Sting was in Tuscany when he gave this concert in a courtyard there, beginning at nine in the evening, Italian time, September 11th. The show was scheduled as a two-hour Webcast; however, Sting chose to transmit only one song — his hymnlike classic "Fragile" — after he and his multinational crew learned of the events in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The rest of this vividly played, authoritatively sung show was committed to tape, and it pulses inescapably with the aura of its real-time date. The music thrives from "Fragile" on, through a sly, funky "Hounds of Winter" and a "When We Dance" that delivers soulful freedom within a classical structure. This is music filled with mood and memory, refined yet raw with emotion.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.