Alan Jackson Performs 9/11 Tribute Song 'Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning'

Alan Jackson performed ‘Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning’ on the 2021 National Memorial Day Concert in honor of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

‘Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning’ is a song written and recorded by country music superstar Alan Jackson.

It was the lead single from his tenth studio album, Drive (2002), released on Arista Nashville. The song’s lyrics center on the September 11 attacks, written in the form of questions.

Jackson said he desired to write a song capturing the emotions surrounding the attacks but found it difficult to do so. He debuted the song publicly at the Country Music Association’s annual awards show on November 7, 2001.

The song won multiple awards at the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Awards, including Song of the Year, and also earned Jackson his first Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

Verse of the Day

“[The Greatest Gift] Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”