Musical Prayers for Peace

For providing a remarkable moment of inspiration during a time of national gloom, Neil Young’s recording of John Lennon’s “Imagine” was the most compelling single of 2001. In both his choice of the song and in his moving performance of it on the telethon to aid victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Young demonstrated the bold artistry that is a hallmark of great pop.

The rock veteran could have performed one of his own songs of comfort and hope during the Sept. 21 telecast, but he no doubt realized that because the 1971 composition is already an international anthem of peace, it would build a more immediate bond with the show’s millions of viewers.

Accompanied by an orchestra, Young played piano and sang with an unassuming tenderness that conveyed beautifully its prayer-like dream of a time when “the world will be as one,” stripped of religious, racial and political divisions. There was added resonance in the familiar lyrics: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

It was a defining moment of the telethon and a rare example these days of the cleansing, uplifting power that has made rock ‘n’ roll such a liberating force.

Young’s version of “Imagine” is on “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” a two-disc album taken from the telethon that also features a portion of the runner-up song on my list of the 10 best singles or album tracks of 2001: U2’s “Peace on Earth.”

Commentary and inspiration aren’t the only measures of memorable pop, but they are especially prized in an age when most commercial strains are disposable--from the fluff of teen pop to the hopeless conformity of angry hard-rock. (My list of the 10 best albums of 2001 appeared in Sunday’s Calendar.)

The choices:

1. Neil Young: “Imagine” (Interscope). The impact of Young’s performance was so poignant that this album track would have topped the list regardless, but the selection took on added power following the death last month of George Harrison. In the days after the former Beatle’s passing, there was a lot of talk about the end of an era in pop music. But the continuing power of the Lennon song is just one sign that the legacy of the Beatles and of rock ‘n’ roll is still alive.

Even though Lennon wrote “Imagine” after the breakup of the band, its spirit is in keeping with the music he made with the Beatles, and it continues to set a standard of grace and craft by which all musicians can measure their work.

2. U2: “Peace on Earth” (Interscope). This is another prayer for peace, but it’s a statement of despair over the continuing specter of violence rather than the message of sweet optimism that Lennon expressed in “Imagine.”

U2’s Bono, who was born and still lives in Dublin, wrote the song after a 1998 terrorist bombing in Northern Ireland that killed more than two dozen people, many of them children. During the telethon, U2 lightened the song’s tone, using just the opening lines as an intro to the more upbeat “Walk On.” The full, sobering version, on the “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” album, is what is saluted on this list. The darkness of “Peace on Earth” is every bit as human a feeling as the hopeful glow of “Imagine.”

3. Ron Sexsmith: “This Song” (spinArT). Here’s a commentary of another sort--a biting look at the way the record industry has become, in this bottom-line conscious age, an increasingly hostile place for singer-songwriters with substance and craft rather than novelty twists. Set against a comforting, light, country shuffle, the lyric speaks of a songwriter protecting his creation the way a parent might cuddle a child. Sexsmith sings about taking his just-born song to the “tower of gold,” where it gets swallowed by the industry machinery. “I came unarmed, they’ve all got knives / How can this song survive?”

4. Angie Stone with Alicia Keys and Eve: “Brotha Part II/The Remix” (J). There has been a lot of verbal warfare between male and female artists in hip-hop and R&B; in recent years, but Stone breaks from the norm with this expression of pride in black males. The original version is on the singer’s “Mahogany Soul” album, but this remix has an added energy and fire.

5. Staind: “It’s Been Awhile” (Flip/Elektra). Here’s another record that goes against the commercial grain, this time in opposition to the endless anger and self-pity in hard rock. Aaron Lewis, the lead singer of this metal-tinged quartet, has written about lack of self-esteem and other universal teen complaints.

But marriage and success have helped him break a cycle of depression, and he had enough courage to step away from the anger in contemporary rock to acknowledge the changes--even though he had no guarantee his audience would follow him. But the song topped the mainstream and alternative rock charts for almost four months.

6. Alicia Keys: “Fallin’” (J). This No. 1 single, a stylishly crafted and superbly sung expression of being helplessly in love, is a leading contender for the record of the year Grammy.

7. Travis: “Sing” (Epic). As upbeat and unabashedly optimistic a number as the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” this single seemed like a cinch top 10 hit when released last spring. But the British rock band’s tune simply couldn’t find a home on U.S. radio. Singer-songwriters aren’t the only ones having a hard time with today’s narrow formats.

8. India.Arie: “Video” (Motown). Here’s an exquisitely designed, liberating statement in praise of embracing one’s individuality rather than trying to look like all those girls in the videos.

9. Missy Elliott: “Get Ur Freak On” (The Gold Mind/Elektra). You’ve got to find room in any list of top singles for some sheer, good-natured exuberance, and this is the year’s highlight in that category.

10. Pink: “Get the Party Started” (Arista). There are a lot of fun-minded contenders for this spot, including Mirwais’ exotic “Disco Science” and Daft Punk’s dance-happy “One More Time.” But this punkette exercise, recalling the celebration of early Madonna records, has personality to burn.

*

On The Web

Hear Robert Hilburn’s choices for 2001’s top 10 singles at www.calendarlive.com/singles

*

Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com