Alan Jackson Shares The Story Behind His Powerful 9/11 Anthem

Two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., in 2001, Alan Jackson debuted a new song that at the CMA Awards called, "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)." At the time, Jackson had no idea how much the song would resonate with fans, he previously told Yahoo! News, but it quickly became a hit.

"Typically, when we kick that song off and the crowd realizes what it is, people hold up their lighters and things," Jackson said the interview. "And I've seen people crying in the crowds, and they cheer on lines that mean something, like the line about the heroes just doing what they do — they really like that. I don't know. There's a lot of emotion going on in the room during that song, and it always makes me feel good that it has affected people that way."

Jackson continued on to share how he got the idea for the song at 4AM one Sunday morning. "I got up and scribbled it down and put the melody down so I wouldn't forget it, and then the next day I started piecing all those verses together that were the thoughts I'd had or visuals I'd had," he recalled. "It was a Sunday — I remember because, when I started writing it, my wife and girls had gone off to Sunday school, and I finished it that day. Like I said, that song was just a gift. I've never felt I could take credit for writing it. Looking back, I guess I just didn't want to forget how I felt on that day and how I knew other people felt."

"Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)" spent five weeks at No. 1 beginning on December 29, 2001. It went on to earn Jackson the Grammy Award for Best Country Song, as well as the CMA Awards for Song of the Year and Single of the Year. He figured after time passed, he'd phase the song out of live shows, but the response it received encourages him to continue to play it.

"At the time, it felt very meaningful to people, and I felt really good about contributing something," he said. "And then I thought it would just fade away and then we'd ease it out of the show, but I still see people out there that I feel like are waiting for that song, you know?"

"It's one of my biggest songs in the show," Jackson added. "It's hard to follow it, but I see so many that are holding up their lighters and their phones and I think are moved by it... and that still makes me glad I did it."

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