >> oh, no! >> on 9/11, sting is performing a show in italy. >> the world has changed in the last two hours. >> there's a question about whether he should continue to go on, whether it's appropriate to

play a concert on an evening like this. he and his band make a decision to come out and perform "fragile". ♪ your blood will flow ♪ flesh and steel ♪ drying in the cold of the evening sun ♪ ♪ tomorrow's rain washes the day away ♪ >> in some ways, that was a perfect song to sing where the sentimental aspect of it rubs against the power of that lyric to talk about violence and the fragility of human life. ♪ on and on the rain will fall >> when you have this kind of

emotional earthqua, this kind of hammer tohe heart, if you're a professional, you have to suppress that. you have to push all of that down, out of you. >> four u.s. commercial airliners were hijacked. two crashed into new york city and sent the giant twin towers filled with workers crumbling to the ground. >> people who followed national security weren't all that surprised there had been an attack on american soil. >> did you have any inkling at all in any way that something of this nature and something of this scope might be planned? >> charlie, we don't discuss intelligence. >> people knew that such a thing might be possible. >> there are, quote, good indications that people with links to the osama bin laden organization -- >> -- but it's different to have intellectual awareness and see lower manhattan in flames. >> i was blown down the street

by the impact of the building. i was blown underneath a truck, one of the fire apparatus and that was it. you know, i was a single dad. i was raising a daughter. so i was so angry because i said i just got myself killed. about two hours later, i was found by a firefighter. i started to panic and crawl my way out of it. we didn't know where we were. >> then we went back up to the firehouse and it was then that i discovered that, you know, firefighters and officers from my own firehouse were missing. >> a lot of us, it just entered the imagination as a film before we came to terms with what it was in reality. i think it wasn't until i passed the firehouse in my neighborhood and saw the wreaths people were already laying flowers, that i realized the human scale of

this. ♪ ♪ making this way through this darkness can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me ♪ >> i was trying to describe the most powerful images of the 11th, some of the people coming down talked about the emergency workers who were ascending. that image to me was just what -- was an image i just felt left with. ♪ come on up for the horizon come up and lay your hands in mine ♪ ♪ come up for the horizon come up for the horizon tonight ♪ >> those guys going up the stairs, up the stairs, ascending, ascending. ♪ bells ringing filled the air >> people forget, people are brave. people are brave.

♪ wheels of fire i come roaring down here ♪ >> somebody has to put this into words of emotion for everyone to feel. we all felt the earth move and that compelled him to write such an amazing song. >> that's a very beautiful album. that's a living eulogy. >> but what he did was exceptional. an artist of his caliber to dedicate an entire album to supporting the country and, you know, to rise up from what they did to us, you know, that's important. ♪ spirits above and behind me faces gone black eyes burning bright ♪ ♪ may the precious blood bind me ♪ >> uplift a hard-fought realism type of uplift and continually acknowledging those who were absent, not letting us forget

them. >> what you were thinking and the way you were writing was contextualized by a new experience and living in a new world. the world was very different. >> and tonight, lower manhattan, the financial center of the world lies in ruins. >> we were in deep grief and why wouldn't we be but almost 3,000 people killed. >> except for a few sirens, i have never heard new york city this quiet. graveyard quiet. >> at the same time, outrage and a determination to do something. >> make no mistake, the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. >> just looked at my wife and said, i have no idea what's going on but our world will never be the same. ♪ soundtracks, songs that defined history, brought to you by t-mobile.

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the honors for the heroes of september 11th took a musical turn on saturday. headlined by paul mccartney and other artists. >> whether sports teams, musicians, if you were in the entertainment business, everyone was trying to figure out what's the right thing to do. >> we came up with a list of music to help you through the tragedy. we didn't follow anything quite that cliche but that was the idea, you know, that we're going

to give you a play list of soulful songs that will work through your emotions on this. >> thank you new york city! >> i was at madison square garden. the best concert ever in the world. >> we ain't going anywhere. [cheers and applause ] >> we played for an audience largely made up of police and firemen and emergency rescue workers and they needed a boost. ♪ some folks like to get away and take a holiday from the neighborhood ♪ ♪ a flight to miami beach or hollywood ♪ ♪ i'm taking a greyhound on the

hudson river and i'm in a new york state of mind ♪ >> we played "new york state of mind" and we played it very slow. i remember thinking, don't -- don't lose it. i put a fireman's helmet on the piano just to help me concentrate. because if i didn't have that, i might have just lost it. it means a different thing than it used to mean to the audiences. it is kind of an anthem for new york city. i didn't think that when i wrote it. ♪ i'm in a new york state of mind ♪ >> it was just a love song to the city, but it became something else. >> when i was at madison square garden when i was there at the concert for new york, it was just so cool. a happy day in a time when there wasn't a lot of that. there wasn't a lot of happiness. i don't remember the holidays.

i don't remember a lot of things that went on. i mean, that was one of the things that i do remember. it was just an enormous opportunity to at least have a nice time for a few hours and just forget about what was going on 30, 40 blocks down where it was an ongoing nightmare. >> the aftermath of 9/11 for a while, everybody was in it together. >> it was just a time for americans to realize what mattered. it was north, south, east and west. we were all americans for a while there. >> after 9/11, there was a deeply perceived sense of peril that more terrible things might happen and i think faced with a catastrophe of lower manhattan and of the pentagon, people were rallying around the president. there was a sense that we were facing common threat and we're going to fight it together. on the other hand, there were actions taken in the case of

violating civil liberties, ink fringement of rights of muslims in particular. >> one of the ugliest crises is home ground, the surge of hate crimes against muslims and people who are mistaken for them. >> at that time, there was already anti-muslim sentiment. there was already this sort of xenophobia, ideas about revenge. ♪ we are family >> two weeks after 9/11, nile rogers, the great producer and songwriter decided to gather together some of his friends who happened to be super celebrities in the world of music to record his classic song "we are family." ♪ we are family >> there are so many people that came together. everyone from diana ross to patty labelle. the message was, we are more family than ever now. we have to embrace because we are all in this together.

♪ everyone can achieve when we're together ♪ >> three or four of my friends were in the first plane that crashed into the north tower. after that, things started to unravel very quickly. so i started getting phone calls from all around the world. when i rerecorded "we are family," i didn't want it to be like "we are the world" so i got rock stars, sports stars and doctors and triage workers and firefighters and police and -- just everybody who was involved in the effort. >> everyone came together. it didn't matter what color you were. it didn't matter what religion. you were all the samehat day. >> of course, it was the reason that this family became everyone's song and then everyone's global song and it

has no color. tears have no color. at the end of the day, we're all going through this. >> with nile rogers, it was such an intervention because it was celebrating multiculturism and a plurality of voices rather than saying some voices matter and some don't. ♪ ♪ at lincoln financial, we get there are some responsibilities of love

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the '90s seemed to be this extraordinary time because the cold war had ended. >> has the economy changed for good like a marathoner kicking into sprint? the higher the nasdaq climbed, the faster it went. >> the economy seemed to be going well and we had this decade of, whoa, things are good. ♪ out in the country past the city limit sign where there's a honky tonk ♪ >> all of a sudden, it was stadium kind of stuff. the music was around, dancing and going out to clubs and having a good time and -- ♪ where all of the cowboys go and do the boot scoot boogie ♪ >> we ran for a few years and

had guys on stilts and bucket machines and it was full-blown entertainment, a lot of nonsense and a lot of music. it was fun. >> it just seemed like if this is the end of history, this is fun, which all set up for 9/11 to be all the more shocking and awful. >> we have a report now that a large plane crashed this morning in western pennsylvania not too terribly far from pittsburgh. >> as fate would have it, our next show three or four days after 9/11 happened was in pennsylvania and it was only a few miles from where that plane went down. >> very specifically remember calling my manager up and saying i think it's inappropriate for us to go up there with "boot scoot boogie." it doesn't feel right. the manager called back and said, well, tickets are selling like mad. people are coming out so you're going to need to be there. >> but then about an hour before the show went on, it dawned on

me, we were opening our show at that time with "only an american." the first words of the song were "sun coming up over new york city" ♪ sun coming up over new york city ♪ >> before we hit the first note, you could hear a pin drop. and then it was like everybody went haywire. ♪ staring at faces in a rearview mirror ♪ >> that song all of a sudden became sacred ground. the events that transpired defined the music and made it bigger than it was to be. >> brooks & dunn considered conservative, ironically co-written by a democrat in nashville who is not considered a conservative at all. being tossed back and forth like a football between republicans and democrats who wanted to

claim it politically. ♪ one just might be better then ♪ >> it's funny because george w. bush used it for two elections and barack obama used it in his famous speech in denver. >> it's speaking to everyone, you know? it's like an apolitical song. obviously it talks about freedom and having the ability to dream as big as we want to. >> post- 9/11, i think something really interesting happened to country music and the landscape of our country and what people, what americans were gravitating towards. >> a certain type of music who taps into not necessarily the aggressive dna in us but one that we are grateful of where we live and we're grateful tbe americans. >> as a country, as a people, as a society, i think we need to hear music that was familiar.

on the other hand, began to hear songs that reflected that day, which is what alan jackson did with his song. ♪ where were you when the world stopped turning that september day ♪ >> patriotism and country music has gone hand in hand for a long time and certainly after 9/11, musicians were writing songs about their own feelings and things that they were seeing on the news. ♪ rising up against that blue sky ♪ ♪ did you shout out in anger and fear for your neighbor or did you just sit down and cry ♪ >> he's just a singer, a simple song and that song mourns the dead but also appreciates the patriot sichl of the spirit of the american people in the wake of 9/11. ♪ >> it's really a song about

being in shock. alan jackson admits in the song that he doesn't know what to think about all this. he doesn't understand the political situation. that's not an easy thing to write a song about. ♪ look at yourself and what really matters ♪ >> it goes back to country music which is three-quarters of the truth. ♪ real political man i watch cnn but i'm not sure i can tell you the difference in iraq and iran ♪ >> as much as people loved "where were you when the world stopped turning," a lot of people gave him flack for that sentence, "i'm not sure i can tell you the difference between iraq and iran." it's just being honest in a way sometimes only country music is. ♪ where were you when the world

stopped turning on that september day ♪ >> thank you all so much. god bless you. save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances.

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this signature song has come to be an american anthem now, especially in our troubled times. here to sing "god bss the usa," lee greenwood. ♪ if some all the things were gone that i worked for all my life ♪ ♪ and i had to start again just my children and my wife ♪ ♪ i'd thank my lucky stars to be living here today because the flag still stands for freedom ♪ ♪ and they can't take that away ♪ ♪ i'm proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free ♪ ♪ and i won't forget the men who died who gave their life to me ♪ ♪ and i'd gladly stand up >> after the memorials were

done, the firemen's memorial at yankee stadium and policemen memorial at carnegie hall, we need to get back to the american way, whatever that is. so i've been associated with nascar for a long time. >> the pledge of allegiance as well as -- >> 250,000 people live, how many million watch the tv? i don't know. >> 5,000 firefighters from around the country. >> preceding the race, i'm on the track and the cameraman and the director and just the three of us standing on the track. >> the invocation of lee greenwood singing "the national anthem". >> i'm not singing "god bless the usa." the director gives me the stop sign. don't sing yet. wait a minute. wait a minute. >> we interrupt because of breaking news events. >> so the center of the field went to tom brokaw.

>> tom brokaw with the latest. tom? >> he said, america strikes back. >> good afternoon, everyone. it does appear that united states military action against targets in afghanistan, that that action is under way. >> and so the bombs are falling. >> usa! usa! >> now sing. ♪ o say can you see for the dawn's early light and proudly we hailed at the last lights gleaming ♪ >> wow. that was tough. but i didn't make a mistake. it was something i had to deliver and not get choked up, like i am now. ♪ for the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪

>> on my orders, the united states military has begun strikes against al qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the taliban regime in afghanistan. >> for the very first time in my memory, you had something of this enormity that was broadcast live. >> film provided by the pentagon shown on television in primetime. >> we were pretty damn gung-ho at the time of going to war. we just wanted to go fight somebody. >> okay. then to the grave and deep intraspecs, now we're going to be at war. we're going to get these guys. >> when i think of music of 9/11, i think people in rock and roll didn't know if they were pro or anti-war. it's hard to come out with protests if you're on the fence.

and put it into song. >> the music and the artists post 9/11, they are reflective of many of the emotions that we feel and the first one being denial. i think i skipped denial and went right to the -- what's the one where i'm angry? and where's toby keith? that's the one i went to. ♪ american girls and american guys we'll always stand up and salute we'll always recognize ♪ >> once it had fully soaked in that we would not and could not be the same country after 9/11, it emerged i won't say slowly but my recollection is it didn't emerge all that slowly. ♪ my daddy served in the army and lost his right eye ♪ >> a song such as toby keith's "red white and blue," it was a rallying cry. >> and sort of delving into your

patriotic feelings and striking out at the rest of the world. ♪ falling under attack he might have sucker punched coming from somewhere in the back ♪ ♪ as soon as we could see it clearly through our big black eye ♪ ♪ we lit up your world like the fourth of july ♪ >> it really spoke to this visceral thing that was going on in america, like we've got to go find these people. >> there's a long history in country from the depression forward on up to the vietnam war, a lot of gung-ho, go get em songs so it was all there bubbling until 9/11 came and all of a sudden country music was the town hall of music. ♪ brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue ♪ >> it was such a powerful song

but also a polarizing song. it certainly didn't seem to bother toby keith. he's never been one to care about whether his music is polarizing and he's always been one to take a stand. >> i'm not going to lay down and i'm not going to shut up. ♪ justice will be served and the battle will rage ♪ >> whether you want peace, love and country music or kick somebody in the ass, whether you agree with the politics of it, as americans, we all get to exess ourselves. hell yeah. sing it loud. ♪ because we'll put a boot in your ass ♪ >> toby keith wanted to stick a boot up someone's ass. he was angry. he wrote that song and people absolutely loved it. >> since he released at angry american," it's been used as a battle cry for u.s. armed forces in iraq. bombs were branded with it. >> as far as extreme as i sound

like in my field, i'm probably catching the average joe in the middle better than anybody. >> there's no surprise that the country took to it. frankly, i liked it myself. on the other hand, there were elements of cheauvanism and then an adult thinking person, you knew the dangers of that. treat. why did verizon take so long to offer it? is it because their lte network was built six years ago? six years ago? that's like a hundred in phone years. t-mobile built newer, faster, more advanced lte to handle unlimited data. switch to t-mobile, now covering 314 million americans and growing. and right now, get 2 lines of unlimited data for a hundred bucks, all in! taxes and fees included. time's up, insufficient we're on prenatal care.es.

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i think pretty much everyone in the united states was on board with what our military was being asked to do in afghanistan. >> i don't think you saw a house without an american flag. everybody had american flags up. it was a very patriotic time. very emotional. >> but the invasion of iraq, of course, opened up these huge rifts in american society again. >> thousands of americans in minneapolis voiced their anger at the prospect of war. in philadelphia and in seattle. >> and that was reflected somewhat in the artists. >> the hottest and biggest act in country music was the dixie

chicks. they were smoking. they were on fire at that time. ♪ waiting for the life of the traveling soldier ♪ ♪ our love will never end >> the dix ee chicks sold 10 million albums, filling arenas. ♪ soldiers coming home >> they had the number one song in the country with "traveling soldier." >> so the dixie chicks were putting on a concert in london in 2003. >> you sure is not too much? >> the iraq regime continues to possess some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. >> in 2003, there was a u.s. administration that was hell bent ongoing to war in iraq. staying at a hotel in parklane and every single morning you would wake up and there would be another massive demonstration. >> the gravity of this moment is matched by the gravity of the

threat that iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed to the world. >> there's no doubt that sue dam hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. >> we know they have weapons of mass destruction. >> what's the war update? >> they are moving troops but they haven't crossed yet. >> the units are moving into positions at the border. battle ready. >> somebody take a baby? we've got to hit the stage. >> just so you know, we're on the good side with this war. >> natalie made an off-the-cuff remark. >> and we're ashamed the president of the united states is from texas.

>> we want to feel good old-fashion pride and the up roar over the dixie chicks. >> the backlash from natalie's statement was absolutely mind blowing. >> they don't know what they're talking about. >> i think they are the dit ditzy twits. >> these are callous, foolish women who deserve to be slapped around. >> absolutely. >> natalie will be shot dead on sunday, july 6th, in dallas, texas. >> they are always there for the whole time. >> i mean, i know how vulnerable i feel. i can't imagine how natalie feels. standing up there, you feel so naked. so naked. >> scary time. just wrong what happened not only to us but other people that were, you know, shut up or made

to feel threatened. >> i watched intellectuals get censored. anybody who had something to say that wasn't completely orthodox, bill maher, anybody, getting bashed, the president's spokesperson warning people to watch what they say. >> all americans need to watch what they say, watch what they do. >> keep playing, keep making music. >> and keep your mouth shut. >> wrong. >> right? >> the mood of our audience changes, we're not going to play them anymore. it's simply financial suicide. ♪ we're taking the long way >> and then it's time to make another record. ♪ two sisters in a pink rv >> so many people had asked natalie to apologize in the wake of her statements in london. image consultants, they were all saying go apologize, say maybe

you were drinking on stage, you know, trying to come up with every excuse in the book to have her retract her statement and she wouldn't do it. >> what about "fought with a stranger". >> yeah. they wrote "not ready to make nice" simply about the backlash to natalie's statement in london. ♪ i know you say can't you just get over it ♪ ♪ it turned my whole world around and i kind of like it ♪ >> i tell you what, i have never seen someone not back down like natalie did not back down. ♪ no regrets and i don't mind saying ♪ ♪ how in the world can it send

somebody over the edge ♪ ♪ writing letters that the life will be over ♪ >> the thing that's so amazing about that song is the audience. ♪ i'm not ready to make nice >> 20,000 people singing that song at the top of their lungs, you feel it. you feel the emotion. i've worked with a lot of big artists over the years but that song is one of the most powerful songs ever. ♪ i'm not ready to make nice i'm not ready to back down ♪ ♪ i don't have time to go around and round ♪ ♪ you have to make it right

♪ ohh >> the music that came out is as bifurcated as the music was, that's the message of the era, that we weren't unified. ♪ okay ♪ sounds good ♪ not sure i could ♪ they say time heals everything ♪ ♪ but i'm still waiting ♪ ♪

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most of the guys had catholic funerals. they would play here i am lord. and very often the soloist would sing on eagles wings. and those two songs for years afterwards i would start crying

uncontrollably. it's really hard to explain to people how all these many years later music can upset you so much. we don't want to forget. we don't want to forget. so i don't avoid them. but they upset me. ♪ >> i think that the songs that are connected to september 11th now yes there's comfort about connecting it to it, an emotion that maybe i can't communicate still but it's actually really painful. ♪ hello darkness my old friend ♪ i've come to talk with you again ♪ ♪

>> i watched it this morning at home and cried. ♪ and the vision planted in my brain still remain ♪ ♪ >> i was crying for the people in the audience, thinking they lost somebody. they tried to save somebody. ♪ in restless dreams i walked alone ♪ ♪ narrow streets of cobblestone ♪ ♪ >> i decided to sing "the sound of silence" and it was a tough one because i was singing it in front of the families of the people who had died. it was very emotional. i had to look away when i thought it would get too emotional for me to continue singing. ♪ the sound of silence

♪ >> the sound of silence wasn't written with anything like 9/11 possibly in my imagination. i was only 21 years old when i wrote it. you try to do anything you can in these times where you can't do anything, really. except you give people an opportunity to find solice. ♪ people writing songs that voices ♪ ♪ never share ♪ and no one dared ♪ disturb the sound of silence ♪ >> we were left with a gaping hole in lower manhattan and that we could at least make plans to try to address with a new building. we were also left with a gaping wound in our own national psyche. unity has been replaced but a

deep polarization about what the policies are that will actually make us as a people safer. so in the longun turns out that physical scars in the ground are a lot easier to heal than those emotional ones that we all carry with us. ♪ >> i think after 9/11 it was sort of difficult to feel really positive about america because we were so internally divided as a country. it was 2009 jay z and alicia keys released "empire state of mind" it was a unifying moment. there's this idea that you have to be proud of your roots. it was about new york. jay z was talking about his life, where he grew up. there's something about the song that feels much bigger than the song it is.

that's what an anthem is. >> anthem really echoes the emotion of the people that speaks it in music form for them. it says everything in a phrase. ♪ ♪ statue of liberty ♪ long live ♪ new york ♪ >> the music will always remind us. ♪ new york, new york ♪ new york ♪ >> i don't know if music can change the world but it certainly gives us a real powerful spirit while we're doing our best to do so. ♪ these streets will make you

feel brand new ♪ ♪ these lights will inspire you. >> music is a great, elosion expressionf humanity and it will always benfluential. [ cheers and applause ] this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news, are we on a verge of a major, major conflict with north korea that's what the president says. i'm is don lemon. that plus a new russian investigation. michael flynn is the target. i want to begin with breaking news on north korea. joining me now cnn chief national correspondent and reuters white correspondent who reported this story. jeff i'm going to start with you.