'We never will forget' - Disaster in American folksong from the nineteenth century to September 11, 2001

Folksongs commemorating disasters at sea, on the battlefield, and at the hands of nature have a long tradition. Songs in the genre share elements of content, including a tabloid-like recounting of the details of the events and the suffering of both victims and survivors, and serve a common function in helping the local community heal and reestablish its regular patterns of life. Satellite television and the Internet have now created global communities for large-scale disasters like terrorist attacks. Today's songwriters are inspired to compose new disaster songs that are well within the tradition yet reach out to the wider national and even international community as it mourns its losses.