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'Remember, They're With Us'
A New Song to an Old Tune Fetes, Mourns, the FDNY's Fallen
By Lorcan Otway
New York, Oct. 10 -- I write songs for the same reason I went into law, for social change. Social change is based on awareness, and generally the songs I have written have been about conflict and human rights.
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The shoulder patch of Engine 33, Ladder 9, FDNY. |
However, in the world's many nations, with all our human frailties, there must also be recognition that people do great things that cause us to stand in awe.
I have never taken firefighters for granted. I have seen them do heroic things since I was a child. My song "Remember They're With Us" (sung to the tune of "The Bold Robert Emmet") is about more than the heroism we all witnessed in New York a month ago, it is about men and women who have faced hell for us from the dawn of civil history.
On September 18th, seven days after this grievous loss of life, I thought I might do something to raise the spirits of our local firefighters. Engine 33, Ladder 9, on Great Jones Street had lost 10 out of the 40 members of their company. I took my uilleann pipes, and a friend Artie took his fiddle, and we went over to the firehouse, late at night, to play a few jigs and hornpipes.
| CELEBRATE THE HEROES Saturday, Oct. 20, 9 p.m., $10 admission, no minimum. A benefit concert for the families of firefighters from Engine 33/Ladder 9. Featuring Joel Landy, host of TV's "Songs of Freedom Show," Lorcan Otway, and surprise guests. 22 Below Cabaret, 155 East 22nd St., Manhattan. Info: http://joellandy.tripod.com.
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As I played, I looked at the row of bunker suits covered with gray ash, and thought of the ash covered fire engines and other emergency vehicles I saw over the past weeks, some driving with the windshields smashed out, and all the people they represented, who ran into the greatest peril imaginable, if not into a reasonable certainty of death. I was nearly embarrassed by the thanks from the firefighters, after all, all the thanks in the world is owed them.
The next morning I began to write a song. Many of the stories first reported were about the Fire Department Brass that were lost. All of them deserved to be remembered, but in the over 300 who were lost, there were probies and rank-and-file firefighters. After acknowledging those reported on, because they were known before, Father Mike, Tim Stackpole, Chiefs Downey, Ganci and Feehan, I though of all those bunker suits. I went over to the firehouse, and copied down the names of those 10 men who were lost. I mentioned them in the song to represent the other hundreds who were killed in much the same way the song acknowledges the 300 firefighters lost in the several hundred year history of the FDNY before September 11.
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Photo by Larry Otway
Near Ground Zero: destruction, sorrow and defiance mix. |
When I brought the song to the firehouse, the firefighters told me about the men who died. They began with the nicknames, "Four Dings," "Tugboat," "Guru," etc. They told me about the little things the guys did, one who carried dog bones in his pocket for every dog he met. They told me about the practical jokes they all played on each other. It reminded me of what was said at the memorial, that over 300 firefighters did not die, but one firefighter died over 300 times.
They also told me of what it was like for them in the World Trade Center as they did their job. One told me that the building was bucking so much that file cabinets where falling over and fluorescent lights were falling from the ceilings. In spite of that proof of danger, in spite of working dozens of stories high, they stood their ground fighting the enemy, not some foreign foe, but fire. They all strove to save lives until ordered to leave the building. For many, that call to leave came too late.
I have to admit, that I always watch a fire engine pass, with a prayer of hope for its crew, but now, I can't keep walking. I have to stop and watch as they pass, a knot in my throat, and wonder at the courage and dedication.
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Photo by Larry Otway
A group of exhausted New York police officers take a break from the grim reality of the disaster. |
It is too easy to say they are made of better stuff than we. In fact they are made of the same stuff. They love their families, and worry about what the loss of a parent, of a spouse would mean. They love their lives and fear death. But, they place those very human concerns aside so that others can pass through danger to go home to their families. My hope for the song is that anyone who hears it, will never forget to stop and often say thank you to these heroes.
I am hoping that I might put together assorted donated services to make a large number of CDs of the song available to the NYFD to use to raise money for the families of fallen firefighters.
Realizing that each lost firefighter leaves bereft family, friends and comrades, I can only beg everyone who hears the song, or reads this, to go and give to the FDNY's fund for their survivors, but more, to never take these folks for granted, ever, ever again.
I would like to express my thanks to everyone, in or out of uniform, who ran forward to offer aid in the face of danger.
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Lorcan "Larry" Otway is the founding member of the band Sorcha Dorcha. An activist and musician, he has had a varied career, from law to political science to boat building, in Ireland and the United States. Lorcan plays a number of instruments, including the uilleann pipes, and writes contemporary ballads, often on societal inequities. You can e-mail him at InOBU@aol.com.
(Read the words to Larry's song, "Remember They're With Us," here.) |
INFORMATION ON THE FDNY:
The Official Web site of the Fire Department of New York If you reside in metro New York, please consider attending any of the remaining funeral services for the city's firefighters. There are so many (43 confirmed dead, 300 missing) that even their own brother firefighters are finding it impossible to attend all of them.
Unofficial website of the FDNY
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