Need help on a piece of mystery music

June 2, 2007 12:33 PM

Within a year of 9-11, I heard a song on the radio that I'm trying to track down. It was a male singer, and the refrain went something like, "they were going up while we were going down" (referring to the firemen). Does anyone have any idea who recorded it and what the song title is?
posted by tamjl to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Maybe its Alan Jackson's song, Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?
posted by blaneyphoto at 12:46 PM on June 2, 2007

How about http://www.fiveforfighting.com/ - specifically Superman?
posted by thehickmans at 2:22 PM on June 2, 2007

At first I thought of Bruce Springsteen's 9-11 album, "The Rising," specifically "Into the Fire."

But the closest lyrics to what you describe is "Up the stairs, into the fire / I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher / Somewhere up the stairs, into the fire."

Christine Lavin has a song, "The Firehouse," but again, different lyrics. The closest she comes is:

"Too hard to think this was the end
for young men charging up the stairs
as hell came rolling down
though logic wasn't on our side
we thought they'd all be found."
posted by GaelFC at 2:32 PM on June 2, 2007

I don't know the writer, but I heard it performed a few years ago on The Prairie Home Companion, I think by Garrison Keillor himself.
posted by LarryC at 3:09 PM on June 2, 2007

Best answer: Perhaps it is "The Bravest" by Tom Paxton. The chorus

Now every time I try to sleep
I'm haunted by the sound
Of firemen pounding up the stairs
While we were running down

download it from his site.
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 3:15 PM on June 2, 2007

Yes, Tom Paxton. We heard him perform it in concert earlier this year.
posted by Joleta at 8:59 PM on June 2, 2007

Response by poster: LarryC, yes, it was Prairie Home Companion I heard it on too! I tried asking them but never got a reply and multiple searches on their site yielded nothing.

And Mr Stickfigure, I think you nailed it...those sound like the lyrics exactly and I'm heading to Paxton's site now...and the voice I recall was very Paxton-y, so I bet that's it.

Thanks everyone!!!!
posted by tamjl at 1:46 PM on June 5, 2007