Singer-songwriter Paul Simon, a native New Yorker, gave a moving acoustic performance of his signature song, “The Sound of Silence” Sunday morning at 10:40 a.m. “The vision that was planted in my brain still remains,” Simon sang in front of thousands who gathered for the 10th annual memorial service at the World Trade Center site. “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.”
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This is not the first time the 13-time Grammy winner has performed at a 9/11 ceremony: Simon sang “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on a multinetwork broadcast memorial ten days after the terrorist attacks occurred in 2001. Simon has said that most of his 2006 collaborate album with Brian Eno, Surprise, was inspired by September 11 and the Iraq invasion and war that followed.
Earlier in the morning, cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed Sarabande from Bach’s First Suite for Cello Solo. (Listen to the recording on NPR.) James Taylor also sang “You Can Close Your Eyes.”
