CLEAR Channels, one of the nations largest distributors of music to radio stations, last week sent out to its contracted stations a list of songs to be banned from broadcasting because of questionable lyrics. A quick look at the list of banned songs suggests that they all have a keyword in the title in some way connected to Tuesday’s hijackings and terrorist attacks. Over 100 songs were banned. A quick sampling of the songs with questionable lyrics includes: "On Broadway," by The Drifters, "Devil in Disguise," by Elvis Presley, "What a Wonderful Word," by Louis Armstrong, "Blowin’ in the Wind," by Peter, Paul, and Mary, "Bridge over Troubled Water," by Simon & Garfunkel, "Peace Train," by Cat Stevens, and "American Pie," by Don MacLean, Four songs by the Beatles were banned. The songs banned cross boundaries of genre, style, and time period. What unites them, aside from minor linguistic connection to terrorist attacks, is that together they constitute a large portion of America’s musical heritage from the last fifty years. These songs express the pain of the bereaved, celebrate love and humanity, and give people really good sounds to dance too. The sounds of silence will not help America heal. Taking the humanity out of our music will not make us a stronger, wiser, more united nation. I sincerely believe that taking out the heartbreak, the blues, the soul out of American radio leaves only a mess of vapid noise on the airwaves, especially at such a strange and troubling time in American history. The same questions weas Americans have been asking one another in conversation, "Why did these people have to die? What is it about people that makes us so destructive? What is there in human nature besides evil?", should be allowed to be heard in the songs we hear on the radio. The lyrics of "Bridge over Troubled Water," may be questionable to some, but to me they have always been clear. We only get by in life by helping each other. This message, and the music of which it is a part, should continue to be heard, as often as possible. Lets hear musicians voicing the nation’s feelings of confusion, pain and uncertainty. I urge CLEAR channels and all broadcasters of music to refrain from adding the vibrancy and richness of America’s musical culture to the victims of terror.