Track Listing

1. Dawning of the Day - Mary Fahl
2. My Beautiful, Gleaming...
3. Bill
4. Are You OK?
5. Jimmy
6. What They Were Waiting For
7. Where Were You That Morning?
8. Patrick
9. Follow Me
10. Barney
11. Dawning of the Day
12. Dawning of the Day [*] - Mary Fahl

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257229 in Music
• Released on: 2003-04-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack

Amazon.com
First-time director Jim Simpson deftly adapts journalist-turned-playwright Anne Nelson's tale of an NYFD captain who lost eight of his men in the 9/11 collapse of the WTC, now struggling to write their eulogies--an exorcize a range of difficult personal emotions--with the help of an editor. Composer Mychael Danna (Ararat, The Hulk) is thus handed a largely interior emotional landscape to color with his music, and he responds with a quiet, yet subtly moving score. Anchored by Mary Fahl's Celtic-tinged "The Dawning of the Day" and bookended with an instrumental performance of the ballad by the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes & Drums, Danna's music infuses melancholy orchestral pastoralism with brisk doses of minimalism to good effect. But the composer is also unafraid to let spare, melancholy piano phrases fade gently into the air, a haunting echo of the overwhelming personal loss and power of memory the film's characters wrestle with. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Deeply moving, spare and elegant
This little deeply touching movie went unnoticed by the public, and it's a shame. The performance by Anthony LaPaglia was perhaps his best yet, and Sigourney Weaver is more human and real than ever. It should be seen by everyone who still prays for the souls who perished on 9/11.

The soundtrack, as a result, has been heard by very few people - again, a pity. It is a haunting and elegant compilation, bookended by an extraordinary song by the very talented Mary Fahl. Ms. Fahl's lyrics to "The Dawning of the Day" speak directly to the heart, and her delivery, almost a whisper at times, are infused with an authenticity and depth of emotion that is heart-breaking. It is impossible to not cry while listening to this song, and yet one is left with a feeling of hope, comfort and faith as she tenderly expresses the words "forgive me love, I'm going now so very far away. When darkness falls, only think me near and do not be afraid. And please don't grieve when I am gone, abide in what remains, 'til the shadows end and we meet again on the dawning of the day. For when shadows end, we shall meet again on the dawning of the day."

I just had to have that song.
"The Dawning of the Day" is an incredibly beautiful and sad song. Here are the lyrics:

This morning early I walked on
while my darling was in a dream
The last sweet days of summer bloomed
and dressed the trees in green
Then soaring high in the gleaming sky
from far across the bay
came a fearsome roar from a distant shore
at the dawning of the day

Then I called my men to follow me
knowing well that the view was dim
Though tired and worn, how they fought all morn'
as time was closing in
And my heart was sad though sore with pride
for brave lads all were they
As the angels fly, how they climbed so high
on the dawning of the day

But the edge is moving nearer now
inside the fading sun
and calling, calling out to them
my brothers, one by one
But only dust silence sounds
The ashes float away
as the twilight ends and the night descends
'til the dawning of the day

Forgive me love, I'm going now
so very far away
When darkness falls, only think me near
and do not be afraid
And please don't grieve when I am gone
Abide in what remains
'til the shadows end and we meet again
on the dawning of the day

For when shadows end,
we shall meet again
on the dawning of the day

Mary Fahl's song is the sole redeeming feature
..and Mary Fahl's song is available on HER OWN ALBUM,along with a lot of other equally beautiful tunes...That said,the score to this clunker,written by Mychael Danna is about as beautiful as a sack of yesterday's trash...Maybe if the guy had listened to Mary Fahl's song BEFORE writing this junk he might have been inspired to write something nice...This was a depressing film,little seen when in general release,but Danna's depressing music is just that;DEPRESSING...Some tunes are so heartfelt as to make one's heart ache with sorrow...Danna,in scoring this film,seems to have been determined simply to make one's ears ache and leave it at that...